Preparation

- Unless the ground is frozen continue winter digging
- Spread well rotted manure or compost over vegetable beds
- Cover selected areas with plastic to start warming up the soil

Sowing Seeds

- Indoors or in a heated greenhouse, sow onion seeds

Planting Out

- Plant your first shallot and onion sets if ground is not frozen

Routine Care

- Force rhubarb if new shoots are beginning to sprout

Harvesting

- Winter cabbage and cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, kale and leeks
- Lift remaining root vegetables such as parsnips, celeriac
- Winter salads - land cress, corn salad, komatsuna, mibuna and mizuna

Other Tasks

- Buy seed potatoes and start to chit them
- Buy onion and shallot sets
- Order seeds

In Season

Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal.

Celeriac, carrots, parsnips, onions, cauliflower, jerusalem artichokes, winter squash, purple sprouting and regular broccoli, broccoli, leeks, brussels sprouts, red cabbage,

Preparation

- If you have not already done so order/buy your seeds and spuds now.  Seed Companies:  Seedsavers, Organic Centre, Thompson & Morgan, Sutton Seeds, Unwins, Seeddirect, Heritage Seeds etc. or local Garden Centres.
- Dig and prepare your veg plot/ground if the weather is good.  Keep off the beds to prevent soil compaction - use timber planks for access.  Those gardeners with raised beds have the advantage here, especially if they have them covered as the soil will warm 2 weeks at least before open ground.
- Start preparing seed beds
- Lime the soil now if it's needed.
- If you didn't do so earlier in the winter, spread well rotted manure or compost over vegetable beds and cover selected areas with plastic or carpet to start warming up the soil.
- Prune fruit trees and bushes if necessary, to improve their shape and remove winter damage to the bushes (it is best to complete this job before the 1st March before the sap begins to rise).  Consider netting the bushes after pruning (fruit netting can be bought in DIY stores and garden centres - it’s worth it) and dress the ground around with a potash feed (or use wood ash), which encourages fruit growth.

Sowing Seeds

- On a sunny windowsill indoors or in a heated greenhouse, sow celery, celeriac, leeks, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, peas, aubergines, peppers and chillipeppers, globe artichokes

Planting Out

- Weather permitting you can try planting out broadbeans, spinach, kohlrabi, onion and shallot sets, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnip and early pea varieties.
- In polytunnel or greenhouse - beetroot, Brussels sprouts, summer and autumn cabbage, carrots, leeks, lettuce, radish.
- Plant new rhubarb if required
- Now is a good time to plant fruit trees and bushes
- If you want to start a herb garden and are growing for the first time try to get root cuttings of perennial herbs i.e. Mint, Fennel, Thyme etc. from friends and acquaintances, then you can sow the seeds of annual herbs i.e Basil, Coriander etc. yourself.

Harvesting
- Winter cabbage and cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, spinach, kale and leeks
- Lift remaining root vegetables

Other Tasks
- Chit seed potatoes - put them in a container (e.g. used egg carton or empty seed tray) and leave them in a bright warm place.
- Buy onion and shallot sets
- Order seeds

In Season
Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal.

Celeriac, carrots, parsnips, onions, cauliflower, Jerusalem artichokes, winter squash, purple sprouting and regular broccoli, rhubarb, broccoli, leeks, Brussels sprouts, red cabbage

Preparation

- Continue to prepare ground.  There is still time to prepare a plot or make a raised bed to grow vegetables this Summer.  Dig over the area, let the soil dry before you work it over with spade
- In mild weather start to harden off seedlings by moving them outside during the day
- Keep an eye out for frosts - they are still possible for the next month, as are occasional snow falls.

Sowing Seeds

- Always check the individual details on seed packets.
- Indoors on a sunny windowsill or heated greenhouse, you can sow:  Lettuces, Aubergines, Peppers, Chillies, Cucumbers, Celery, Celeriac, Fennel, Sweet Corn, Basil, Leeks, Summer Cabbage & Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Parsley, Courgettes, French beans
- Outdoors under cover: broad beans, red cabbage, carrots cauliflower, spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts, onions, leeks, carrots, turnip, peas, radishes, early lettuce, asparagus
- Flower Seeds for the Veg. garden - sow the seeds outdoors/polytunnel/greenhouse, directly into the soil - Calendula(Marigold), Centaurea(Cornflower), Nasturtium, these annuals will help deter aphids & white whitefly while attracting beneficial lacewings & ladybirds.
- Consider a seed growing group with friends - pick a vegetable each and sow loads of extras which you then share with each other.  A great way to lessen the load this spring.

