In The Vegetable Garden This March

March is a key month in the vegetable garden 🌱 — soil starts warming, daylight increases rapidly, and the growing season properly begins. Here are your top practical jobs and sowing tips for success.

🌱 1. Start Sowing Hardy Vegetables Outdoors

If the soil is workable (not frozen or waterlogged), you can sow:

• Carrots (early varieties)

• Parsnips (sow early — they need a long season)

• Beetroot

• Spinach

• Spring onions

• Broad beans (if not already sown)

💡 Tip: Warm the soil first with cloches or fleece for earlier germination.

🥔 2. Plant First Early Potatoes

• Plant first earlies toward the end of March.

• Space about 30cm apart in trenches.

• Protect emerging shoots from frost with soil or fleece.

Chit (pre-sprout) potatoes indoors before planting for a head start.

🧅 3. Plant Onion Sets & Shallots

March is ideal for:

• Onion sets

• Shallots

• Spring garlic (if not planted in autumn)

Plant in well-drained soil — onions hate sitting wet.

🥬 4. Start Tender Crops Indoors

Sow inside (windowsill or greenhouse):

• Tomatoes

• Chillies

• Peppers

• Aubergines

They need warmth (18–21°C ideally). Good light is crucial to avoid leggy seedlings.

🌿 5. Prepare Beds Properly

• Weed thoroughly before things take off.

• Add compost or well-rotted manure.

• Avoid walking on wet soil (prevents compaction).

• Rake to a fine tilth before sowing small seeds.

If soil is heavy clay, wait until it crumbles rather than sticks.

🥦 6. Sow Brassicas Under Cover

Start under protection:

• Cabbage

• Cauliflower

• Broccoli

• Brussels sprouts

Protect young plants from pigeons and flea beetle.

🍓 7. Care for Fruit Crops

• Tidy strawberry beds and feed lightly.

• Prune autumn-fruiting raspberries.

• Apply mulch around fruit trees and bushes.

• Watch for early blossom — frost can damage it.

🐌 8. Watch for Slugs & Pigeons

March growth is tender and attractive to pests.

• Use netting over brassicas.

• Check under boards and pots for slugs.

• Start control early before populations build.

🌦 9. Be Frost-Ready

March weather is unpredictable.
Keep fleece or cloches handy for:

• Early potatoes

• Young brassicas

• Newly emerged seedlings