March 30, 2020

We are all living through an unprecedented period where we are forced to spend more time at home whether to work from there or because we have no work to do thanks to the COVID-19 crisis. The shelves of the supermarkets are bare, and you may be struggling to make ends meet! I know as the same is happening to me. One of my first instincts was to turn to the garden and try to make it productive for me so I thought let’s try to help you guys do the same, we’ve also started trying to make more of our food too so stay tuned for some updates related to that.

So, we are like most, we don’t have a large garden but that shouldn’t stop you (Even if you’ve no garden there are ways to get involved)

I’m not sure how much you may know already about gardening so feel free to ask any questions on my Instagram account @landtechnologyltd or the Land Technology Ltd Facebook page

Getting Started
So today (day 5 of my lockdown the weekend apparently…) I’ve dug over the areas I want to use for growing my veg and herbs. I don’t have the luxury of a greenhouse (I’m sure most of you are in my boat on this too) so I must sew direct into the ground.

I started by the good old bastard digging… Yup you heard me it’s a bastard but its worth it to get some much-needed air into the soil (you’ll thank me when it comes to harvesting). Don’t worry here is the step by step guide to “bastard digging” it also serves as your exercise for the day so win win!

1. Dig a trench a spades width wide and a spades depth deep at one end of your area and put the soil you dig up to the other end of the area (you’ll need this soil at the end so bear with me).
2. Dig another trench parallel to the first trench same depth and width but this time turn dump the topsoil into the initial trench.
3. You guessed it keep repeating step 2.
4. Yup keep going.
5. Are you at the end yet? No…. then keep going! I told you its not called bastard digging for no reason!
6. Once you (FINALY) make it to the end of the area take the soil you dumped from step 1 and back fill the final trench.
7. Great work out right! Who needs Joe Wicks?
8. Oh wait there’s more???
9. Now take the fork (or just use the spade if you’ve not got a fork) and break up the bigger clumps of soil so they become smaller lumps of soil.
10. Leave it like this for about a week. N.B. once you get good at this sustainability thing, you’ll do the bastard digging in winter and leave the weather to break it up for you! Saves a bit of the work for you.
11. Believe it or not after you’ve just made everything fluffy your going to have to stamp all over it to lightly compact it again.
12. Stop swearing at me! I told you it’s a bastard.
13. The stamping takes any air pockets out as guess what it rains in the UK and we don’t want those air pockets being water pockets because that will kill the veg.
14. I prefer to do this stage methodically going up and down then left to right shuffling but keeping the weight in you heels. N.B. if your shins don’t hurt your not doing it right.

Great job!

Your beds now just need a rake of to level then your good to go for sowing direct.

What to plant (March)
Here I’ll give you a guide of what to plant or sow and how to plant or sow them

Potatoes

First early or ‘new’ potatoes: –
Guess why they are called this… because they are the earliest to crop, in June. And they take 10-12 weeks to mature.
Plant: 12cm deep, in rows 60cm apart, with 60cm between rows.
Plant: March (with frost protection)
Harvest: June

Recommended varieties:
Epicure
Red Duke of York
Sharps Express

Main Crop potatoes: –
Yup so called because they are the “Maincrop” they take 16-22 weeks to mature.
Plant them 12cm deep, in rows 75cm apart, with 60cm between rows.
Plant: mid to late April
Harvest: late July to September

Recommended varieties:
Maris Piper
Desiree
King Edwards
Pink Fir apple

Vegetable Seeds

Things you can sow direct and that are easy to grow are.

Carrots
Parsnips
Peas
Spring onions
Broad beans
Swiss chard
Spinach
Turnips

I won’t bore you with all the ways to sow these things as you will get clear instructions on the package, but please contact me if you have any questions!

Onions and Garlic

You can now plant out onions, shallots and garlic sets. If you are buying any get ones that haven’t sprouted yet as they won’t give you a good bulb to harvest, you’ll just end up with a long shoot! No good for cooking with.

For planting, don’t force them into the soil as you may damage their roots. Make a shallow furrow and place the sets (roots down in case you wondered) at 15cm intervals and cover with soil so the tip is still exposed. If you’re doing more than 1 row make it around 15cm from the first one.

Give them a good watering once you’ve placed the soil around them all