Plant Out

- Have you been chitting?  Plant your first early seed Potatoes, as soon as weather conditions allow.  Paddy's Day traditionally.
- Plant Asparagus crowns and Globe Artichokes
- Plant out any plants raised indoors, now hardened off.  Protect initially with cloches.
- Plant Jerusalem Artichoke tubers (although not to everyone's taste are very good for soups & stews).  Very good for feeding pigs - a plot can be planted and when the artichokes mature (Dec. Jan. Feb.) can be left in the ground for the pigs to root out themselves. 

Routine Care

- Weed Control - hoe new season weeds
- Prune old growth from perennial Herbs
- Finish pruning Apple trees
- Start your regular nightly slug patrol

Harvesting

- March was officially called the Hungry Gap in honour of the fact that there’s bugger all worth eating in the ground and most of stored vegetables are now eaten. 
- Depending on how much work you did last year, you may have the following to harvest: leeks, Sprouting Broccoli, Kale, Spinach (perpetual, spinach beet), spring cauliflowers
- Under cover - we have some crops growing in the polytunnel like spinach, rocket, lettuce and beetroot.  But it’s nothing to write home about. 

In Season

Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal: Spring Cabbage, Leeks, Broccoli, Rhubarb, Apples, Potatoes, Onions, winter Lettuce, Kale, Spinach, Chard, Parsnips, Carrots

Preparation

- If the soil is in good condition put up canes, wigwams and other support for climbers such as Beans and Peas.  Try to avoid walking too much on the soil to be cultivated by using planks to distribute your weight and when the work is completed fork over and rake the soil in preparation for the crops.

Sowing Seeds

- Indoors on a sunny windowsill or heated greenhouse: Lettuces, Tomatoes, Peppers, Chillies, Cucumbers, Celery, Celeriac, Fennel, Basil, Leeks, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Parsley, Courgetts, Marrow, Herbs, Globe Artichoke, Beans (dwarf French). Bean (climbing French), Runner Bean, Sweet Corn and Pumpkin should be sown indoors in small pots & planted outdoors in May.
- Outdoors (may require cover in bad weather): Broad Beans, Peas, Beetroot, Cabbage, Spinach, Brussels Sprouts, Parsnip, Spring Onions, Leeks, Carrots, Radishes, Broccoli, Turnip
- Beetroot - Soak the seed for 30 min in warm water before sowing outdoors.  Don’t use manure or compost or the roots will fork.  Apply a high potash fertilizer if the soil is poor.  Cover plants on frosty nights.  Pinch out surplus plants.  The young leaves can be used in salads.

Pricking-out

- As soon as seedlings are large enough to handle by the seed leaf, water before transfer and give the lightest spray afterwards - problems are mostly caused at this stage by too much water. Prick-out into trays, cells or pots of fresh compost, and grow on in the same conditions they germinated

Harden-off

- Seeds raised indoors/under cover, need to be acclimatised outdoors before planting out.  Begin by giving the plants less heat and water and more light and air.  Bring them outside during daylight hours on goods days for at least a week, but take care they don’t dry out or wilt in the wind and sun.  This allows the plant growth to slow down and become hardier and tougher and they will recover faster after planting out.

Planting Out

- Spuds - First earlies, Second earlies and Maincrop
- Plant out Cabbage plants - when they are 15/20 cm tall, into well prepared soil that has been manured.  Water the plants well the day before and lift each plant with as big a root ball as possible.  Firm the plants in well and water.
- Last chance to plant Onion sets
- For purchased plants, fruit trees & bushes follow the care instructions to insure they get the best start & settle in well.
- If space is at a premium, use plant pots to grown Herbs & Strawberries
- Tomatoes - before the middle of the month, tomato plants should be planted into the tunnel/greenhouse soil or into pots & planted later.

