A Month By Month Calendar [BACK]

JANUARY

January is the month without outdoor sowing or planting, when food depends on stored roots, what is frozen or bottled and what can still be dug or picked in the garden. Salads that can be cut quickly even under cleared snow are lamb's lettuce, miner's lettuce and landcress, with Winter Density the hardiest cos variety sometimes still available from the earlier sowings that have survived from the batch for autumn eating. Raw cabbage is the quickest winter salad, because you can clear one of the white domes that are savoys or January Kings, cut through the stem and get back into the warm with perhaps 1.3kg of nutritional value, that soars in shop price in hard weather.

The leaf beets, chard and spinach beet, winter spinach and a full range of the cabbage family are ready to gather when weather permits, and the large leaves of chard can be twisted (not cut) off far more quickly than picking spinach. Never strip a single plant but take leaves in turn so that there are enough to protect the new leaves that will be ready later. It pays to pack the garden with every possible winter vegetable, to allow for losses and to give recovery time from crops that produce well into the spring. The value of wide spacing sows in winter, for leaf vegetables in contact with each other provide more shelter for slugs and hold moisture that leads to rotting.

January is seed catalogue time, and though seed potatoes and all bush or tree fruit should have been ordered early in the autumn to give a choice of varieties, it pays to place one sizeable seed order with a good firm, to secure the essentials and save on postage.

The Kitchen Garden

• Finish winter digging
• Apply manures and fertilizers where appropriate
• Force rhubarb
• Sow broad beans under cloches
• Plant Shallots
• Place cloches in position to warm up the soil
• Sow early crops in cold frames or beneath cloches
• Prepare runner bean and celery trenches
• Chit 'seed' potatoes (small tubers) of early varieties

  There's not a lot you can do in the depths of winter except to continue picking hardy herbs such as sage and rosemary. Also check that tender herbs that you protected, such as lemon verbena, are still fully covered.

Soft Fruit

• If you haven't done it already, complete the winter pruning of bushes and indoor grapes. At the same time, check all the ties on canes, cordons and fans.
• Heavy snow can damage canes and branches. Tidy up any branches or canes broken by wind and snow.
• Pot-grown strawberries need to be outside at this time so that chilling can induce flower formation.
• Canes and bushes can be planted in January, provided the ground is not sodden or frozen. Ensure any plants ordered by post are heeled in straight away for later planting.
• Net gooseberries against bullfinches and sparrows.
• Remove buds or branches affected by 'big bud' on blackcurrants and burn or bin them.

FEBRUARYtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Warm up the soil with cloches.
• Sow early crops in cold frames or beneath cloches.
• Onions - if you didn't last month, sow a few seeds in a pot or small tray in a heted propagator for an extra early crop. Grow them on in a cold greenhouse in individual pots for planting out in March.
• Peas - in very sheltered areas it is possible to make an early sowing towards the end of February in soil that has been warmed with a cloche, fleece or black polythene. Choose the hardier round-seeded types such as 'Feltham First' and sow in a triple row 5cm (2in) apart and 5cm (2in) deep. Cover the row again with the cloche etc. Alternatively, sow some in Rootrainers or modules in a cold frame, ready for planting out next month.
• Broad Beans - these are very handy but also benefit from the soil first being warmed with a cloche or similar for a couple of weeks before sowing. Sow in double rows, 5cm (2in) deep with the beans spaced about 20cm (8in) apart. Cover the rows again to speed up germination. If conditions are not right for an outdoor sowing, sow in Rootrainers or modules in a cold frame or greenhouse to plant out in March.
• Potatoes - it's a good idea to set first early and second early potato tubers to 'chit'. Set them upright in a cardboard box, egg tray or seed tray with the end with the most 'eyes' uppermost. They are frost tender, so make sure they are somewhere frost-free like a bedroom windowsill, or set up a heater in your greenhouse or cover nightly with several layers of fleece.
• Turnips - these germinate fast and by covering an area of soil for a couple of weeks with black polythene or a cloche you should be able to get a row to germinate for an extra early crop. Sow 2cm (half in) deep. Harvest from May. Early crops escape flea beetle damage.
• Lettuce - sow a hardy variety such as 'Marvel of Four Season' in pots in a heated propagator to get the seed to germinate and then plant out into a cold frame for early pickings in about May.

Soft Fruit

• Towards the end of the month cut back summer raspberry canes to just above the top wire. If you live in a cold area, I suggest you leave this job to next month.
• Cut back all canes of raspberry 'Autumn Bliss' to ground level and mulch with garden compost.
• Untie indoor grapes and lay them down to ensure even bud break. Scrape the stems with a sharp knife to remove any scale or other lurking insects and any nascent disease spores.
• Clean up dead leaves on the crowns of dormant strawberries. Cover some plants of an early cultivar with a cloche if you want an even earlier crop. Plant new strawberries.
• Continue to check for and remove 'big bud' on blackcurrants.

MARCHtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Apply manures and fertilizers where appropriate.
• Plant onion sets.
• Plant asparagus crowns.
• Continue to sow in cold frames or beneath cloches for earlier crops.
• Start sowing vegetables without protection - many kinds can be sown from mid spring onwards, so check the packets.
• Use horticultural fleece or floating cloches for early crops if you don't have conventional cloches.
• Plant potatoes.
• Plant out vegetable seedlings such as cabbages and cauliflowers.

Soft Fruit

• This is the last month when you can do winter pruning and plant out bare-root fruit.
• Do not remove the nets over gooseberries yet.
• Cut back any summer fruiting raspberries, if you decided not to do it in February.
• Bring in strawberries for fruiting in pots early in the month to start them into growth.
• Spread compost, manure, leafmould and any required organic fertilisers as appropriate.
• Tie indoor grape rods back to their wires as buds break.
• Watch out for the first aphids - a sure sign of spring.
• Last chance to remove 'big bud' damage.

APRILtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Plant up a herb pot.
• Apply manures and fertilizers where appropriate.
• Sow sweet corn outdoors in mild areas when further frost is unlikely.
• Sow vegetables without protection - many kinds can be sown now, so check the packets.
• Plant potatoes.
• Sow seeds of crops such as cabbages, cauliflowers and sprouts in a seed bed, where they can be grown for later transplanting.
• Sow or plant runner beans outdoors.

Soft Fruit

• Plant out cold-stored strawberry runners.
• Start seaweed sprays early this month.
• Remove nets that were placed over gooseberries in January.
• Hoe off any raspberry 'spawn' that appears away from rows.
• Watch out for the first gooseberry sawfly late in the month on gooseberries, redcurrants and whitecurrants. You may also find winter moth feeding on leaves.
• Aphid numbers will now be increasing and need attention.

MAYtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Sow sweet corn outdoors in mild areas when further frosts are unlikely.
• Make successional sowings of crops such as beetroot, carrots, lettuces and turnips.
• Plant potatoes.
• Plant out vegetable seedlings such as cabbages, cauliflowers, celery, sweetcorn, tomatoes and courgettes.
• Sow seeds of crops such as cabbages, cauliflowers and sprouts in a seed bed for transplanting later.
• Sow French beans.
• Watch out for aphids on broad beans and root flies on cabbages, carrots and onions.
• Thin vegetables while still small.

Soft Fruit

• Plant out cold-stored strawberry runners, de-blossom perpetual varieties until the end of the month.
• Mulch all fruit bushes and canes with straw.
• Continue with seaweed sprays.
• Pick early strawberries under cover.
• If you have a heavy gooseberry crop, you can thin them now to provide some fruit for cooking.
• Put up fruit cage netting.
• Start pinching back shoots on indoor grapes.
• Pests are likely to include gooseberry sawfly, aphids, winter month, leaf weevil and slugs and snails.
• Watch out for grey mould on strawberries and raspberries.
• Keep fruit watered if the soil dries.

JUNEtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Hoe regularly to keep down the weeds.
• Sow more vegetables - including spinach, parsley and (in cold areas) spring cabbage. Make successional sowings of crops such as beetroot, carrots, lettuces and turnips.
• Continue to thin vegetables sown earlier, before they grow large enough to compete with each other.
• Plant out late cauliflowers, winter cabbages and leeks.
• Sow more French beans.
• Give plants that need a boost a dressing dose of quick-acting fertilizer, but if using a powder or granules be sure to water in thoroughly.
• Pinch out the growing tips of runner beans when they reach the top of their support.
• Lift shallots if they have finished growing, and leave them on the surface for a few days to dry off.
• Harvest herbs regularly. Don't let the leaves become too old.

Soft Fruit

• Cold-stored strawberry runners can still be planted.
• Pick gooseberries, redcurrants, whitecurrants and blackcurrants, strawberries and raspberries.
• Tie in blackberry and hybrid berry canes weekly as they grow.
• Carry out first thinning of raspberry canes and tie the new growth in loosely. Restrict new growth on autumn-fruiters to the central 30cm (1ft) strip.
• Straw down all outdoor strawberries early in the month.
• For newly planted raspberries prune out the old stub as soon as a new shoot emerges from below ground.
• Summer prune gooseberries, redcurrants and whitecurrants at the end of the month.
• Start pinching back and tying in outdoor grape shoots and continue the processon indoor ones.

JULYtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Hoe regularly to keep down weeds.
• Lift onions and shallots as they become ready.
• Continue to thin vegetables sown earlier.
• Sow cabbages for spring use.
• Pinch out the growing tips of runner beans when they reach the top of their support.
• Pay regular attention to outdoor tomatoes.
• Continue to harvest herbs regularly.

