Work starts now for vegetable gardens

Work starts now for vegetable gardens

» 16th February 2010 «

Garden owners hoping to use their land to grow their own vegetables should be hard at work this month with a number of important tasks to be carried out.

February should be a time of cultivating seedbeds and finishing major digging and weeding projects, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has advised.

The organisation also suggested that the soil be covered with a clear polythene or fleece to help heat it up before seeds are sowed.

Some thought should be put into what crops will be grown and a rotation scheme should be put into place to avoid stripping the earth of the same nutrients each year.

Those with an acidic soil can also improve it this month by raking in lime to help neutralise the problem.

Greenhouse owners can begin to sow tomatoes and cucumbers under glass from around now, although a heated propagator set to around 21 degrees C may be beneficial to encourage germination, before turning the heat down to between 15 and 18 degrees C.

Meanwhile, the RHS recently suggested that Brits pay a visit to one of its many landscaped gardens during spring.