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JOBS TO DO IN JANUARY

GENERAL

Clear old crops, rubbish and weeds.

Spread compost over beds

Plan crop rotation

VEGETABLES

Dig trench for planting dwarf and climbing beans and celery, then fill with kitchen waste, compost, manure, paper and wet cardboard.

Start chitting early potatoes on cool, light windowsill.

Sow onion seed in propagator or warm windowsill.

FRUIT

Plant new trees and bushes.

Feed apple and pear trees

Prune apples, pears, currants and gooseberries.

Replace tree grease bands.

Cover rhubarb. (For forced rhubarb)

Feed raspberries and then mulch.

 

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN FEBRUARY

 

GENERAL

Continue tidying up.

 

VEGETABLES

Plant shallots, asparagus, and Jerusalem artichokes.

Chit potatoes.

Mulch perennial veg with compost.

Continue digging trenches.

 

FRUIT

Divide established clumps of rhubarb.

Prune fruit trees (not cordon or espalier.)

Prune fruit bushes.

Plant bare root fruit.

Tie cane fruits to support.

Feed and mulch fruit.

Prune autumn fruiting raspberries down to ground level.

Mulch fruit trees with compost.

 

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN MARCH

 

GENERAL

Use cloches , clear polythene or fleece to warm seedbeds for early sowing.

 

VEGETABLES

Sow outside under cloches ;

Broad Beans

Peas.

Mange tout.

Carrots.

Beetroot

Spinach

Swiss Chard

Cabbage

Cauliflour

Turnips

Radish

Salads

Rocket

Coriander

 

Sow in frost free greenhouse;

Peppers

Tomatoes

Cucumber

Aubergines

Celery

Salads

Globe artichokes

Leeks

Lettuce

Plant out shallots, garlic, onion sets, asparagus and Jerusalem artichokes

Plant early potatoes.

Continues trenches.

 

FRUIT

Complete feeding and mulching fruit.

Complete pruning autumn raspberries, blueberries and gooseberries.

 

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN APRIL

 

GENERAL

Cover seed beds with cloches to warm soil.

 

VEGETABLES

Sow outside;

Brussel sprouts

Brocolli

Beetroot

Broad beans

Brassicas

Carrots

Chicory

Cabbages

Summer cauliflower

Lettuce

Leeks

Mange tout

Peas

Parsley

Rocket

Radish

Spring onion

Salad leaves

Swiss Chard

Spinach beet

Turnips

Sow indoors;

Peppers

Cucumber

Aubergines

Basil

Parsley

Chives

Plant asparagus crowns

Plant onion sets growing in modules.

Plant potatoes, earlies and 2nd earlies.

Plant out broad beans grown under glass.

Earth up potatoes.

Pot up tomato seedlings

 

FRUIT

Start formative pruning of plums and cherry

Prune fig trees

Cover strawberries with cloches for early fruit.

Blast wooley aphids of fruit trees with water

Spray apples With fungicide to prevent mildew.


 

 

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN MAY

GENERAL

HOE WEEKLY !!!!!!!

Weed and water.

 

VEGETABLES

Sow outdoors; Salad leaves, rocket, radish, spring onions, beetroot, leeks, carrots, swede, turnip, leaf beet, spinach, cabbage, sprouting broccoli, cauliflour, peas and herbs.

Sow in pots under cover ; French and runner beans, marrow, courgettes, squash, pumpkin and sweetcorn , harden off late May and plant out June.

Transfer toms to containers or grow bags.

Remove side shoots on cordon toms.

Transplant brassicas to cropping position.

Card collars around brassicas to prevent cabbage root fly.

Earth up around potato stems .

 

FRUIT

Mulch fruit trees and bushes.

Straw around strawberry plants.

Watch for and rub off gooseberry sawfly.

Peach leaf curl; Spray with copper based fungicide.

HARVEST!

Rhubarb, Asparagarus spears , salad leaves.

 

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN JUNE

GENERAL

Weed and water.

 

VEGETABLES

Everything can now be sown outside.

Don't harvest new pots before June,

Dig up new pots after flowers first appear.

Continue earthing up pots.

Keep sowing lettuce every 3-4 weeks.

Sow winter brassicas, fennel and oriental greens.

Plant out peppers, courgettes, squash, sweetcorn, beans and outdoor cucumbers.

Transplant leeks.

Rub yellow eggs and caterpillars off cabbage.

Stop cutting asparagus.

 

FRUIT

Straw strawberries.

Tie in new raspberry and blackberry canes.

Net soft fruit.

Liquid feed rhubarb.

