UNDER COVER

HARVEST WINTER SALADS - Winter salads, whether they have been growing outside, on a windowsill or under cover in the garden, will be starting to grow faster as the day length increases. Regular picking of the outer leaves helps to keep the plants healthy and producing for much longer.

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Members of the brassica family, including mustards and pak choi, will start to go to flower during March and April, but I have found that many over wintered lettuces will keep producing through to May and beyond.

Remove any damaged or decaying leaves and compost to reduce habitats for slugs, then pick a few leaves from each plant. Rinse thoroughly before eating, checking for any small slugs, which are rather adept at clinging onto leaves!

Home-grown salad mixes are not just for eating raw. They are delicious made into soup and also added to stir-fries and curries, used as you would spinach.

When overwintered brassicas like sprouting broccoli start to bolt the shoots and flowers are delicious both raw and cooked. The flowers also provide valuable forage for early pollinators and attract beneficial predators to the plot too.

DON'T RUSH TOMATOES

Around Valentine's Day daylight starts to exceed 10 hours a day. This is the minimum number of hours many plants need to thrive. There is still a long time to go before the outside temperatures warm up enough for all but the hardiest of plants to survive. It is easy to get carried away, especially when we see social media posts with people doing sow-a-longs. Put those tomato seed packets back in the box (unless you have a heated greenhouse and grow lights!) There is plenty of time.