Damn March. It always does that, doesn’t it? A lovely spring weekend and then wham, snow. The last bitter fling of winter. Every year I fall for it and this year I fell worst of all: much of what we planted won’t have a chance now. The celery, the celeriac, the parsley in the greenhouse: they show no sign of doing anything. Too cold, I suppose; the little seeds have curled up and gone to sleep. (I know the feeling well.) Ditto the spinach in the garden and the aubergines indoors on the window sill.

We have no propagator, you see — too expensive, too much hassle, I’ve been told — and it makes sowing at this time of year a bit hit and miss. Radiators are too hot, window sills can be too sunny, greenhouses too cold; well, how the hell do you do it, then? Actually we have no guidebook at the moment either, which is making everything a bit hit and miss.

The best, the absolutely best book for learning to grow vegetables (forget any others that I have recommended in the past) is the Gardening Which? Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables. It tells you exactly how and when to plant, and all in alphabetical order so it doesn’t matter if you don’t know your beans from your brassicas.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, it’s out of print. Ours is unreadably rotted and stuck together from too much outdoor life. You can get the odd copy on Amazon, although it seems to be something of a collectors’ item: two are for sale at £295. But as I write there is one left at £38. Worth it, I promise.

The vegetable patch

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BACKGROUND

• Vegging Out: Top of the plots

• Growing pains

• Vegging Out: Rescue operations

• Vegging Out: damn that blight

BACKGROUND

• Vegging Out: coping with bad weather

• Vegging Out: how to start a vegetable patch

• Vegging Out: garden pests

• Vegging out: gone shopping

• Vegging out: excess all areas

BACKGROUND

• Vegging Out: coming up roses

• Vegging out: the vanishing

• Battling with the weather

• Vegging out: seeds and setbacks

• Return to the veg patch

BACKGROUND

• Vegging out : excess story

• Vegging out: bolt from the blue

• Vegging out: lady bountiful

• Vegging out: gone shopping

• Vegging out: moving experience

So our successes, though pleasing, are few: the tomato seedlings are thriving, the radishes coming through in a little line, lettuces doing well, and — surprise, because I don’t remember planting it and it wasn’t on the Plan — we have a tray of basil sprouts. A touch of summer after all.

The plant I’m most delighted with, though, as I don’t know anyone who has tried growing it before and it’s a bit exotic and will look so pretty, is a solitary chilli seedling; one out of ten. I assume the other nine are staying warm and snug below the surface for now.

I had some brilliant tips from readers on growing parsley, including watering the seeds with very hot water on sowing and planting on a full-moon night (thanks, Mum). This week, can anyone suggest ways to cheat on propagation?

Also, send pictures of your vegetable-patch disasters and successes to gardens@timesonline.co.uk

Sarah Wain’s advice on germination times

Aubergine: 10 days -2 weeks at 20-25C

Celery: Sow at 15 c min prick out into modules, takes 2-3 weeks to germinate. Don't check the growth at any time. Therefore heat and water are required.

Celeriac: sow at 15C min takes 2-3 weeks to germinate approx, don't let seedlings dry out at all. Module-sow for best results and watch out for green fly attacks.

Spinach: Spinach takes 'no time' to germinate. It's quick and obliging. Again, sowings up until now are sown in modules, but direct sowing into veg frame is OK from now on and then into the main bed as direct sowings. Little and often is the key to success.

Potato planting: Once potatoes have chitted they can be planted out, generally late March early April for us. We don't grow main crop potatoes these days to try to avoid potato blight so only first and second earlies are planted. Once harvested we follow these with leeks and chicory.

Sarah Wain, is Gardens Supervisor at West Dean Gardens.

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