[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_custom_heading text="In the garden with Nell Carr" font_container="tag:h2|font_size:40|text_align:left" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"][vc_column_text]

October 2015 | Nell Carr

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_separator color="black" align="align_center" style="dotted" border_width="2"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]

THERE ARE very few exceptions to the list of vegetables which can be sown in late spring, although if new potatoes and green peas are wanted for Christmas then it is far too late, as they take at least 12 weeks to grow to maturity.

Peas are best sown before the end of October.

The brassicas, cabbage, cauliflower and brussels sprouts may be sown in ground which has been enriched with manure or compost.

The following season, carrots can be sown in the brassica bed. Manure at sowing time for carrots causes the roots to ‘fork’.

Parsnips, however, can tolerate manure at sowing time.

The latter are much slower to germinate than carrots - three to four weeks, while carrots should emerge in 10 to 14 days, so long as the rows are kept moist.

Green beans and butter beans: it is not advisable to sow these until November when the soil has warmed a little.

This is especially so in the Western end of Meander Valley, as it has been thecoldest winter for 50 years, with a rare heavy snowfall on 2nd August.