Seeds to sow in March

It’s time! We’ve waited patiently through the dark, dank and wet months of winter, we’ve resisted the urge to sow seeds too soon when the first inklings of spring started to emerge through the grey clouds in February, and now the time has come…get those seed boxes out people, seed sowing time has arrived! March brings with it not only the warmer weather during both the day and the night, but those essential longer hours of daylight that our seedlings need to be able to establish and grow into healthy veg and flower plants. Without it, our seedlings could be too leggy or weak.

Runner bean seeds (saved on the left and newly bought on the right).

Ideally, and depending on which area of the UK you live in, I would recommend waiting until mid march to get going with seed sowing. Those of us who live in the South West of England generally have the luxury of warmer temperatures and so can get going a little earlier ahead of an earlier last frost date - the last frost date for Devon is around the end of April whereas towns and cities further north will have a last frost date of the beginning of June. It’s always best to check your last frost date (you can find yours here https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-united-kingdom-last-frost-date-map.php) and work backwards from that date in terms of when your plants will need planting out so that you can make sure you’re not sowing too early to make sure your plants are at the optimum size and not pot bound and desperate to be planted out by the time that last frost date comes around!

So what can you sow now? Well there are a number of seeds you can get going now, especially if you have a greenhouse. If you dont, don’t worry - there are still lots of ways you can start your seedlings off without a greenhouse. Check out my next blog post ‘No greenhouse, no problem’ for top tips on how to overcome this. There are also some seeds that you can direct sow this time of year, dependent on where in the UK you live, which I have also listed below:

Vegetable seeds I’m starting off in my greenhouse: Flower Seeds I’m starting off in my greenhouse:

Broccoli Nasturtium

Kale Cosmos

Cabbage Marigolds

Cauliflower Calendula

Kalettes Dahlias

Lettuce Cornflowers

Tatsoi Poppies

Asian salad leaves Nigella (love in the ist)

Lambs lettuce Sunflowers

Peas Zinnias

Mangetout Sweet peas

Agretti Aquilegia

Tomatoes Ammi majus

Broadbeans Billy Buttons (Craspedia globosa)

Chard

Cucumber

Courgette

Dill

Parsley

Leeks

Marigold seeds.

Seeds I’m direct sowing at the allotment:

Broad beans

Peas

Lettuce

Poppies

Carrots

Parsnips

Spring onions

Beetroot

March is also a great time to plant out onion sets, shallots, broad beans and peas and winter salad leaves that you have been bringing on over winter in your greenhouse. I’ve already popped my onion sets out and will be planting out my peas and broad beans before the end of the month.