Routine Care

- Hoe regularly to prevent weeds establishing
- Check Spuds and earth-up first earlies if required
- Check Strawberry plants for greenflies
- As the weather improves and the days begin to warm up, ventilate the polytunnel/greenhouse to harden-up those plants that will be transplanted outdoors in the next few weeks.
- Collars for Root Fly's - Cabbage root fly can/may attack Cabbage/Cauliflower and all the brassica relatives, although this problem is usually avoided by good crop rotation.  Flies lay their eggs at the base of the plants.  To prevent damage cut squares/discs of soft material, like carpet underlay or buy ready-made discs, & lay flat around the base of the plant.
- Flea Beetles - often seen on brassica seedlings.  Large numbers can set the plant back & cause ‘blindness'-destroying the growing point of the plant.  Apply a dusting of derris dust - if the infestation is severe.
- Carrots - sow thinly, to avoid having to thin-out, which attracts carrot root fly, into soft well cultivated fine soil.  Don't apply manure, it will make the roots fork & taste woody.  Directly after sowing erect a carrot fly fence 50/60 cm tall, bury the ends in the soil & seal any gaps or joins.
- Broccoli (Calabrese) - Sow seeds thinly directly into rich fertile soil (Calabrese transplants badly) where they are to grow.  Sow groups of 3 seeds every 30/40 cm approx. apart in a row.  When plants are approx. 10 cm tall reduce to one strong plant, snipping out those not required.  Calabrese does not require firmed soil like other Brassica plants, as it needs to root deeply very quickly (seeds can also be sown in pots indoors in March for planting out in April)

Harvesting

- End of April might see the first Asparagus
- First early spring Cabbage
- Leeks, Spring Cauliflowers, Kale, Sprouting Broccoli, Spinach Beet, Chard, Rhubarb

Other Tasks

- Cabbage butterflies - depending on the weather, will soon be laying eggs.  The large white, the small white, the green veined white & cabbage moth.  Check the undersides of leaves of all the brassica family, where they lay their eggs & scrape them off before they hatch.  The caterpillars can strip the leaves of a thriving plant
- Grow Asparagus - it is quite easy to grow from seed, (although it could take up to 3 years for to get a crop) if you sow seed now the plants will be ready to plant-out next Spring & you will have the whole year to prepare the bed, which the plants will occupy for many years.  Alternatively, buy fresh crowns from a good source.
- Continue to spray Apple & Pear trees against scab disease as the new leaves expand (unless you are growing scab resistant varieties) but don't spray open fruit blossoms (Bees, especially can bring the chemical back to their hives & kill an entire colony) Apple brown spots ‘bitter pit' - can be caused by an imbalance/unavailability of calcium & boron - to prevent, feed with a complete plant food & water trees in a dry Summer
- Courgettes - don't let water shortage check their growth.
- Watch out for slugs

Preparation

- Our planting out really steps up a gear in May - early May is the time to get those outdoor beds ready for early summer transplanting.  Fork over and rake.  Don't tread!

Routine Care

- Earth up potatoes as the plants develop - covering stem with soil encourages potato growth.
- Put protective barrier around your carrots to thwart the dastardly carrot root fly.
- Regularly hoe weeds and mulch.
- Water outdoors if required and also continue your watering and ventilation routine in the polytunnel or greenhouse.
- Support tomato plants as they grow and remove the side shoots as they appear (in the angle between the stem and the trusses).  As plants start to flower, tap the flowers to spread pollen and improve fruiting. 
- Be vigilant for pests and diseases (e.g. carrot root fly, aphids, caterpillars, rabbits, slugs and snails - complete gits, one and all).
- Support your pea and bean plants - twiggy sticks, pea netting, timber supports with chicken wire, or existing fence or hedge.  Pinch out the growing tips of broad beans plants to help prevent Blackfly.

Sowing Seeds

- May is the last chance for the tardy souls among us to catch up on their seed sowing.  It's a good month for sowing, especially if you get the seeds in before the middle of the month and many of the crops you sow in May will catch up with seeds sown in earlier months. 
- Indoors for planting on later: basil, dill, coriander, courgette, cucumber, sweet corn, melon, pumpkins, marrow, summer savory (great companion herb for growing and cooking with Broad Beans).
- Outdoors: winter cauliflower, cabbage, kale, spinach, sprouting broccoli, leeks, beans (French, Runner, Climbing French), beetroot, parsnip, turnip, swedes, radish, lettuce, peas, broccoli, rocket, carrots.
- You could also try an extra harvest of early spuds by planting an additional row wherever you can accommodate them.

