What to Grow in March

What to Grow in March?

As soon as March rolls in the list of things to grow go up exponentially. The days are getting longer, the soil’s starting to warm and I can see the rays of sunshine appearing through the end of winter. If you’ve been waiting to start sowing seeds now is a good time to get those seed trays out for a little seed sowing therapy. So let’s get planting!

Things to plant direct

One of the best indicators that tell us that the soil is warm enough to plant in is the sight of weeds, as the soil tmeperatures warm up things like dandelions and the common daisies begin to pop their little heads up. We can use this as an indicator to begin planting seeds directly into the soil. Here is a list of things I’ll be planting this month.

• Beetroot Family – This family includes the humble beetroot but also, spinach, chard and beat leaves so I’ll lump these all together in one category.
• Radishes – one f the fasted growing vegetables
• Pac Choi and other East Asian greens
• Carrots/Parsnips
• Lettuce – if you have slug issues it might be best to plant in trays then transplant
• Onion sets and Shallots
• Early Potatoes – especially container grown

What to sow in a Cold Greenhouse?

If the soil is not quite warm enough here are a list of things you can sow in a cold greenhouse or sow in a cold frame. The warmth of the greenhouse will give these seeds that little bit of extra protection to get them started in a safe environment. The young plants can then be transplanted once the soil outside has properly warmed up.

• Peas – I like to sow peas in gutters than transplant them as clumps to the beds as the soil warms up, try for an early variety as well as a maincrop variety take a look at https://youtu.be/SuEhViFIzc8
• Brassicas – this is the month to sow most of our brassicas like broccoli, kale, early cabbages like greyhound and cauliflowers, we can wait a month or two to sow winter cabbages.
• Onion Seeds – there’s still time to sow onions from seed the bulbs might not get as big but they’ll still give a decent crop. Spring onions are fine to sow now
• Cucumbers – later on, this month the greenhouse should be warm enough to sow cucumbers in pots

Sow In The House Or With Heat

Even though the days are getting warmer there are some plants that need that little extra protection and may need some additional heat or light to get them growing well.

• Chillies and Peppers – For me, chillies need to be sown as early as possible in order to get a decent mature crop before the end of the season we have a unique way of growing chillies so do take a look here
• Tomatoes – in the southern part of the country the greenhouse may be warm enough to sow tomatoes in an unheated greenhouse but if it’s not quite warm enough yet get a head start by sowing them indoors
• Aubergines – from the same family as tomatoes so treat in much the same way
• Gourds – growing bottle gourds is a real staple for us and now is a good time to start, but it’s also a good time to start other gourds like bitter gourds, snake gourds and ridge gourds.
• Lab Lab Beans/ Uri/Shim – these need a longer season than traditional runner beans or French climbing beans so get them started now

If you fancy trying something a little different you might want to try:

• Passion fruits – yes they will grow well in the UK
• Ginger – again it will grow in the UK but follow our growing guides we’ve done a detailed series on growing ginger. https://youtu.be/VXRwFlQi_IM

Have a great month growing!