Get your vegetable garden ready for spring
At the sight of the first rays of sunshine, the hands of many a vegetable gardener begin to itch. After a dark and cold winter of inactivity, we want to get back to work in the vegetable garden. Okay, we had the chicory roots that we could grow indoors and that satisfied our urge to grow for a while. But now that most of the chicory stalks are behind our teeth, we are already looking forward to our next harvest.
The shelves are gradually being filled with the first vegetable and herb plants. Also the seed potatoes can already be bought, since they first need another three weeks to germinate. But before we start rooting with our hands in the earth again, we had better prepare our vegetable garden for the new season.
The greenhouse
For example, it is very important to water the greenhouse and sprinkle lime. Tomatoes demand a lot from the soil, and strongly acidify the soil. By liming your greenhouse during the winter, you bring the soil back into balance and it will be ready for a new cultivation period. A lack of lime is one of the most common causes of greenhouse nose rot. By taking preventive action, we can already avoid many problems!
A cold frame or greenhouse are ideal to start growing in early spring. So you can already get started with the greenhouse lettuce.
The kitchen garden
A fertile and airy soil is of great importance in the vegetable garden! In the past, the garden was always dug up, but digging up the soil completely can also be detrimental to soil life. A perfect alternative to digging, especially if you have a large garden, is a tillage fork. It allows you to easily bring air into the soil without disturbing soil life. And not unimportant: without hard labour! You can also work a soil improver and compost into the soil. Do not wait too long with this because the earlier you start, the better!
Check the pH value of your soil before you start working with all kinds of products. That way you know what your vegetable garden needs! You can do this with a pH meter. The acidity of your soil is very important because it determines how the nutrients are absorbed and how they behave in the soil. Does your soil have a pH that is too high? Then you can mix peat into the soil. Is your soil too acidic? Then you'd better start working with (seaweed) lime!
A complete overview of which acidity level is suitable for which plants can be read here 👉" The pH value of your kitchen garden"
Curious about what you can still plant? We recommend planting early cauliflowers in February or early March. Be sure to read our article on planting cauliflower in February/March!
Tip from Marcel
Greenhouse lettuce can withstand freezing temperatures of up to -7 °C. So in February you can already plant lettuce in the cold store or greenhouse. The early lettuce is highly recommended anyway, as it grows slower due to the lower temperatures but tastes all the better! Are they predicting serious frost? Place some newspaper as insulation on the cold frame, or a fleece over the plants in your greenhouse.
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