The gardening year... Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

JANUARY (top)
Plant rhubarb and spread strawy manure over each station after planting. Cover established plants with boxes to encourage early growth.
Sow peas in sheltered southern districts and cover with cloches if available. Sow broad beans for an early crop.
Plant shallots on well drained soil.
Lift Jerusalem artichokes as required.

FEBRUARY (top)
Sow early peas and beans.
Buy potato tubers for early crops, and sprout them in a light, frost-proof room or shed.
Under glass sow carrots in light, fertile soil in a cold frame.
Plant shallots.
Order asparagus plants

MARCH (top)
Sow seeds for main crop of Brussels sprouts, and set out hardened-off plants.
Sow parsnips.
Plant early potatoes from the middle of the month.
Sow salad onions and radishes.
Sow seeds of late summer cabbages. Continue sowing early round-seeded peas. Sow leeks if raising your own plants. Sow summer spinach.
Under glass sow carrots under cloches, after dressing the seed.
Complete shallot planting.
Sow kohl rabi seeds.
Plant asparagus. Dress established asparagus beds with farmyard manure. Plant Jerusalem artichokes.

APRIL (top)
Plant onion sets and sow salad crops.
Plant early potatoes.
Sow late summer cauliflowers, wrinkle seeded peas and maincrop carrots. Cover potato foliage if frost threatens. Sow globe beetroot.
Plant out late summer cabbages.
Sow winter cabbages, and purple-sprouting and spring-heading broccoli.
Order tomato plants for planting outdoors in June.
Remove rhubarb flowers as soon as seen.
Under glass sow french beans and cover with cloches.
Replace soil on earthed-up globe artichokes by manure or compost, and plant new artichokes.
Cut asparagus from beds at least two years old.
Sow kohl rabi.

MAY (top)
Cover potatoes if frost threatens.
Prepare sites for growing marrows and pumpkins outdoors, sowing and thinning the seeds later in the month. Prepare sites for outdoor tomatoes. Sow french beans for growing outdoors. Set out late summer cauliflowers. Plant out Brussels sprouts. Make further sowings of summer spinach and salad crops.
Sow long-rooted beetroot for storing for winter use.
Sow runner beans and erect canes or poles to support them.
Gradually remove cloches from spring cabbages, carrots, lettuces and broad beans.
Prepare sites for growing cucumbers in frames or under cloches. Sow runner beans under glass for planting out in June.
Continue cutting asparagus.
Order self-blanching celery plants for June planting.
Sow seakale beet, scorzonera and salsify, Sow sweet corn in well manured soil.

JUNE (top)
Plant Brussels sprouts, winter cabbages savoys, and purple-sprouting and spring heading broccoli. Plant marrows if seeds were not sown earlier.
Plant outdoor tomatoes on prepared site and support with 4 ft. stakes, except for bush varieties.
Continue sowing salad crops, peas and french beans.
Sow swedes. Plant leeks.
Water lettuces and other salad crops if prolonged dry weather is forecast. Sow spinach beet.
Under glass sShade frames and cloches with whitewash or shading liquid.
Remove the tips from cucumber plants when seven leaves have formed, and give a weekly feed of liquid manure.
Plant self-blanching celery. Sow chicory.
Complete cutting asparagus and support ferns by means of canes and string.

JULY (top)
Complete leek planting.
Sow swedes or hardy turnips. Complete planting late Brussels sprouts, winter cabbages, sprouting and spring broccoli.
Sow spinach beet.
Pinch out side shoots from tomatoes, except on bush varieties, which should be strawed to keep the fruits clean.
Make late sowings of round-seeded peas and globe beetroot.
Continue watering shallow-rooted crops in dry weather.
Lift and store onions.
Under glass, cut cucumbers as they swell.
Lift and dry off shallots as their tops yellow, separate the bulb clusters, remove the loose skins, and store in bags in a dry, cool shed or room.
Sow winter radishes and thin to 6 in. apart.

AUGUST (top)
Sow seeds of spring cabbages. Sow lettuces for early winter use in the north. Sow lettuces for over-wintering without cloche protection, and Brussels sprouts seed for an early crop next year.
Start picking sweet corn cobs.
Start using self-blanching celery.

SEPTEMBER (top)
In the south, sow lettuces for over-wintering with cloche protection. In the north, plant spring cabbages.
Lift maincrop carrots and store sound ones in layers in deep boxes.
Under glass, protect lettuces and spring cabbages with cloches.
Sow carrots under cloches.
Cut off the tops of chicory, before blanching.

OCTOBER (top)
Plant out spring cabbages. Pick and take indoors the last of the tomatoes.
Plant winter lettuces.
Cut remaining marrows, squashes and pumpkins, and store in a dry, frost-proof place.
Clear away pea and bean haulm, and dig vacant ground.
Lift beetroot and store in a clamp.
Set out Brussels sprout plants in a nursery bed.
Under glass, sow lettuces for growing under cloches. Cover spring cabbages and early carrots with cloches.
Force rhubarb in a warm greenhouse.
Store winter radishes in a clamp.

NOVEMBER (top)
Sow broad bean seeds for an early crop.
Under glass, complete sowings of lettuces. Force chicory under the staging in a warm greenhouse.
Trim the outer growths of globe artichokes and draw soil round the crowns. Detach suckers from the plants, and grow on in pots to increase stock.

DECEMBER (top)
Lift turnips and Swedes and store in clamps.
Prepare the site for next year's runner beans.
Under glass, lift rhubarb and chicory for forcing.