Planting Out

- Harden off and begin to plant out seedlings you have lovingly raised indoors - e.g. tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, chilli-pepper, celery, celeriac, brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, cabbages, sweet corn, leeks.
- Sweet potatoes - not related to the humble spud (and therefore not susceptible to blight!) they prefer a sandy soil and do not like a rich soil.  They must be harvested before the first frosts in winter and like pumpkins, left to dry for about ten days in the sun before storage.

Harvest

- You may start getting some spuds, particularly those that were sown in the tunnel.
- Continue picking asparagus, rhubarb, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach and chard.
- May is likely to see the first real bumper salad leaves like lettuce and rocket - as well as the first garlic, beetroot and globe artichokes. 

In Season

Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal.

Asparagus, rhubarb, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, chard, new potatoes, garlic, globe artichoke, beetroot, radishes, lettuce, rocket, sea-kale, radish, carrots.

Routine Care

- Watering and weeding duties step up a notch - the tunnel/greenhouse in particular will require a good deal of water from now on.  Watch the weather and water outside as required.  Water in the morning if possible.  Add a good dressing of mulch around plants to reduce moisture loss and keep down weeds.
- Continue to earth-up potato plants to prevent the spuds becoming green.
- It's time to get really seriously vigilant with your tomato plants - mulch, water and continue to remove side shoots that appear in the leaf axils.  Train the plants carefully on strings or strong canes.
- If gooseberry and red current bushes are very leafy, start summer pruning by shortening back the new growth.
- Tie up beans and peas to stop them falling over - mature pea plants become like a canopy and could take off in the wind, bound for next door's garden.  Stake everything that grows tall - raspberries, peas, beans, tomatoes etc. 
- Net soft fruit against birds - it's worth the effort.  I promise.  They will eat your entire crop practically overnight if you let them.
- Thin beetroot in rows to single plants - for large roots space about 10 cm apart - for mini-beets space at 3 cm.  Eat the leaves in salads - but sparingly.  The beets need them too.
- Strawberries - runners are produced as fruiting peaks - to increase your stock of strong new plants for next year, direct the first big runners that are produced in to the soil near the parent plant or into pots.  Once the runner has established a root, you can snip it from the mother ship.

Sowing Seeds

- At this stage, any remaining sowing can most likely be done outside.  Sow courgettes, pumpkins, summer and winter squash, fennel, chicory.
- Don’t think your sowing duties are over - succession sowing is vitally important to keep a regular supply of produce coming.  So continue sowing: beans (French and Runner), kale, pea, spinach, spinach beet, summer broccoli, carrot, swede, leek, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, beetroot, chicory, endive, turnip, kohlrabi, fennel.
- Sow Parsley now to provide a late supply in Autumn and some of the plants can then be lifted, potted and brought indoors for Winter use.

Planting Out

- It's time to plant out pretty much anything else which has been raised indoors or undercover and needs transplanting, e.g. leeks, Brussels Sprouts, cabbage, autumn cauliflower, calabrese, sprouting broccoli, celery, celeriac, cucumbers, pumpkin, courgettes, marrows, runner beans, aubergine.

Harvest

- June is a busy month for the Home Farmer but it's also the month when we get some of those great payback moments - the first broad beans and peas as well as potatoes and soft fruit like gooseberries and strawberries.
- Also harvest kohlrabi, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, spring onion, shallots, salad leaves. 
- Wild Garlic - it's now the perfect time to use the new leaves to make Wild Garlic Pesto

In Season

Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal.

Broad beans, peas, potatoes, gooseberries, strawberries, kohlrabi, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, spring onion, shallots, salad leaves, wild garlic, elderflower, rhubarb, salad leaves, onions, carrots, beetroot, garlic, sea-kale.

Preparation

- Any ground that has finished cropping must be quickly cleared away to take more vegetables - this is the essence of a productive Home Farm.
- Write down your successes and failures - these records will be invaluable for next year.

Routine Care

- Use your produce - eat it, freeze it, process it, exchange it, give it away.  Do not let it rot in the ground or end up on the compost heap. 
- Continue to water and feed plants and practice good weed control.  Continue to pinch out side shoots on your tomato plants and remove the lower leaves. 
- Earth up brassicas such as Brussels sprouts - these plants will grow tall and require a good deal of support.
- Prune raspberries and gooseberries when they have finished fruiting and apply a mulch
- Cut down legume plants that have finished cropping and compost them.  Leave the roots in the soil as they fix nitrogen in the soil.
- Keep an eye on the blight forecast and spray potatoes if required.

