Things to do now to prepare for Spring

• Clean Greenhouse - there’s a bit of mould in one corner, there’s algae on the windows and the whole thing needs airing out. This is a good thing to do every year anyway. There’s nothing growing in there at the moment so I need to get a shuffle on!
• Sort out and tidy shed - it’s kind of being used as storage for bird and red squirrel feed at the moment and I need to amend that.
• Weed all vegetable beds - I need to give all the vegetable beds a good weed before the warm weather comes and they start growing in earnest. I’ve got lots of lovely home made compost that I need to spread over the top too.
• Prune fruit trees - I have three apple trees, a pear tree and a plum that need pruning before spring. I also have black currant and gooseberry bushes that need doing. In conclusion, I have a lot of pruning to do.
• Empty and wash out all flower pots - self explanatory. Should have been done at the end of summer...but I’m lazy like that.
• Turn compost - I have two compost bins. One of them is ready for use this year, the other one has a way to go and needs turning. My compost is mainly kitchen waste with a bit of paper, cardboard and a few bits of garden waste in there too.
• Make newspaper seedling pots - I’ll do a post on this when I get round to it. I make my seedling pots out of newspaper because I love being able to just put the whole thing in the ground without having to prick out and risk disturbing roots. I know lots of people prefer seed trays, but this works for me. 
• Start sowing seeds - Northumberland is basically the arctic and I don’t have a heated greenhouse so there are very few things I can start sowing at the moment. I need to get my onion seeds in first and then we’ll go from there according to what the weather does. 
• Clean and re-use plant labels - I have a whole bunch of old plant labels that can definitely be re-used. Just have to sit down and get on with it!
• Put together this year’s crop plan - I have two big shiney new vegetable beds to play with this year. We actually built them last year but I put a whole bunch of manure on them and had to wait a year to let it all properly rot down. This year, they’re ready to go! So I need to plan what I’m going to do with them! Knowing me, probably just more garlic or onions.

So that’s my to do list for the immediate future. I’ll keep you up to date with how I get on. What are you up to in your vegetable patches at the moment?

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