This post was most recently updated on April 28th, 2017
Depending on where you are and the type of soil you have, often there is not much you can be doing in the garden at this time of year. However, if you have raised beds then you can grow things a little longer.
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VEGETABLES
Clear away rubbish. Healthy plant pieces can go into your compost garden, but seed heads and anything diseased is better burnt or send to the local green rubbish depot. This is because at this time of year it is unlikely that your compost will heat hot enough to destroy the seeds and spores.
Remove any weeds and mulch the ground thickly to stop them returning while the bed is resting over the winter. Add a sprinkling of lime – 4oz/100g / 10 sq ft/1sq meter.
You can sow some oats to be dug in in Spring time as a green manure.
Plant out cabbage seedlings to mature in the springtime.
Sow broad beans (lima beans) in a double row with about 8in/20cm between rows and 2ft/60cm between each set of double rows. Plant them about 1 inch deep and 4 inches apart.
Carrots and beetroot can be lifted and stored for winter use. Put a pile of them in an unused corner of the garden and cover with loose soil or sand. This makes them easier to access without having to dig up frozen ground.
FRUIT
Tomatoes still with fruit to ripen in the glasshouse can have most of their leaves removed to speed this along. Plants with only a few fruits left can have that portion of the stem removed and you can then hang it somewhere warm to ripen. The last of the plants can be pulled out.
Tomatoes grown in pots or the glass house need the soil replaced at least every other year to prevent disease. This soil can be put out onto the garden for other vegetables to use.
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