Sowing Seeds

- Continue successional sowings and use quick maturing varieties for autumn use - Swiss chard, lettuce, rocket, salad onions, radish, turnips, peas, French Beans (dwarf), carrots.
- Sow for winter use - spring cabbage, Hungry Gap kale, parsley, perpetual spinach, chicory and coriander.

Planting Out

• Anything else that's left indoors in a pot. 

Harvest

- Pick early and often as some vegetables stop producing if not continually picked.
- First crops of French and runner beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, marrows, beetroot, globe artichokes, potatoes, calabrese, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, carrots, turnips, shallots, garlic, radish, spring onions, salad crops.
- Continue to harvest strawberries, raspberries, currents (black, red and white), gooseberries, potatoes, peas, broad beans, spinach and summer cabbage as well as herbs (both for use now and also pick for drying and freezing).

In Season

Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal.

Tomatoes, peppers, aubergine, courgette, french beans, runner beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, marrows, beetroot, globe artichokes, potatoes, calabrese, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, shallots, garlic, radish, spring onions, salad crops, strawberries, raspberries, tayberries, currents (black, red and white), gooseberries, loganberries, sea-kale, potatoes, peas, broad beans, spinach and summer cabbage

Preparation

- Green manures are plants which are grown specifically to improve soil fertility.  They are very useful at times when beds are empty either awaiting a crop, or after they have been harvested (as is often the case in August).  Green manures include mustard, buckwheat, radish, rye, alfalfa, clover and vetches. 

Routine Care

- Keep an eye on your pumpkins - give them plenty of water and apply a home-made high-potash liquid feed.  Nip out the growing points to encourage the fruits to swell.  Put something under fruits if they are resting on soil to prevent the underside from rotting.
- Cut back any herbs that have finished flowering to encourage fresh growth - this will prolong their usage in to autumn.
- Continued vigilance is required with your brassicas.  Netting the plants is the most effective way of keeping butterflies and the cabbage moth away.  Lift the netting regularly and inspect underside of leaves, removing eggs and caterpillars.
- Protect the developing curds on your cauliflowers from the sun by bending inwards a few of the larger outer leaves (you can tie them in place around the curds if you want).  This prevents them from going yellow in the sun.
- Keep weeding - in particular, don't allow weeds to go to seed as they will produce lots and lots of other weeds which you really want to avoid.
- Keep watering - mulch around plants to retain moisture in really hot weather.  A bucket of water placed beside aubergine plants will help create the right moist atmosphere.
- Keep an eye on your apple and other fruit trees - prune if they have made too much new growth.
- Pull up and remove crops which have bolted or finished producing

Sowing Seeds

- Continue succession sowing
- It's around now that you need to start thinking about sowing seeds which will provide produce next year.  Sow spring cabbage, red cabbage, winter spinach, salad onions (in polytunnel for spring crop), autumn salad mix, endive, parsley, onion seed, Chinese vegetables. 

Planting Out
- Strawberries - plant now for a good crop next June.
- Rosemary, sage and mint can be propagated from cuttings now.

Harvest

- Pick Beetroot regularly as they reach the size you require - if left to grow too large they will loose their tenderness. 
- Continue to harvest tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, broad beans, french and runner beans, salad leaves, radish, turnip, potato, onions, peppers, aubergine, globe artichoke, courgettes, cucumber, gooseberries, raspberries, currants
- This month may see the first of your early apples and plums.
- With the abundance of fresh produce, consider storing some for winter use, e.g. freeze, make pickles and chutneys from onions, cauliflower, green beans, tomatoes, cucumber, apples, plums.  Make special vinegars from excess herbs, onions, chilli-peppers and garlic.  Make jams, curds and jellies from strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, gooseberries, currents (Red/White/Black), beetroot and mint.

In Season

Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal.

Beetroot, sweet corn, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, broad beans, french and runner beans, salad leaves, radish, turnip, potato, onions, peppers, aubergine, globe artichoke, courgettes, cucumber, gooseberries, raspberries, currants, apples, plums, chilli-peppers

Preparation

- Lift crops which have finished growing and remove weeds from empty ground before they set seed.  Dress ''bare'' soil with manure, compost or plant green manures.
- Don't neglect the compost heap - if it's ready empty it out to make way for new material.  If it is not ready, turn if over every few weeks to improve the decomposition rate.
- Late autumn and early winter is the best time to plant fruit trees and bushes so if you don't have any or want to get more, now is the time to research them and prepare ground.

