I get excited when I see the 1st March approach on my calendar because for me that brings about the start of seed sowing. The beginning of the month seed sowing depends a lot on the weather that we are experiencing, but they should be ok inside a heated greenhouse or kitchen windowsill. Remember to let the weather dictate whether or not to start your seeds and not the information on the back of the seed packet.
The following post was originally uploaded in March 2013 but the jobs to do and seeds to plant still apply….
Jobs to do………in March
- Continue to plan what you intend to grow this year and order seeds before your favourites become unavailable
- Harden off and transplant autumn sown cauliflowers and cabbages
- Finish digging all of the vegetable beds, cultivating the soil weekly to produce a fine tilth in the soil
- Finish any construction work that you may have left to do as your time will be needed more for the plants in the coming months
- Lift the remaining leeks and parsnips that have been left in the ground
- Continue to chit your potatoes in a frost free place to encourage strong shoots
- Warm areas of your soil with clear polythene, carpet, cardboard or black plastic
- Check that shallots in the ground are still firmly in place and not been pulled up by the birds.
- Continue to save the cardboard tubes from toilet and kitchen rolls and newspapers to make your own biodegradable pots for seed sowing next month
- Harden off vegetables that were sown in January or February in the cold frame
- Make sure pots and seed trays are cleaned ready for sowing
- Prune fruit trees while still dormant such as apple, pear, currant and gooseberry
What to sow………Indoors (Heated or Unheated)
- Aubergines
- Broad Beans
- Lettuce
- Peas
- Chillies
- Parsley
- Melons
- Celery
- Onions and shallot seeds
- Kohl Rabi
- Kale
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Brussels Sprouts
- Winter salads
- Summer Cabbages
- Summer Cauliflowers
- Calabrese
- Early variety peas
- Parsley (curly leafed)
- French beans
- Leeks
- Spinach
- Radish
What to sow………Outdoors (Under Protection)
- Spinach
- Salad Leaves
- Lettuce
- Rocket
- Brussels Sprouts
- Sprouting Broccoli
- Red Cabbage
- Summer Cabbage
- Autumn Cabbage
- Tomatoes
- Early Cauliflower
- Leeks
- Calabrese
- Spring Onions
- Herbs
- Radish
- Mangetout
- Calabrese
- Early Peas
- Early Carrots
- Early Beetroot
- Broccoli (Summer variety)
- Broad beans
- Onions
- Parsnips
What to plant………in March
- Plant rhubarb sets
- Fruit bushes
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Asparagus crowns
- Bare root container-grown trees
- Horseradish
- Strawberries
- Early potatoes
- Garlic
- Onion sets
- Shallots
Crops in season now
- Broccoli (Sprouting)
- Spring onions
- Spring Cabbage
- Spring Cauliflower
- Chicory
- Endive
- Jerusalem Artichokes
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Parsnips
- Spinach
Happy sowin’
Debb
digginwivdebb 
This is a terrific list. Thankyou for pulling it together! I shall file it away for later, as Autumn is definitley getting its toes in now 😉
Thank you for this great post. I have been looking for a good list to follow as I’m new to veggie gardening:)
Thanks for your comments Tanya. I tried to do one of these lists each month to keep us veg growers organised.
sounds good, ill be back for more:)
Oh my life!!
I have just read your post.. my veg plot is barren, there are just some strawberry plants alive.
Time to shape up then!! Let me shame you into getting planting! Lol 🙂
I have man flu at the moment, that is my excuse.
Ha ha! Medication for flu these days have come on in leaps and bounds. Get dosed up and get diggin! 🙂
atishoo
Bless you and your crops!!
Luigina, the old lady next door was explaining that Monday was a new moon .. or it might have been an old moon, she swaps from Italian to dialect and loses me. But the up shot was I should be out in the garden digging holes. 🙂
She sounds like my kind of lady! Listen to your Elders. They always have words if wisdom!
Hi Deb, I want to grow carrots, parsnips, beetroot etc but we get a lot of slugs in our garden, it puts me off, any ideas?
Hi Nilam. Many plants can be grown in containers. Carrots do really well in pots as long as they are quite deep although there are shorter varieties available. Slugs are a problem for all veg growers. Crushed egg shell, sharp grit or as a last resort slug pellets can help to deter them. Don’t let slugs put you off. Give veg a go. You will get so much joy from growing them. Let me know how you get on. Debb.
I have already been growing tomatoes, aubergines, spinach, peas, spring onions, courgettes, runner beans, peppers, herbs and variety of flowering plants over the past few years but always held back on growing root vegetables because of slugs.. when it comes to growing carrots I would also have to worry about green flies but I have read somewhere that growing onions close to carrots should deter them?
Slugs only normally bother with the foliage on root vegetables like carrots, parsnips and beetroots when the leaves are small. So as long as you protect the smaller leaves with some sort of protection when they are small, you should be okay. These type of vegetables also grow really well in containers and that generally helps with problems from slugs.
Growing onions alongside carrots helps to deter both the onion fly and the carrot fly. You can also grow these very successfully in the ground as long as you cover them with some fine mesh.
Take a look at my two posts that I have written called spotlight on onions and spotlight on carrots. This should give you a little bit of more information.
Debb
I love spring onions so looks like I will be growing a few containers of carrots alongside with them this year.. I’ve got a few large containers so will try growing salad potatoes too! Thanks for your help Deb x
That’s great. You need to start chitting your seed potatoes now ready to plant out at the end of this month.
I am going to reblog this…if you are ok. Very helpful. Will do tomorrow. I just planted my herbs and a few veggies. But this will help me better. A post that I have drafted and just need to publish is about raised gardens.
Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you found my post useful. Debb
What a useful guide. Thank you
Thanks. I’m glad you find it useful.
Reblogged this on Cheslyn Hay Community Allotments and commented:
The latest reminders from another allotment holder.