Things to do this month

Jan
  1. Prune currants and gooseberry bushes
  2. Ventilate the greenhouse on sunny days
  3. Dig over any vacant plots that have not been dug already
  4. Plant bare-root fruit and nut trees and bushes, as long as the soil isn't frozen.
  5. Tidy the plot and add any plant waste to the compost heap
Feb
  1. Prepare vegetable seed beds
  2. Chit potato tubers
  3. Protect blossom on apricots, nectarines and peaches
  4. Net leafy vegetable crops to keep the birds off
  5. Sow tomatoes, chillies and peppers indoors
Mar
  1. Protect new spring shoots from slugs
  2. Plant shallots, onion sets and early potatoes
  3. Plant summer-flowering bulbs for cut flowers
  4. Plant strawberries
  5. Start sowing seeds of many crops including lettuce, carrots and beetroot
Apr
  1. Keep weeds under control
  2. Protect fruit blossom from late frosts
  3. Continue sowing vegetable and herb seeds
  4. Start to feed citrus plants
May
  1. Sow courgettes, pumpkins, sweetcorn and squashes
  2. Earth up potatoes, and promptly plant any still remaining
  3. Plant out tender veg such as runner beans at the end of the month
  4. Collect rainwater and investigate ways to recycle water for irrigation
  5. Regularly hoe off weeds
Jun
  1. Hoe any bare soil regularly to keep down weeds
  2. Water newly-planted crops regularly while they get established
  3. Pinch out sideshoots on tomatoes
  4. Harvest lettuce, radish, other salads and early potatoes
  5. Keep making successional sowings to ensure summer-long harvests
Jul
  1. Water vegetables regularly during dry weather
  2. Check for pests and diseases; try to catch any outbreaks early
  3. Support branches of heavily laden fruit trees and thin out the crop if necessary
  4. Feed tomatoes, peppers and melons with a high potash plant food
  5. Pick courgettes before they become marrows
Aug
  1. Make time to harvest your crops (and preserve them if necessary)
  2. Give trained fruit trees their summer pruning
  3. Sow green manures on any empty patches
  4. Keep watering if the weather is dry: particularly containers and new plants
  5. Collect seed from favourite varieties (not F1 hybrids)
Sep
  1. Plant new strawberry beds
  2. Pick autumn raspberries
  3. Harvest apples and pears – choose unblemished fruit for storage
  4. Dig up remaining potatoes before slug damage spoils them
  5. Clear away spent growth and add it to the compost heap
Oct
  1. Divide established rhubarb crowns
  2. Plant garlic cloves
  3. Net kale, cabbages and Brussels sprouts against pigeons
  4. Tidy up asparagus beds
  5. Plant out spring cabbages
Nov
  1. Order and plant bare-root fruit trees and bushes
  2. Clean and tidy greenhouses and polytunnels
  3. Sow broad beans
  4. Prune apples and pears
  5. Plant garlic cloves
Dec
  1. Prune apple and pear trees
  2. Order and plant bare-root fruit trees and bushes
  3. Protect cabbages and other brassicas from pigeons
  4. Plant garlic if you live in a mild area
  5. Prune grape vines before Christmas
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