Routine Care

- Wasps can be a real problem as fruit ripens.  Wasp traps made from jars of sugary water or leftover marmalade or jam jars are effective.  Pick up any windfalls or damaged fruit (feed it to the pigs) as they will attract wasps if left on the ground. 
- Pumpkins and winter squash continue to grow when other things are starting to fade so you need to continue to water until the end of this month. 
- French Bean pods are most likely to be too tough to eat now so you can leave the pods on the plants to seed - save this for sowing next year.
- Remove old canes of summer raspberries once they have finished fruiting.
- Watering requirements often change slightly as we move in to autumn.  Continue to water regularly but be careful not to over water the foliage of tomato, aubergine, pepper and chilli-pepper plants as it could encourage grey mould.  Give a good soak once a week to celery, celeriac, marrows, courgettes, pumpkin, runner bean and leeks. 
- Start removing surplus leaves from your tomato plants which allows air to circulate around the plants and sunshine to fall on the fruit (which helps them to ripen).
- s the nights cool down, close up your greenhouse or polytunnel earlier to preserve heat. 
- As the stems of asparagus being to yellow, cut them back to 10cm high.

Sowing Seeds

- Last month for sowing perpetual spinach and oriental salads - these really will be worth it in the New Year when there's almost nothing else to eat, so get sowing!  In the polytunnel/greenhouse sow lettuce, mustard, cress, basil, coriander, parsley, radish, dwarf early pea (e.g. ‘Feltham First'), broadbean, cauliflower (seed, for planting next spring) rocket, chicory, onion seed and garlic.
- Outside sow white turnip seeds which will crop around Christmas, and autumn onion sets, e.g. ‘centurion' and ‘sturon'.

Planting Out

- Plant out strawberry runners as early as possible this month.
- Pot-up some strong parsley plants in a large pot for winter use.
- Spring cabbage plants can be put in this month, in a sunny spot.
- Woody herbs such as sage, rosemary and thyme often root where their stems touch the soil - separate these out and plant to give them time to establish before growth stops for the winter.

Harvest

- Pick herbs for drying and freezing for the winter.
- Start to harvest apples, plums, pears, parsnips, swedes, celeriac.
- Continue to harvest sweet corn, salad leaves, tomatoes, shallots, radish, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beetroots, cauliflower, cucumbers, peppers and chilli-peppers, french and runner beans, courgettes, spinach, leeks, red cabbage, summer cabbage, aubergines
- lift your onions and leave them to dry out in the sun or in the polytunnel.  Eat a few immediately however to savour the taste.
- lift remaining early potatoes.

In Season

Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal.

Apples, plums, pears, parsnips, swedes, onions, celeriac, salad leaves, tomatoes, shallots, radish, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beetroots, cauliflower, cucumbers, peppers and chilli-peppers, french and runner beans, courgettes, spinach, leeks, red cabbage, summer cabbage, aubergine.

Preparation

- Pot up herbs so that they can be grown inside for use during winter.
- Continue to lift crops that have finished harvesting and clean up the beds.
- By now, green manures sown in late summer will be ready to be dug in to the soil.  You can also sow over-wintering green manures now.
- Try and find a good source of farmyard manure if you don't have your own - cow, horse, pig, sheep and chicken manure are all great sources of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.  If you are going to cover empty beds down with manure for the winter, the earlier you do it the better.  October or early November is ideal.

Routine Care

- Pull up crops which have finished harvesting and compost.
- Plant fruit trees and bushes.
- Tidy away canes and supports that you used for your peas, beans etc and you should be able to use them next year.  Leave them in the ground or throw them in a corner, and you probably won't.
- If you have a pond, stretch a piece of netting over it to keep leaves out.
- Start collecting leaves for leaf mould.
- Start storing vegetables like carrots and beets - only store the perfect specimens.  Try and process the rest.
- Your tomatoes are most likely on the way out now (sob) - this is a good time of the year to make the green tomato chutney outlined in chapter 7. 
- Check apples regularly to see if they are ripe - early ripening apples generally don't store that well so you have a good excuse to scoff the lot.
- Cut autumn fruiting raspberry canes down to the ground.

