MARCH ACTION ON THE SMALLHOLDING

Spring is always a little shy in finally arriving - and this March is no exception as I sit here writing on foul stormy day!     But whatever the weather today I have no doubt the earth will continue on its orbit and soon the warmer weather will arrive.     Once it does then the chances for catching up on those last winter jobs will be gone as the race against pest and weeds begins in earnest.

LAST WINTER JOBS

            Here at Killowen there have been just a few last winter jobs to get done.     New slabs were laid to finish a couple of paths.      The walls of the (now) empty composting enclosure have been repaired with a little cement and some heavy blockwork.     It is surprising the pressure and weight which compost imposes.... And composting simply won't work if you cannot contain all the material effectively.     The boundary fencing has been repaired and one or two large pieces of rubble and old wire removed.      Rampant brambles and wild roses have been scythed back into order.    The last of the winter pruning has been burned.     So now it is time to look forward.

SUPPORTS AND WIRE

            Now is the time to make sure all your supports and wire are in good fettle to do their summer job after the storms of winter.      We moved two rows of raspberries and they have had to have new posts and galvanized wire put up to contain the long canes which will soon be heavy with foliage and fruit.      The wire support for the existing raspberries have been repaired and restrung with a couple of new posts to strengthen them.      The thornless blackberry which we planted on our west facing wall grew more than 6 feet last year - in all directions.      We've now drilled and rawplugged 9 stainless steel eyes into the wall and tensioned galvanized wire horizontally between them so we can tie up the long growth.      We have put in the 6 strong middle and end posts for our future runner bean supports - so we know where the prepared area is when we come to plant in May.

            This year we have made a couple of basketry willow wigwams (about 8 feet high) which will make a fine show of the sweet peas which are now about 3 inches high in the greenhouse.     This a simple and attractive way to provide colour and scent in the garden whilst improving the nectar available to hover flies and other insects.      Our willows are enormously vigorous, putting our new growth up to 12 feet high each year, and these make impressive structures even though they are rather large for baskets!

            If you have a supply of bamboo growing in a wild corner of your garden, then make sure you have a good supply cut and stripped.      Not only is bamboo useful as supports, we also use it to provide a free and convenient supply of one foot posts that can be used to mark the end of the seed rows when we come to planting.     Once bamboos gets going it's very hard to stop so brutal pruning and cutting back is always necessary to stop the stuff escaping all over the garden.

ONIONS AND GARLIC

            These have been planted now and so far the birds have kept clear - probably too busy trying to beat us to eat the sprouting broccoli!

POTATOES

            You will probably want to get your potatoes into the ground around the middle of March - Paddy's day is a good marker in Ireland.      I no longer plant mine in trenches and drills.      With a good rotavator and a good soil it is much easier to plant on the flat.     Do one row at a time immediately after you have rotavated a single strip.     You can simply push the seed potatoes about 3 inches into the ground and make sure they are well covered.      Once the first row is planted you rotavate another strip and repeat the performance.     Make sure you put a post at the end of each row and continue until all your potatoes are planted.

            Personally I do not chit or sprout my potatoes now.      I know you might be able to get a quicker crop this way but it is also very easy indeed to damage or even knock off the tender sprouts.     If you do this you are simply reducing the vigour of your crop.

            When you sow on the flat you do not need to weed until the potatoes start showing their first leaves in perhaps 3 weeks time.      As soon as the green shoots appear you can hoe up the soil into drills, covering the shoots completely.      This knocks back the weeds and within a few days the young potatoes will be overshadowing the soil and your weeding problems will be over until after you harvest.

            Everyone has their own choices as far as varieties go.     In Ireland the resistance to blight is a big factor if you want to avoid the problems (and dangers) of spraying chemicals.      We grow waxy potatoes for preference - Charlottes and Pink Fir Apple.     These seem reasonably resistant and certainly keep very well once harvested.

