By Isle of Wight Observer
This time last year, we had been battered by damaging winds and heavy rainfall. However, the last few weeks have been somewhat more settled, and the forecast is certainly looking favourable with even some sunshine in the pipeline.
With drier conditions ahead it will give us all an opportunity to prepare the ground ready for this season. Vegetable beds can be dug over and cleaned up. It is still too early to sow seeds directly outside, but you can plant shallots and onion sets.
If you have a heated greenhouse, you can begin to sow some seeds in seed trays, such as tomatoes, peppers and cabbages. Seed potatoes are available at our Island garden centres, so it’s a great time to get these ready for planting out in a few weeks time.
If you have any autumn-sown sweet pea plants, then the tops should be taken off to encourage the side shoots to develop. These will then be ready to plant out from late March.
Dahlia tubers can be brought out from their Winter hibernation, and set up into large pots or trays in order to take cuttings in early April.
Our local Spring shows will soon be upon us, beginning with Brighstone on March 15. It all looks set to be a late season with the daffodils, unless the weather changes considerably, so I suspect that the later shows, such as Freshwater and the Isle of Wight Horticultural Association, will see an increase of blooms on show.
This leads me to mention the IWHA. It has a meeting at Chillerton village hall on March 4, at 7pm, to discuss the future of the organisation. It desperately needs new volunteers, with new ideas, in order to continue.
The Spring Show will be going ahead in April but, beyond this, it’s dependent on some willing volunteers coming forward. It would be a terrible shame to consign this group to history, so please come along and offer to get involved, even in a small way. There will be refreshments there to help twist your arm!