The Kitchen Garden at Courteenhall is a wonderful place, with something different to see each season.
The gardener, Darron, takes great pleasure in growing an array of fruit and vegetables throughout the year, along with some flowers such as dahlias and hollyhocks to attract pollinators.
This month Darron has been sowing broad beans for successional sowing, alongside onions, kale, celeriac, brussel sprouts and leeks in the propagator along with geraniums. The geraniums will be planted as a border to the produce as a natural pest control along with alliums and other herbaceous plants. These are then left to die off over winter and provide a habitat to insects before being tidied up and replenished through March and April.
Outside Darron has planted the first set of early broad beans (on the left) and a row of sweet peas (on the right) The sweet peas are grown on a cordon system, where they are tied to stakes to keep the stems straight, for exhibition quality flowers.
For more hints and tips on growing sweet peas see here http://www.sweetpeas.org.uk/hints-on-growing/
Gardening jobs for March
- Tidy borders and remove any weeds
- Check new shoots for aphids – you can remove naturally by spraying with water
- Add some fertiliser to your flowerbeds, roses, and shrubs
- Sow tomatoes, sweet peppers, aubergines and chillies in pots indoors
- Feed cabbages and brassicas with a nitrogen-rich fertiliser such as pelleted chicken manure
To see more of what Darron has been upto in the Courteenhall Kitchen Garden take a look at our Instagram stories
