Vegetable Garden Update – March 2024

I’m so excited to get started on my 2024 garden. This will be my first gardening year without the old wooden fence blocking out the sunshine so I’m optimistic for a bumper crop!

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Vegetable Garden Bed 1

Bed 1 will be for salad roots this year. I rotate the first two beds with salad leaves and salad roots. They are the closest beds to the sunlight so they are the first to get going in the spring, just right for early spring salads. They are also the two closest beds to the kitchen, so the easiest for gathering a quick lunch.

So far I’ve just planted out the first row of radishes. I’ve put the hoops on ready and I’ll be putting fleece on top after I’ve taken photographs. In addition to the fleece I’m also using old pop bottles with the bottoms cut off. They go over each seedling to give them a little extra warmth, like a second greenhouse.

I’ve got some rocket in here that has survived through the winter. I don’t know how much longer it will live but I’m very grateful for the taste of fresh veg so early in the year. I’ll definitely be planting wild rocket late in the year again.

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Vegetable Garden Bed 3 & 5

Beds 3 & 5 contain overwintered brassicas.

I have a couple of pathetically tiny cabbages that may plump up but I’m not holding out much hope. My kid’s new guinea pigs will probably be enjoying them soon.

One broccoli plant has certainly seen better days and keeled over. The slugs are currently enjoying that so I should remove it soon.

My two brussels sprouts are equally pathetic. They didn’t grow in time for Christmas so I had to do the walk of shame and buy brussels sprouts from the supermarket.

But despite these failures my purple sprouting broccoli are looking fabulously healthy. I’ve already had a portion of veggies off these plants and they promise lots more to come.

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Greenhouse

My greenhouse set up is rather erm, well, rubbish.

I have very little space for a proper greenhouse and very little money either. I’ve picked up two of these little wooden green houses from Aldi. They’ve lasted a good while, I think the oldest one is now 8 years old and definitely in dire need of some serious TLC. The newer one is about 5 years old and has suffered badly in a storm last winter.

I inherited some very old electric propagators that belonged to my grandfather. I use them for starting my seeds in spring and autumn when they need a little extra heat and protection from the weather.

With such small greenhouses it’s just not possible to give all my baby seedlings all the natural light they need. I have developed a system to maximise the availible light, heat and space.

Newly sown seeds are put on a lower shelf in a heated propagator.

As soon as they start to germinate I move them to the top shelf where they will get to enjoy all the availible sunlight.

Frost tolerant seedlings get moved out of this propagator when I need space for the next batch. I put them on a lower shelf where they will get less light. But I take them out and put them on the patio during the day until I get round to planting them out.

I don’t normally bother to harden off my seedlings but when space in the greenhouse is at a premium, or at least space with full sun, it makes sense to let them hang out outside during the day.

Warmth loving seedlings like tomatoes and peppers will be kept in the heated propagators for as long as possible.

I’ve started keeping my seedlings in small mushroom crates. They are easy to move around so I can easily take them out of the propagators if I need to drain off any excess water. With a non-existent greenhouse roof this is a regular occurrence!

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I do hope my Vegetable Garden Tour has inspired you to have a go at growing your own and given you some ideas.

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