RAISED BED AND CONTAINER WEEKLY DIARY
WEEKS 1 TO 4 JANUARY
Article by David Marks.
Sometime in January your crop of stored potatoes will either run out or their condition will significantly deteriorate. Unfortunately it’s back to shop bought ones for the moment but in mid February you need to order your seed potatoes for this year’s crop. Click here for our advice on seed potato types.
PLAN CROPS FOR THIS YEAR
Make your plans over the next few weeks for the crops you plan to grow this year. It’s always good to try an experiment each year and we suggest trying a raspberry plant or three in a container.
SUSAN’S ADVICE
Different types of plant food can be confusing to understand but it’s not really complicated. General purpose plant feeds such as Growmore are high in nitrogen and help foliage and stems grow well.
Tomato type feeds such as Tomorite contain lots of potassium based feed which is good for fruit formation. Long lasting fertilisers such as bonemeal or blood, fish and bone contain balanced nutrients which are released slowly.
PLANT RASPBERRY CANES
Raspberries have several good things going for them when grown in containers. First, you’ll be surprised at the amount of fruit produced by just two or three plants. Second, once planted, they will continue to produce fruit for many years.
We suggest trying a 50cm diameter container with three raspberry canes planted in it. Tie them, as they grow to a bamboo cane each, with the three bamboo canes tied together at the top to form a pyramid type shape.
Plant the raspberries in the container from November to March and even in the first year you can expect a small crop. We are planting our raspberries in containers next month and will keep you updated in this weekly diary on how to look after them throughout the year. Click here to go to our main raspberry page.
HARVEST PARSNIPS
January is probably the last month in which to successfully harvest your parsnips. Simply grip the top foliage near the parsnip and gently ease them out of the soil. Only do this when the soil is not frozen.
CHOOSE AND ORDER SEEDS
Choose a cold evening in late January to sit down with a pen and paper and work out which crops you plan to grow in your raised bed and containers in the coming year.
A visit to our vegetable calendar page will give you a good idea of when they should be sown / planted and may also suggest one or two new additions.
Make a plan of where the vegetables are to be planted this year. Bear in mind some semblance of crop rotation as well if you want the soil in your raised beds to remain healthy.
Try to plant the vegetables in different parts of the raised bed (or in new soil in containers) compared to last year. The key vegetables to be wary of planting in the same soil are potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic and carrots – these must not be planted in the same soil as last year.
PREVIOUS AND FUTURE WEEKS DIARIES
January Weeks 1-4
February Weeks 1-4
March Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
April Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
May Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
June Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
July Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
August Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
September Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
October Week 1 Week 2 Weeks 3-4
November Weeks 1-4
December Weeks 1-4