Your Allotment

A month by month guide

Harvest hardy winter brassicas (cauliflowers and cabbages) and root vegetables (swedes and parsnips).

Warm up your seedbeds; cover with polythene or cardboard.

Start to chit seed potatoes.

Prune your winter fruit trees

Spread rotted compost over empty vegetable beds to get them ready for the next season.

Harvest leeks, parsnips, swede as well as cauliflower and cabbages.

Begin to sow seeds indoors ready to plant in the spring.

Garlic and shallots can be planted this month.

Dig over your plot and add plenty of well rotted compost or organic material.

Force your rhubarb.

Your first rhubarb of the year should be ready to harvest.

Sow seeds outside in your warmed beds or otherwise sew indoors or in cold frames

Plant your first early potatoes by the end of March.

Make sure your soil is nice and nutritious ready to plant in the following months.

Harvest your very first asparagus this month as well as spring cabbages and cauliflowers.

It might be warm enough to sow some of your seeds outside this month

Plant the last of your onions this month.

Prepare your soil

Harvest your first spring crops this month. Asparagus should be in abundance.

Seedlings should be hardened off and ready to plant outside if the weather is warm enough.

Net your fruit bushes to protect them from birds.

There should be a lot to harvest this month including onions, beetroot, peas, beans and strawberries.

Sow seeds for items you will pick late summer and into autumn.

Seedlings are ready to plant outside.

Water your plants regularly.

Harvest any carrots, onions, shallots and new potatoes which are ready.

Sow the last of your peas and French beans for the year.

Plant Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbages and cauliflowers ready for autumn and winter.

Feed your tomatoes regularly this month.

All berries should be ripe for picking by July too

Harvest tomatoes, peppers, broad beans and sweetcorn this month.

Feed your pumpkins to get them ready for October.

Check in on your potatoes for any signs of blight.

Dry out shallots, onions and garlic to store for winter.

Harvest all remaining summer vegetables this month as well as your autumn crops of leeks and sweet potatoes.

Pick late season fruits.

Plant spring cabbages ready for next year.

Add what you can to your compost heap.

Clear away plant remains once crops have finished.

Begin your winter digging this month once you have cleared up old foliage and added it to your compost heap.

Harvest potatoes and beetroot.

Sow broad beans.

Plant garlic, onions and rhubarb.

Prune fruit trees while they are dormant.

Cover beds to protect the soil from heavy rain.

Harvest root vegetables and autumn brassicas.

Plant new fruit trees and bushes whilst the soil is still warm and not too wet.

Harvest winter brassicas (Brussel sprouts, as they should now be at their best.

Dig over your plot and cover beds to keep protecting the soil.

Plant rhubarb and garlic ready for next year.