IN THE GREENHOUSE

            Action in the greenhouse is really starting to move now.      The seedling lettuce are a couple of inches high in their little pots.      The sweet peas are 3 inches high in theirs.    We have courgettes and butternut squash in the heated seed trays at the moment so they will soon be underway too.      It is surprising how quickly the place dries out - and how hot it gets - even on a moderately sunny day.      So a daily check for watering is required as well as being important to make sure slugs have not yet made their invasion.

THE LAWN

            Don't forget the lawn whilst you are revving up your vegetable garden.      You may find it covered with the winter crop of leaves not to mention the debris of toys and bits and pieces left by visiting children.      Once you have cleared off the rubbish then you can run the lawnmower over on a fairly high setting - one that just touches the tops of the grass at about 3 inches.       This should remove leaves and remaining debris leaving the grass clear to start its season of growth.

            Of course you can use a spring wire rake to clean off the winter debris.     This helps remove moss and unwelcome weeds like daisies and trefoil.      And if you feel you need to feed your grass with fertilizer then now is the time to put on a small dressing.

PREPARING SEEDBEDS

            Last but absolutely not least we have the ongoing challenge of preparing good weed free seedbeds for our summer crops.     Dry weather is the absolute fundamental for success here.     It is simply counter-productive to try to work the soil when it is wet.    You will only generate mud and compaction.

By now you should have already either dug over or rotavated most of your vegetable plots.    You should have removed any large perennial weeds and put them onto your compost heap.     You should have removed stones.     Both of these tasks are routine every time you cultivate.     We have just forked over roughly one of the more neglected areas of the garden.     We use a long handled fork, a pickaxe for the deeply buried boulders and two wheelbarrows: one for the stones and the other for the large weeds which have to be taken to the compost heap.   You can see the sprouting broccoli coming on in the background.

            There are, of course, people who believe that the soil should not be shaken and stirred in this way but I am certainly not one of them.      Cultivating to a depth of 6 to 9 inches does not significantly impact on the worm population at this time of year because most of the worms are still moving in deeper parts of the earth.      And the act of aerating the soil seems to help the bacteria do their vital job of breaking down humus into plant food and nutrients.      Digging or rotavating is the best way to ensure that your compost is fully and speedily incorporated into the top 9 inches of your soil.      We are aiming above all to create a deep, fertile, free draining yet water-retaining topsoil which will be the perfect home for our plants.

            So now your need to wait for 3 or 4 dry days (depending on your soil and aspect) before you turn over or rotavate your seedbeds.      The routine is always the same - check for any signs of the nasty perennials and remove them with a fork onto the compost heap before you start cultivating.      Remove any large stones whilst you are cultivating.     Try not to walk on the areas you have cultivated - the lighter and fluffier the soil the better the weeds will be desiccated and destroyed.

            You should now be able to produce a good seedbed simply by using your landscaping rake.     This will enable you to remove more stones   (anything bigger than a golf ball) as you rake methodically over the cultivated area.      Don't forget that you will need to firm down the soil simply by tramping over it before you sow any seeds.     But at this stage, in March, you are just getting ready for the big burst of seeding in April so use the time to work the soil and destroy the weeds.      Now is the time to do it.     If you can rotavate/dig over 3 or 4 times in dry weather between February and April then your plants will benefit greatly from the weed free soil that should result.

            A note for beginners here.      Do not be lulled into a false sense of success when you see a lovely dark brown soil which appears to be completely free of weeds.      If your garden is fairly new then there will be thousands of weed seeds just waiting their chance to germinate.       As soon as you sow your own seeds you will not be able to cultivate so easily -   indeed the hoe is your only weapon - and these dormant weed seeds will quickly blanket your seedbeds.      Your task in February and March is to get as many of these weed seeds to germinate as possible then chew the tiny plants up with your cultivation.      Every time you do this you improve the chances for your own seeds.       We have been weeding and cultivating our garden steadily for 25 years and there are still thousands of dormant weed seeds waiting their chance.      And when you do come to sow then sow as soon as you can after your final cultivation - dry weather again is the key.     This way you give your own seeds their best chance to compete against the weed seeds that surround them.