Prune blackcurrants.

HARVEST

Rhubarb to end of month.

Blackcurrants and prune at the same time.

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN JULY

 

VEGETABLES

Sow outside ;

Beetroot, Chinese leaves, spring cabbage, endive, salad leaves, lettuce, radish, winter spinach, fennel, kohl rabi, flat leaved parsley, pok choi, carrots "Early Nantes" for autumn crop, turnips for green tops and green manure.

Sow in pots;

Dwarf French beans and peas for a late crop.

Plant out final crops of pot grown pumpkins, squash, tomato, salads, sweetcorn, and beans.

Plant out leeks and winter brassica.

Water and earth up main crop potatoes.

Earth up celery and endive.

Mulch.

FRUIT

Net soft fruit.

Keep soft fruit well watered.

Mulch.

Summer prune currants and gooseberries. (Remove 10cm of new growth from each shoot)

Cut out old fruiting canes to base of raspberries, loganberries and tayberries after picking and tie in new canes.

Tie in and train new blackberry canes.

Peg down strawberry runners from young healthy plants.

Prepare new strawberry beds.

Thin apples, pears and plums after "June drop".

Summer prune apples and pears grown as espalier, fan and cordon.

Summer prune plums after harvest.

 

JOBS TO DO IN AUGUST

 

VEGETABLES

Sow outdoors; Endive, oriental leaves, pok choi, radish, salad leaves, spring cabbage, winter spinach and green manure.

Transplant summer sown cabbage, broccoli and kale.

Pick beans regularly to encourage flowering.

Bend outer cauli leaves over curds to keep them white.

Fine netting over brassicas to keep off cabbage white butterfly.

Rub caterpillars off brassicas.

After harvesting beans and legumes cut to the ground, leave roots to produce nitrogen for next year.

Increase feeding toms.

Complete lifting of 2nd early potatoes.

Raise squash and pumpkins off ground.

Protect outdoor pots and toms with copper fungicide.

 

FRUIT

Prune out a quarter of oldest blackcurrat stems if not done when harvesting.

Continue tying in new fruit canes.

Prepare new strawberry beds.

Remove apples, pears and plums affected by brown rot.


 

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN SEPTEMBER

 

VEGETABLES

Sow outside; Overwintering broad beans, corn salad, endive, land cress, hardy peas, radish, spinach, spring onion, spring cabbage, turnips for green tops, winter lettuce and green manure.

Plant out garlic and over wintering onion sets.

Lift maincrop potatoes.

Harvest globe artichokes, sweetcorn and outdoor toms (ripen indoors)

Stake Brussel sprouts.

Pot up herbs for winter use.

Cut down ferny foliage on asparagus.

 

FRUIT

Pick early apples and pears and late ripening plums and clear away diseased fruit.

Take gooseberry cuttings.

Trim strawberries, mulch with compost.

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN OCTOBER

 

VEGETABLES

Sow green manure.

Plant out spring cabbage plants, garlic and overwintering onion seta.

Lift potatoes, beetroot, and carrots and store in frost free and dry conditions.

Cover herbs with cloches.

Dry herbs for winter use.

Harvest pumpkins, squash and marrows before frosts.

 

FRUIT

Cut fruited blackberry canes to the ground and tie in next years.

Pick remaining apples and pears before frost and store.

Plant out strawberry plants.

Take hardwood cuttings of gooseberries and currants.

Lift and divide rhubarb crowns.

Apply grease bands to fruit trees.

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN NOVEMBER

 

GENERAL

Remove debris for compost.

Collect leaves for leafmould.

Keep weeding!!!!!!

Dig compost or manure into vacant areas OR spread it over the surface, the worms will do the rest. THE FAMOUS NO DIG METHOD.

 

VEGETABLES

Sow green manures.

Still time to sow overwintering broad beans and hardy peas but protact with cloches.

Finish planting garlic.

Harvest parsnips when you need them.

Save bean seeds.

FRUIT

 

Start winter pruning apples and pears.

Cut away dead leaves from strawberries.

Prune out fruited canes of autumn raspberries.

Plant bushes, canes and fruit trees.

 

 

JOBS TO DO IN DECEMBER

 

GENERAL

Continue clearing and composting.

Continue digging in compost/manure or cover with compost/manure. ( NO DIG METHOD.)

VEGETABLES

Earth up sprouts.

FRUIT

Plant new fruit trees and bushes if ground not frozen.

Winter prune apples, pears, currants and gooseberries.

Cover rhubarb for earlier, sweeter stems.

Hardwood cuttings of currants and gooseberries can still be taken.

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