Sowing Seeds

- You can sow hardy varieties of peas and broad beans later this month for an early spring crop but only do so in well-drained soil
- In the polytunnel we usually try and get a crop of cauliflower and carrots going over the winter.

Planting Out

- Later this month, plant selected varieties of garlic, and winter onion sets.  The former will benefit from a good frost so it's good to get them in the ground before Christmas. 

Harvesting

- Depending on the weather, the harvest may well continue in to October - it's also a month when you are still harvesting many of the great autumn fruit and vegetables - pumpkins, squashes, courgette, apples, pears etc.  It's the last hurrah however for peas, French and runner beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers and chilli-peppers. 
- Your root crops like carrots, parsnips, swedes, celeriac, turnips and beetroots, as well as your main crop potatoes should still be thriving.  You can leave these in the ground for another while yet and use them as you need them, or lift and store if you prefer.

In Season

Whether you've grown them yourself or not, the following produce (if you can get it) is seasonal

Wild mushrooms, elderberry, blackberries, apples, sloes, pears, peas, French and runner beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers, chilli-peppers, carrots, parsnips, swedes, celeriac, turnip, beetroot, potatoes, celery, marrows, pumpkins, squash, leeks, cabbage.

With thanks to the “Brain Trust” of the Waterford Food Producer’s Network.

Preparation

- Start digging well rotted compost or manure into cleared veg beds
- Cover beds in manure and cover down with black plastic
- Necessity to double dig is high priority for new veg areas.  Buy a Stainless Steel fork and spade.
- Preparing new ground for spring.  Method 1 - Cut back grass then cover the area with old carpet. Method 2 - cover the area with about five layers of newspaper and then a layer of compost. Next Spring you should be able to dig straight into this new patch and prepare it for planting.
- Start investigating seed catalogues for next year - e.g. Organic Centre, Seed Savers

Sowing Seeds

- Sow broad beans for next year's crop (NB over-winter variety such as Aquadulce)
- To avoid broad beans seeds rotting before germination, make small newspaper cups and germinate indoors.
- In mild garden, sow peas and keep under cloches (’Feltham First’)
- The polytunnel has it's own microclimate - continue to sow carrots, red cabbage, rocket, mixed salad leaves, lambs lettuce, perpetual spinach

Planting Out

- Garlic does best if planted before Christmas - outdoors in well prepared soil in sunny spot (Fruithill Farm - 027 50710).  Ready next summer.
- Onion seeds and sets (variety “Shakespeare” recommended for seeds) - they overwinter and can be harvested in early to midsummer (chose open site with well drained soil and lay bulbs 2-4 inch apart - press bulb in to soil pointed end up.  Leave tip showing).
- Pot up strawberry runners

Harvesting

- Continue harvesting: some lettuces, perpetual spinach, pumpkins, marrows and squashes, chard, leeks and fennel, mint, sage, thyme and chive, beetroots
- Continue harvesting in the tunnel: pepper, chilli-pepper, aubergine
- Start harvesting: leeks, winter cabbage, kale, sprouts, artichokes
- Lift: carrots, turnips etc
- Runner Beans - if you forgot to harvest, pop the individual beans out of the pods and use them like broad beans. 
- Purple sprouting broccoli is just beginning
- The last of the tomatoes - sob. (hang upside down in tunnel to ripen greens).

Processing

- ''Posh up'' old favourites such as beetroots and perpetual spinach - bake beetroots and serve with goats cheese, give spinach an Asian twist by adding sesame oil/seeds in cooking.  Yum Yum.
- Store apples in a bin
- Blanch and freeze celery and peppers - handy!
- Green Tomato chutney/sour
- Pumpkin soup/pie

Routine Care

- Remove remains of crops
- Earth up Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts to prevent wind/storm damage
- Divide rhubarb if required and cover with a thick mulch of manure. 
- Cut back fennel seeds before they begin to rot on their stems
- Move tender perennial herbs to sheltered spot
- Continue to weed ground dug over since a crop has been removed - “one years seeding is seven years a weeding”

Other Tasks

- Start a compost bin - a good time to begin given the amount of material from the garden
- Leave some seed ripen on runner and French beans and save as seed for next year.
- Prune apple trees, aim for a goblet shaped open tree.  Prune crossed & damaged branches, and those that are growing into the centre.  Don’t over prune as this will mean much leafy growth next year and little fruit. 
- Cut down raspberries and apply a mulch of compost. Mulch loganberry and tayberry plants.
- Take cuttings of red, white, blackcurrant bushes from current season's wood.  Cutting should be 10” long. Plant in trench 9” apart, fill in up to 3/4 buds.
- Tie Brussels sprouts and sprouting broccoli to canes and apply mulch

