The Vegetable Plot - March

Sow far, sow good

If you would like a supply of celery from October onwards and through the winter, now is the time to sow. Growing traditional celery takes a lot of effort but it’s well worth it for the flavour and in cooking it’s so versatile. Easier to grow is the self-blanching variety but it will still need humous rich soil and plenty of watering and feeding. Start from seed under heated glass in March and April.

On to other jobs and there’s a whole lot of sowing going on. In the heated greenhouse or indoors you can be sowing chilli peppers and sweet peppers, cucumbers and gherkins, tomato seeds under glass and under cover Brussels sprouts, celeriac and cauliflowers. Aubergines will prefer being started off in a propagator, while basil can be grown on the kitchen windowsill, along with some salad leaves. Venturing outside there are carrots, summer and autumn cabbages, broad beans and beetroot to sow directly into well prepared soil. And that’s just the start of it.

• Sow rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano under cover
• Sow lettuce outside under cloches
• Sow peas, Swiss chard, turnips directly into the soil
• Grow lettuce under a cold frame and transplant later
• Sow radish under glass and cover with a cloche to start them off 
• Make your own organic fertiliser by growing comfrey
• Sow leeks, parsnips, calabrese, kohl rabi and spring onions.