Planning what to do

Below is a checklist of jobs that need doing in the veg garden.

Late spring

By late spring the main sowing season for hardy vegetables is over, except for those where planting successive sowings for a continuous supply is needed. However there are still important crops to put in the ground. Beetroot, calabrese, carrots, lettuce, onions, parsley, parsnips, late peas, radishes, rocket, swedes, spinach, spring onions, turnips and herbs such as parsley, dill and chervil can all be sown where they are to grow.

Successional sowings should be made, but bear in mind that by the time these crops mature in later summer you will want less of them as tender crops such as French beans and tomatoes will be cropping and the novelty of the earliest crops will not be quite so acute and in the heat of midsummer they won't stand in good condition for more than a few days. Lettuce, spinach and radish are notorious for 'going over' quickly in hot, dry weather.

Transplants such as cabbages and cauliflowers for autumn, spring and winter, and purple sprouting broccoli can be raised in pots, cell trays indoors or a seedbed outdoors.

Indoors courgettes, cucumbers, French beans, marrows, melons, pumpkins, squash and sweetcorn can be sown. These tender, frost-sensitive crops have large seeds that give rise to big, fast-growing plants therefore only sow when the date of the last frost is no more than six weeks away, otherwise you will have plants spoiling to be planted out while frosts still threaten.

Many of the transplants sown earlier in spring will be ready to go outdoors after a preliminary hardening off (gently acclimatising them fro 10 to 14 days to the colder, outside conditions). Brussels sprouts, salads, and summer calabrese, cauliflowers and cabbages in particular appreciate early planting out, even if a temporary fleece covering is called for in cold snaps.

Tender crops such as aubergines, peppers and tomatoes can be planting into greenhouse borders, pots or growing-bags. Those for growing outside, however, need a few more weeks indoors before they can be put outside.

If you have not raised your own plants, garden centres are filling up with 9cm (3.5in) pots of tender and other crops. As the best ones go quickly and they soon deteriorate under garden centre conditions it is worth snapping up plants as soon as possible even if you have to keep them under fleece or on a sunny windowsill until you are ready to plant them out.

If your plan has slipped, there is still time to sow and plant those crops that should have been done earlier in spring. They almost always catch up enough to be worthwhile. In fact, in cold, exposed, poorly drained gardens it is worth holding off until late spring as earlier sowing and planting is so risky.

Carrots and parsnips and cabbage family crops are still vulnerable to pests so aim to keep them covered with fleece or insect-proof mesh for as long as weeding and rising temperatures allow.

Peas need to be provided with sticks or mesh to climb on and broad beans often need support from stakes and string.

Potatoes will need earthing up.

Unfortunately, weed growth is at a peak now. Hoeing on dry days will destroy many weeds reducing the hand-weeding chore to a minimum.

Crops can be growing very fast too and thinning in good time is a priority job to avoid spoiling preceding hard work.

Vegetable plots should at least be smart, if not always beautiful, so don't neglect weeding and tidying edges and paths and removing debris. Tidiness has a practical benefit of avoiding trip hazards and depriving slugs and other pests of shelter.

Watering may be needed during extended periods of dry weather.