Tips/Suggestions

- Garlic varieties - Themidrome and Printanor - the latter produces smaller bulbs but stores for longer.
- Check out the Organic Gardening Catalogue at http://www.OrganicCatalogue.com for lots of organic seeds and other gardening products.
- Old wire clothes hangers can be cut into wire pins 15-20cm long & bent - to be used to secure ground covers like plastic etc.
- Plastic supermarket containers can be used as seed trays - punch drainage hole in with skewer.  Use shower caps to cover containers!
- Freezing Honey to stop it crystalising
- Website of the Month: http://www.gardening.ie

With thanks to the Brain Trust of the Waterford Food Producer’s Network!

Preparation

- Continue digging over cleared vegetable beds and adding well rotted compost or manure.
- Get Educated - book yourself on a course over the winter! e.g. the Organic Centre in Leitrim.
- Start a Gardening Diary (gardeners have great plans but bad memories!)
- Start planning what you would like to grow and eat next year including at least one previously untried vegetable. 
- Study and compare the various seed catalogues carefully before deciding on the best varieties to grow to suit your needs and tastes.
- Start a Compost corner or heap
- Consider the following for 2009 - a greenhouse, a polytunnel, raised beds, some laying hens!
- Plan a Fruit Garden/Area to include raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries; apple, pear and plumb trees, black/red/white currants.  Ask a friend for cuttings. 
- Plan a Herb Garden/Area to include rosemary, parsley, coriander, Bay, Sage, Thyme, Fennel, Mint, Chives, Horseradish

Planting Out

- If you haven't already done so plant garlic
- Dividing Rhubarb - rhubarb is a perennial so once you plant it, you should have it for good! Divide clumps every 5/6 years, use a fork to avoid damaging the roots, split into sections with a spade, each piece should have at least one strong bud.  Clumps can be lifted now for forcing in early Spring, leave the clumps on the surface of the soil for at least 2 weeks then replant and cover to exclude light with a bucket etc. This method will produce stalks in about 5 weeks.
- Mint, chives lemon balm, parsley, thyme etc can be lifted, potted-up and brought inside for use during the winter.
- Chicory - can also be forced, dig up the roots, pot them up and place them in a dark warm place, the chicons should appear in 3-6 weeks

Tips/Suggestions

- Bubble wrap can be used on the inside of a greenhouse or tunnel to improve insulation.
- Now’s a good time to clean all previously used seed trays and pots to have them ready for next Spring’s madness.  Having spotlessly clena vessels in which to grow things helps to reduce the spread of diseases
- Although you need to prepare soil for next year, stay off the soil when it is wet, particularly if you have a heavy clay - it just compacts it and turns it to mud.
- Do interesting things with leaves!  Store in bags to make leaf mould or use as cover for bare soil (keep weeds down and prevents drying out)

Harvesting

- Start harvesting Winter cauliflowers
- Continue to pick autumn and winter cabbages, Brussels sprouts, leeks, kale and winter radishes
- Lift Jerusalem artichokes and crops of root veg such as carrots, turnips, parsnips, Swedes and celeriac
- Continue to harvest salad leaves if you are lucky enough to have planted! Corn salad, land cress, komatsuna and mizuna

Routine Care

- Finish clearing away the remains of any plants that have finished cropping
- Do some PH tests on your soil and add lime if necessary
- Garden Hygiene - helps greatly in the prevention of disease carry-over from one year to the next - i.e. remove yellowing leaves from any crops remaining, rake up fallen leaves.
- Slugs are a problem year round & slug control is still necessary now.  Mice can be a problem with new crops sown in the ground, under cloches & greenhouse/tunnel - set traps or bait.
- Check stored vegetables and throw out any that are rotting

Processing

- Potato and leek soup.  Hearty winter grub.
- Get a recipe for Buttered leeks
- ''Posh up'' sprouts by briefly sautéing and adding some chopped almonds.  Yum Yum.
- Beat the recession!  Try making beer - a wonderful winter activity and your brew will be ready in the depressing days of January