Chitting Potatoes
kitchen garden, Kitchen Garden

March 2019

It feels like a while since I first wrote my plan for growing extra vegetables in our garden this year, and already I can see it starting to come together. The first 3 planters have been in the garden for a while now, and a second set of 3 will be finished today. Liners between them will be covered in chipped bark to create a mess free walkway between the beds. With those almost done, I’m already thinking about how we can support runner beans and cucumbers against the fence, to use every bit of space in our garden.

I’ve also bought a selection of shade tolerating flowers to fill out the plain gaps in our small north-facing garden. To say I have caught ‘the bug’ for homegrown veg is probably an understatement! And I’m not the only one. The other day, Chris came home with extra vegetable seeds, including duplicates of ones we already have, which he’s determined will fit in our garden somewhere… it’s definitely ending up looking more and more like an allotment out there!

With spring on the way, our first shoots are already coming through. It’s been just over a month since I planted the garlic cloves under horticultural fleece to protect them from the frosts and snow we saw in January, and I can’t believe how well they are growing! Soon it will be time to plant the onion and shallot sets, and I just hope they do as well as well as the garlic cloves are so far. I think the warm weather and rain we’ve had recently have kick started spring a little early, and our daffodils and crocus are coming up too. I’m excited to see the first of the spring flowers!

Looking ahead to the rest of this month, it definitely feels like it will be a busy one in the garden, with plenty of seeds to be sowing into trays, and the potatoes currently chitting in the study will be going into their sacks in a few weeks. The little purple and green shoots are reaching out into the world and looking nice and healthy so far. Fingers crossed for our first summer potato crop!

Chitting Potatoes

Also to do this month, is gradually sowing the parsnips outside to help make sure the roots aren’t all ready to eat at the same time. They will be followed into the warming spring soil soon after by the first salad leaves, carrots, beetroots and radishes. Not too much to be getting on with, then!

Are you growing veg this year? What’s on your to do list this month?

Not sure where to start with growing our own vegetables? Read more on how to plan out a veg garden in my January update here.

1 thought on “March 2019”

Leave a Reply