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Tips and jobs
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Tips and jobs

Prepare asparagus beds
If there's one reason to grow your own food, it has to be succulent, freshly-picked asparagus spears in late spring, steaming hot and dripping with butter. You'll get 20 years' worth of crops from your crowns if you get the groundwork right first. Dig a wide trench and fork well-rotted manure into the bottom, plus loads of grit to get the sharp drainage asparagus needs. Then make ridges along the trench and arrange your crowns on top so their spidery roots hang down either side. Back-fill and water in to finish.

Sow chillies
If you want to be sure of your fix of tongue-blistering heat in late summer get your chillies going now as they need the longest possible growing season. Sow into pots or modules and germinate indoors in the warm. As soon as they're up, put them somewhere bright and frost-free until early summer, when they can be moved outside.

Test soil temperature before sowing
Sowing seeds direct into the soil is a lottery at the best of times, but do it too early and you're guaranteeing failure. Soil temperature is the giveaway: if it feels cold on the back of your hand, hold off. Invest in a soil thermometer for more accurate monitoring - once the soil stays above 7°C for a week, you’re good to go.

Top tips

Net newly-planted onion sets to stop birds pulling them up again – they find those little tufts poking out of the soil irresistible. Remove the net once you see green shoots.

Warm the soil with clear polythene for a couple of weeks to get a head start – seeds germinate more readily in pre-warmed soil.

Pick up pots for free from recycling bays at your local garden centre. Discarded summer bedding module trays are great for sowing veg seeds, though wash in disinfectant before using.

Tools for the jobs

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