✤✤✤ MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE ✤✤✤
MARCH ON THE ALLOTMENT
DUTIES FOR THE INDUSTRIOUS PLOT‑HOLDER
Issued for the Guidance of the Allotment Holder and Cottage Gardener
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CLEARING & PREPARING THE LAND
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[ ] Clear land as crops are used; heel in leeks and celery in a sheltered corner or frame.
[ ] Clear Brussels sprouts as used; save the tops for spring greens.
[ ] Fork soil only when dry; avoid working heavy wet ground.
[ ] Complete any remaining digging before growth begins.
[ ] Work sandy soils now: add manure, dig, and lime.
[ ] Prepare trenches for peas and beans (18 in. deep), lining with cardboard, manure, peelings, then soil.
[ ] Prepare outside seed bed with superphosphate (3 oz per sq. yd.); rake fine and remove stones.
[ ] Attend to asparagus beds; lightly fork in winter manure.
[ ] Make new asparagus beds (5 ft wide for 3 rows).
[ ] Case mushroom beds once spawn threads radiate; maintain earlier beds at 75°F for spawning.
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PEST & DISEASE WATCH
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[ ] Watch for cabbage aphid; use peppermint‑based spray or strong mint tea with a little soap.
[ ] Remove swollen buds on blackcurrants (big bud mite).
[ ] Watch for fruit diseases; lime sulphur or Bordeaux mixture historically used.
[ ] Freshen greasebands on apple trees; do not remove too early.
[ ] Attack apple pests with nicotine spray (historical).
[ ] Spray apples and pears for caterpillars, scab, or mildew (historical materials).
[ ] Manage Tarsonemid mite on strawberries (historical burning method described).
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SOWING OUTDOORS
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[ ] Sow parsnips without delay; intersow lettuce and radish to mark rows.
[ ] Sow onions outdoors promptly; spring onions also.
[ ] Sow spinach outdoors; also sow leeks, cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, peas, and broad beans.
[ ] Sow carrots, beetroot, and turnips outside.
[ ] Sow outdoor tomatoes now.
[ ] Sow parsley, sage, thyme, and celery outdoors in patches or drifts.
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SOWING INDOORS, UNDER GLASS & IN FRAMES
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[ ] Prick out leeks, onions, and celery; move to cold frame to harden off.
[ ] Make another sowing of tomatoes indoors.
[ ] Sow celeriac in trays.
[ ] Sow brassicas indoors; prick out and transfer to cold frame.
[ ] Plant out lettuce seedlings or grow under cloches.
[ ] Plant out overwintered cauliflowers from frames.
[ ] Sow sage and thyme in trays.
[ ] Sow sweet corn indoors.
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HARDENING OFF & EARLY PLANTING
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[ ] Harden off onions and leeks in cold frames; give leeks plenty of air.
[ ] Plant out early potatoes 6 in. deep; continue planting as weather allows.
[ ] Reduce sprouts on seed potatoes to two for larger tubers.
[ ] Plant shallots, garlic, and horseradish (3 in. pieces).
[ ] Plant out autumn‑sown onions, cauliflowers, and early cabbage.
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GREENHOUSE & COLD GREENHOUSE WORK
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[ ] Pot tomatoes into 5‑inch pots.
[ ] Use cold greenhouse for winter lettuce followed by early cauliflower, then tomatoes.
[ ] Sow tomatoes for outdoor and indoor crops.
[ ] Sow celeriac, herbs, and brassicas in trays.
[ ] Train cucumbers up wires or canes in heated greenhouse.
[ ] Stake cucumbers as needed.
[ ] Ventilate greenhouse fruit and spray with water (historical nicotine wash).
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FRUIT TREES & SOFT FRUIT CARE
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[ ] Feed fruit trees with general fertiliser or sulphate mix (historical).
[ ] Complete planting of fruit trees before growth begins.
[ ] Support raspberries; prune gooseberries.
[ ] Cut back autumn‑planted raspberries to 1 ft.
[ ] Examine blackcurrants; remove big‑bud‑mite buds.
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MUSHROOM BEDS
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[ ] Spawn mushroom beds when temperature falls to 75°F.
[ ] Case mushroom beds with poor, weed‑free soil once spawn threads radiate.
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✤ DIG F
OR VICTORY ✤
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