Soft Fruit

• Final month for planting cold-stored runners of strawberries.
• Pick strawberries of late varieties; raspberries, red and white currants, blackcurrants, and some hybrid berries.
• Tie in canes of blackberries and hybrid berries regularly.
• Keep pinching back unwanted shoots of grapes, indoor and outdoor. Thin bunches of dessert grapes.
• Cut out fruited canes of early raspberries, when harvest is complete; at the same time complete thinning of canes to leave eight to ten per metre and tie them in,
• Once strawberries have finished fruiting, remove all old leaves and straw mulch for composting. Spread garden compost lightly along the rows.
• At the end of the month tip layer healthy blackberries if you need new plants.
• Likely pests are raspberry beetle on raspberries and blackberries, and gooseberry sawfly.
• Leaf midge will be seen on blackcurrant shoot tips but is rarely serious.
• Watch out for gooseberry mildew and grey mould, as in June.

AUGUSTtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Life onions to store.
• Place cloches over lettuces and other low-growing vegetables that will continue to grow for longer with protection.
• Sow a crop of a green manure (such as mustard) to use up nutrients in vacant ground, which will be recycled when the crop is dug in.
• Life and store maincrop potatoes.
• Protect outdoor tomatoes with cloches or fleece to extend their season and ripen more fruit.

Soft Fruit

• In case you do, you could now be picking strawberries, raspberries, loganberries and other hybrids, blackberries, late gooseberries, black, red and white currants and, possibly, indoor grapes.
• Continue cutting back fruited canes of raspberry; mulch stubs with garden compost and tie in new canes.
• Plant strawberries in new beds or order plants for later planting.
• Continue to tie in new canes of blackberries and hybrids.
• Continue to pinch back unwanted shoots on grapes.
• Look out for gooseberry mildew; pests are not usually abundant in August.

SEPTEMBERtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Plant cabbages for spring harvesting.
• Thin late-sown lettuces for winter harvesting.
• Continue to earth up celery and leeks.
• Lift and store potatoes.
• Protect late cauliflowers from frost by bending surrounding leaves over heads.
• Cut the dead tops off asparagus.
• Use cloches to protect vulnerable vegetables.
• Start winter digging on heavy soils.
• Pot up some herbs for winter use.

Soft Fruit

• Pick perpetual strawberries, autumn-fruiting raspberries, blackberries and grapes.
• Complete cutting back of fruited canes of raspberries and hybrid berries and tie in the new canes. Bend over the tops and tie them down in a loop to reduce wind damage.
• Start planning new plantings and order fruit bushes and canes.
• Plant strawberries. Include some in pots for an early crop. Leave these outside to chill.
• Take hard wood cuttings of currants and gooseberries.
• Prune out any mildewed tips of gooseberry and currant.
• If you are unlucky, you may see a final generation of gooseberry sawfly.

OCTOBERtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Pot up some herbs for winter use.
• Protect late cauliflowers from frost by bending surrounding leaves over the head.
• Use cloches to protect vulnerable vegetables.
• Winter dig, especially heavy soils.

Soft Fruit

• Until the frosts arrive there will still be pickings of perpetual strawberries, autumn-fruiting raspberries and blackberries.
• Pick outdoor and late indoor grapes.
• Prune out fruited canes of blackberries and tie in new canes. Place compost round base of plants.
• Prune bush fruits, starting with the blackcurrants. Remove and burn any mildewed tips. Leave gooseberries and redcurrants until leaves fall.
• Prepare soil for new plantings.
• Place cloches over perpetual strawberries to extend the season.
• Pests and diseases are not a problem now until spring.

NOVEMBERtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Test your soil.
• Apply lime to your soil if the test shows it is necessary.
• Dig over the vegetable plot.
• Check the condition of canes and stakes, and clean them up if necessary. Stand the ends in a wood preservative for a day if not already so.
• Start forcing rhubarb.

Soft Fruit

• This is the best month for planting bushes and canes, as they have a chance to form good roots before spring.
• Complete pruning of bushes, including formative pruning of restricted forms, except when the weather is frosty.
• Check all ties for construction.
• Prune outdoor grapes.

DECEMBERtop

The Kitchen Garden

• Test your soil.
• Apply lime if your soil needs it.
• Continue winter digging.
• Force rhubarb.
• Sow broad beans under cloches in mild areas.

Soft Fruit

• Prune out all canes of autumn-fruiting raspberries, but not of the cultivar 'Autumn Bliss' (see February).
• Complete all pruning of bush fruit.
• Prune indoor grapes as soon as the leaves are off.
• Planting can continue as long as the weather is not frosty.
• There is still time to order cold-stored strawberry runners for planting in spring and early summer.