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Weekend work: Time to hoe between rows of winter-planted garlic and broad beans

 

Anna Pavord
Saturday 22 March 2014 01:00 GMT
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WHAT TO DO

* Hoe gently between rows of winter-planted garlic to loosen soil that has got beaten down and sour during the winter months. Do the same between early rows of broad beans. Feed if necessary with an all-round fertiliser such as Growmore.

* Repot indoor plants such as asparagus fern, aspidistra, and succulents of all kinds, giving them if possible, a pot one size larger than the one they were previously growing in.

* Take cuttings of geraniums now, choosing strong healthy shoots 7-10cm long and cutting just below a leaf joint. Strip off all the leaves except the few immature ones at the top of the cutting and root them, uncovered, in pots of compost. They will even root in water.

WHAT TO SEE

* Do you stake your plants before they need them? Or after? My head hangs down in shame as I slink towards the 'after' camp. But the Cambridge Botanic Garden has arranged a practical session called Successful Staking (8 April, 10.30am-12.30pm, £20) to encourage all of us lazy stakers to Do the Right Thing. Book at oxforduniversitystores.co.uk

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