Things to do in March

If you visit any gardening website this month, pretty much all you will find is "a list of things to do in March." I assume this is because the journalists are all too busy enjoying our recent spells of milder weather to write anything new and are happy to post the same thing they did last year.

Anyway, here is what I've done in March, which is different to last year:

• Planted Sunflower and Gazania seeds - never grown Gazanias before, got them free off the front of a magazine and not sure where I will put them yet. They're coming up already.
• Put a load of Chive seeds in, these I collected last year from my own plants so not sure if they will germinate, I have patchy results with collecting seed.
• Planted some squash seeds. I have read (in a list of things to do in March) that squashes benefit from early planting because they take so long to reach maturity, so I've popped some seeds of 'Avalon F1' in pots on the windowsill.

Other things happening on the plot this month include burning of old rubbish that has been stacked up since August waiting for a dry spell to burn it, and adding organic fertiliser to my garlic and onions. Well I think they're onions, they could be shallots, I don't know.  I've also dug up most of my compost heap and used the compost on a couple of beds, but I will need a load more for the rest of the plot. As mentioned before, I don't think I've been adding enough.  I have the number of a local farmer who I'm told will deliver a trailer-full of locally composted green waste on his tractor, I will try this and report back.