If you are new to vegetable growing, you may well be wondering what you can safely plant or sow in March. What you can plant in March (or sow, for that matter) depends a great deal on where you intend to sow/plant your vegetables. To make things a little easier, we have split what to plant in March into groups based on location for you.
Balcony Planters and Window Boxes
If you are planning on growing your veggies in balcony planters or window boxes, you can now start sowing:
- Cut-and-regrow salad leaves like ‘Dragon’s Tongue’ salad rocket or ‘Provencale Salad Mix’, for instance
- ‘Red Choi’ (Pak Choi F1) or ‘Fizz’ kale
You can also plant basil seedlings, other new herb plants and ‘Red or Green Salad Bowl’ loose-leaved lettuce plug plants.
Patio Containers/Pots
March is also a good time to sow cut-and-regrow salad crops in your patio containers or pots.
Unheated Greenhouse, Lean-to or Sunny Porch
Here, you can start sowing leeks (especially the ‘Northern Lights’ variety) and more of the cut-and-regrow salad varieties mentioned above. You can also start planting early, quick-cropping potatoes like ‘Rocket’ or ‘Swift’, for instance, in grow sacks or pots.
Heated Propagator/Greenhouse
If you have a heated propagator or a heated greenhouse, you can sow the following in March:
- Club root-resistant F1 ‘Crispus’ Brussels sprouts
- Curly leaved ‘Afrodite’ parsley
- F1 ‘Diablo’ and ‘Yellow Bell’ sweet peppers
- Self-blanching ‘Loretta’ celery
- Shallot F1 ‘Ambition’
- Watercress
You can also plant indoor tomatoes, including beefsteak-type ‘Costoluto Fiorentino’; cherry-type ‘Gardener’s Delight’and/or F1 ‘Sweet Million’ or the delicious plum-type ‘Yellow Pear’ tomatoes in your heated greenhouse now.
Polytunnel
Using a polytunnel, March is perfect for sowing:
- Cut-and-regrow cress and mustard
- ‘Carouby de Maussane’ mangetout peas
- ‘Shiraz’ purple-podded peas
- ‘Long White Icicle’ radishes
- F1 ‘Red Kitten’ baby salad leaf spinach
- Winter purslane
- Watercress
If you have sown broad beans in February, you can now plant them out in your polytunnel.
What to Plant in March – Outdoors
Outdoors, you can start sowing the following under garden fleece or cloches:
- Early ‘Hurst Green Shaft’ peas
- F1 ‘Tweed’ swedes
- ‘Guardsman’ Spring/bunching onions
- Purple-headed F1 ‘Graffiti’ late summer cauliflower
- Root-fly resistant F1 ‘Resistafly’ carrots
- ‘Short Top Forcing’ radishes
- ‘Trophy’ corn salad (or lamb’s lettuce)
- Vegetables that can be sown directly into your allotment or garden in March include:
- Bolt-resistant ‘Boltardy’ beetroots
- ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chards
- Club root-resistant F1 ‘Lodero’ red cabbages
- F1 ‘Javelin’ parsnips
- F1 ‘Luna’ kohlrabi
- Hamburg parsley
- ‘Jaguar’ peas
- Radishes (for a successive crop of roots, sow a few every fortnight)
- Red-seeded ‘Red Epicure’ broad beans
You can also start planting vegetable plug plants (as soon as you get them) and early/main crop varieties of potatoes like ‘Red Duke of York’ (early), ‘Lady Christl’ (early) or ‘Sarpo Mira’ (main), for example, as well as:
- ‘Mikor’ red-skinned shallot sets
- ‘Red Baron’ oinion sets
- ‘Guelph Millennium’ asparagus crowns
- ‘Fuseau’ Jerusalem and Chinese artichoke tubers
Early summer cauliflowers can also be planted now.
Gardening Supplies
We hope this little guide on what to plant in March has helped. We also have a wide range of greenhouses, propagators, tools and other gardening essentials bound to help make your gardening year a success. Why not browse the range now?
