Grow your own greens!
March is the month to start thinking about growing vegetables and flowers from seed. Even on a small plot or in a large pot you can grow something of your own. If you haven't the space but fancy some exercise and the great outdoors, an allotment costs around £20 a year. There is something deeply satisfying about tucking in to the first crisp beans of the season or delicious potatoes that you have grown yourself.

Don't know what to grow? Give anything you fancy a try, but bear in mind peppers, aubergines and some tomatoes and cucumbers do better in a greenhouse, and most veg needs some sun during the day. Think about staggering vegetable sowings and unless you have plenty of friends or relatives keen on your surplus, don't overdo it. Seed packets and catalogues give general cultivation information about how and when to sow.

If your soil looks dry and dusty and you haven't any compost get some peat-free soil conditioner and dig it in. Invest in some pelleted chicken manure and liquid tomato fertiliser for the season. For pot gardening use John Innes 3 or similar compost - it is heavy so put pots into place before filling.

March and April are potato planting months, I get mine in after sprouting [chitting] them inside in a cool but light room. Supermarket potatoes excavated from the backs of cupboards with long lanky shoots won't really do - buy potatoes from specialist suppliers or garden centres. I have limited space so find it is only worth growing the salad types. 'Charlotte' is one of the earliest to crop, followed by 'Belle de Fontenay', a tasty, waxy, white skinned oval potato; 'Roseval' is a pink skinned French variety and slightly later comes the nobbly, 'Pink Fir Apple'.

I grow pole beans as well as runner beans although the season tends to be shorter. My favourite is 'Barlotta Lingua di Fuoco', the dramatic red striped pods are eaten when young and the beans dried for winter stews. Runner beans are also decorative grown up wigwams in flower beds or large pots. 'Painted Lady' has red and white flowers, 'Sunset' is salmon pink and 'White Lady', white. 'Sugar Snap' peas need staggered sowings to get the most out of the season, try 'Carouby de Mausanne' or perhaps one of the purple podded types for an ornamental look. For salads the Italian cut-and-come-again mixed leaves from Seeds of Italy are good value, and finger leaf lettuces are easy, 'Catalogna' in particular lasts well through the season.

Rooty vegetables need a loose soil so that the root can work its way down easily. 'Chantenay' is a small reliable carrot to try and if you like beetroot, the unusual red and white ringed 'Chioggia' isn't too strongly flavoured. Squashes, courgettes and tomatoes can all be started off in mid to late April indoors on light windowsills and planted out after the last frosts. For early tomatoes the smaller one's such as 'Gardener's Delight' start cropping before the beefsteaks such as 'Marmande'. Squashes and courgettes can take up a lot of space and need sun and plenty of water, so site carefully. The best performing courgette for me in 2003 was the dark green 'Black Beauty'.

If something doesn't grow for you don't give up. Try a new variety or a different place to grow it next time. And when it does work sit back and enjoy!

My monthly gardening column from the March 2004 issue of The Bath Magazine - Bath's best local magazine for events, listings, news and views. Whether you live in and around Bath or are visiting us, it's a great source of local information.

Links:
Bath and NE Somerset Council allotments
Bath and NE Somerset Allotments Association
Seeds of Italy
The Organic Gardening Catalogue