Getting ready for tatties

I'm sure some of you already have your early potatoes in, maybe in containers. Tatties are very susceptible to frost so it's a bit too early to plant them if you are not able to protect new shoots with a covering of sheets or fleece or similar. But it does help to "chit" them - so here they are exposed to light to allow the tubers to sprout a little before planting. Allow ten days from planting to shoots coming through, and sad to say we cannot really expect to be frost-free until near the end of May.

Good weather.

The weather has been unusually favourable over the last few days with the result the soil is drying out and warming up. It will be worth thinking about getting some carrots, beetroot and turnips sown direct outside in the next couple of weeks.

For the best flavour and reliability try: Carrot Amsterdam Forcing (for early baby carrots) and Carrot Autumn King (for huge carrots that will store over winter), Beetroot Boltardy, Turnip Snowball and Turnip Gold Ball.

Moving on

The mice have kindly left me with enough seedlings to bring on a dozen early cabbage plants and a dozen caulis. These are now transplanted into modules, and I have added a sprinkling of garden lime into the compost. Brassicas are lime lovers, and it also helps to prevent clubroot. Although cabbages and caulis are quite tough plants, there are so many things waiting to attack them - slugs, snails, mice & voles, rabbits, deer, pigeons and later on caterpillars - these will be brought on under protection for two or three more weeks! These cabbages are Greyhound which are (in theory) a quick growing small variety. The next batch of cabbages, Golden Acre, has just germinated and should then provide round larger ballhead cabbages through the summer. If you can't picture yourself eating two dozen cabbages in the next six months, adjust the numbers accordingly - but allow for some losses.