The weather is certainly keeping us on our toes- don’t be dismayed by this seasonal juggle; some later sowings will catch up. It’s time to sow a few crops indoors to catch any warm sunshine that will help seeds to germinate chosse your sunniest sills to catch any rays going.
Outdoors, you can start warming (where possible) any outdoor soil (in pots or in the ground) from the persistent rain so it can warm up before we start sowing and planting outdoors in a few weeks. Anything that lets light through will see off the slugs and make soils much more welcoming for seeds or young plants in a few weeks’ time.
Tatties
In between showers, earlylies can be planted out into open soil, plastic bags, buckets or other containers! One Seed Forward has a great ‘how-to guide. ‘ Maincrop tubers should be kept chitting. Unsure what you have? Plant them from mid-April onwards just to be on the safe side.
Tomatoes
If you have seed, you can try sowing it into a pot or tray on a warm, sunny windowsill or buy a few young plants from a garden centre or supermarket in the next few weeks.
Peas
Keep sowing in deep pots or toilet rolls on warm sunny windowsills. If you sow a handful of seeds every couple of weeks you can ensure a steady supply of peas each week (all being well) from late June. Compost should be damp, not wet, or you risk simply rotting off seeds before they germinate. Be patient; germination will take time on many dull grey days.
Greens
Keep sowing lettuce, spinach and now basil into trays with holes or yoghurt pots into damp compost onto warm sunny windowsills.
Strawberries
Young, healthy-looking strawberry plants or their runners (small offshoots) can be planted into slightly warmer, damp soils. If the plant doesn’t have lots of roots check the roots for vine weevil grubs- these are small creamy grubs with little brown heads.
Outdoors, in between showers, it is worth getting on top of young weeds that will be responding to longer daylight hours. If they don’t have a seed head on them you can just pull them up and leave them on your soil to break back down.
Every growing season is unpredictable, making home growing both frustrating and fun. It’s an amazing reminder of how precarious our food supply is. If you’d like to learn and practice your growing skills to grow more food successfully, why not join others?
https://www.farmgarden.org.uk/your-area/scotland#Map
