Grow it Yourself - April

Weeds are a downer. Many the great GIYing dream has been dashed against the rocks of a bed full of weeds. We start off with a lovely clear bed, we sow some seeds, there’s a shower of rain and some sunshine, and hey presto, the bed is covered in weeds. Lots and lots of weeds.

So you go out in your wellies and gloves, determined to sort them out - some of them play ball and come out clean with a single satisfying tug, but more of them break off at the base and you just know they will be back to haunt you in a week’s time. And now you’re losing the battle. In that week the weeds become more powerful, more persistent, more ubiquitous. And before you know it, you JUST COULDN”T BE BOTHERED. You’ve lost the war, and your GIYing plans are shelved for another year.

The key to controlling weeds is to dedicate yourself to weeding “little and often” and the best way to beat a weed is to hoe it before it becomes a weed. In other words, run your hoe over your entire veggie patch once a week, regardless of whether there are any weeds or not.

Hoeing will disrupt the weeds before they get a chance to become weeds. Buy yourself a decent Dutch or oscillating hoe – hoeing is actually quite a pleasant, upright task (compared to weeding by hand which is an irritating, back-breaking one). Hoe for Victory!


Things to do this month

To Do

If poor weather in March has hampered your outdoor work, then April is the month to catch-up. The key words for April are weeds and slugs. You need to stay on top of them both. Check your early spuds regularly and ‘earth-up’ as required. Water your tunnel/greenhouse – things can get pretty warm on a nice sunny April day and seedlings will dry out quickly.

Sow

Indoors: lettuce, tomato, pepper, chilli-pepper, cucumber, celery, celeriac, basil, leeks, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, parsley, courgette, marrow, globe artichoke, beans, sweet corn and pumpkin.

Outdoors: broad bean, onion sets, pea, beetroot, cabbage, spinach, Brussels sprouts, parsnip, spring onion, leek, carrot, radish, broccoli, turnip. Plant out cabbage plants when they are 15/20 cm tall into well prepared soil that has been manured.

Harvest

Stored fruit and vegetables are likely to be a distant memory at this stage and new crops are only starting to trickle in which makes April a tricky proposition. The middle of this month might see the first asparagus and the first early spring cabbage. The other two star performers this month are purple sprouting broccoli and rhubarb.


Recipe of the Month – Salmon and Leek Pastry Parcels

April is a classic hungry gap month and for many GIYers, leeks may well be the only fresh vegetable in the soil at this time of the year. Here’s a fresh, healthy salmon and leek recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 salmon fillets, skin removed
• 4 leeks, finely sliced
• 100g crème fraîche
• 20g butter
• 6 sheets filo pastry

Cook the leeks in a saucepan with a few tbsp of water and a knob of butter for 10 minutes, covered. Season well. Allow to cool.

Brush a sheet of pastry with butter, then lay 2 more sheets on top, brushing butter between each layer. Place a salmon fillet on top.

Mix the crème fraîche with the leeks – put about half this mixture on top of the salmon. Fold the pastry up over the salmon to make it in to a parcel.

Repeat this process for the second parcel. Brush them with a little melted butter.

Place on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes at 200C until nicely browned.

Serve with some mixed leaves from the veggie patch.


Tip of the Month – Nettle Fertiliser

Pick huge bundles of tender young nettles - divert around 5oz to the kitchen for a delicious nettle soup and use the rest for an organic fertiliser. Nettles are extremely high in nitrogen so if you soak a large bucketful in water for a week, you produce a brilliant nitrogen-rich fertilizer which will be hugely beneficial for any plants which need leafy growth, for example lettuces, cabbage, kale etc. Put a kilo of nettles in a Hessian bag and soak in 20 litres of water and leave it to stew for a month or so. It gets pretty stink so put a lid on top. Mix one part nettle liquid with ten parts water when applying to plants.


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Michael Kelly is a freelance journalist, author and founder of GIY Ireland.

GIY is a registered charity that inspires people to grow their own and gives them the skills they need to do so successfully. There are 80 GIY groups around Ireland and 6,000 GIYers involved.

For more tips, information and support visit www.giyireland.com.

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