Fruit and veg 

• Finish winter-pruning fruit trees and soft fruits, including apples, autumn raspberries and blackcurrants
• Chit first-early potato tubers, such as ‘Foremost’, by standing them in trays in a light, frost-free place
• Prepare veg beds for sowing by weeding thoroughly, then cover with a thick layer of garden compost
• Feed fruit trees and bushes by sprinkling sulphate of potash fertiliser around the base to encourage fruiting
• Sow mustard and cress in a small seed tray on a warm windowsill for pickings in just a few weeks
• Put cloches or fleece over strawberry plants to start them into growth and encourage an early crop
• Hunt out overwintering snails huddled in empty pots and hidden corners, to reduce populations. Find out more about how to deter slugs and snails from your garden
• Plant rhubarb into enriched soil, or lift and divide established clumps
• Check if old seed packets are worth keeping by sowing a few seeds on damp kitchen paper, to see if they germinate
• Start planning for your seed sowing year
• Protect the blossom of outdoor peaches, nectarines and apricots with fleece, if frost is forecast
• Plant bare-root fruit bushes, trees and canes, as long as the ground isn’t frozen
• Inspect Mediterranean herbs for metallic green rosemary beetles if they start to look nibbled and tatty

New potatoes

Chitting potatoes is a process of encouraging seed potatoes to sprout before planting them. This helps to speed up the growing process and gives you a bigger harvest. To chit potatoes, you need to store seed potatoes in a cool, light place for several weeks. Once they’ve sprouted, you can plant them in warm soil. Here are some steps to follow:

1. Decide when to chit the potatoes. The potatoes will need 4 to 6 weeks after chitting before they’re ready to plant. This will give them a chance to sprout and start putting on growth. At this point, you can plant the seed potatoes in warm soil. Most people chit their potatoes in January or February so they can plant in March or April, when soil temperature’s reach about 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) ¹.
2. Buy seed potatoes. Seed potatoes are potatoes specifically sold for planting, rather than cooking and eating. You can buy them by the sackful from a nursery or order the type you like online. Unlike grocery store potatoes, seed potatoes aren’t sprayed with chemicals and they’re guaranteed to be free of viruses ¹.
3. Arrange the seed potatoes in an upright position. Get out an empty egg carton and place one seed potato in each hole of the carton. The eyes (little indentations where the potato sprouts) should be facing the top and the heel of the potato should be sitting in the carton. The heel is the narrow end of the potato where it was cut from the vine. If you don’t have an empty egg carton, you can use any container with dividers that give the potatoes a little space. It’s important to let some air circulate between the seed potatoes ¹.
4. Store the carton of potatoes in a cool, light room. Place the container of seed potatoes in a space that is cool, but has plenty of light. Try to choose a space that’s around 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) which will force the seed potatoes to sprout. You might place the seed potatoes on a porch or in a garage that gets lots of light. Avoid storing the seed potatoes in a dark or frosty space since these could prevent the seed potatoes from sprouting ¹.

Happy planting! 🌱🥔

Greenhouse

• Sow sweet peas in deep pots and keep them frost-free in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill
• Sow tender crops such as tomatoes and chillies in a heated propagator or on a warm sunny windowsill
• Monitor greenhouse temperatures with a max-min thermometer to ensure heaters are working efficiently
• Wash greenhouse glazing inside and out to let in as much light as possible