Mid-March is usually the time when we can start sowing and planting outside but it’s also the last possibility to plant bare-root trees – here are some things that we’re up to in our garden this month!
For an early harvest, I pre-sow my broad beans in roottrainers – extra deep pots that stimulate good root development. And because you can open them, there’s minimum root disturbance when planting out.
We have lots of rhubarb plants in our garden – I love the sharp taste of it, but for a delicious early harvest I force/blanch a plant or two. You can buy special clay pots for this, but a black bucket will do. Now, I have to decide which rhubarb recipe to make first!
Apricots and peaches are some of my favourite fruits, yet I almost never buy them because store-bought fruit is usually disappointing. Unfortunately, because of our cool & rainy climate, they are not easy to grow here. I’ve decided to give it a try anyway and to give the trees the best chance of success, we’re planting them in a warm sheltered microclimate between our pond and our hugelbed. We’ve also sought out a specialized nursery and asked their advice on best disease-resistant varieties. The apricot we chose is ‘Kyoto’ and peach is the leaf curl resistant ‘Avalon Pride’. Fingers crossed, we’ll be enjoying some beautiful blossom and harvesting delicious fruits in a few years time.
That’s the highlights from this month – what are you up to in your gardens? Do you grow apricots and peaches?
Happy gardening!