Monthly Jobs
This is a brief list of tasks to help organise your allotment year. Please get in touch in touch if you have anything to add.
Jobs during January include:
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Buy and chit seed potatoes
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Buy onion sets ready for planting next month
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Sow broad beans in pots and under cover
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Harvest winter varieties of cabbages, cauliflowers, leeks, celeriac, parsnips and Swedes
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Spread well rotted manure or compost over empty vegetable beds
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Draw up a sowing and planting plan for the year ahead
Jobs during February include:
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Sow seeds indoor to raise seedlings for spring planting
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Sow tomatoes, chilli peppers and aubergines in a warm place 18-21℃
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Plant garlic and shallots if soil conditions allow
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Chit seed potatoes
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Force rhubarb
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Continue to harvest cabbages, cauliflower, sprouts, kale, leeks, celeriac, parsnips and swede
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Prepare your plot - dig over bare soil. Improve soil by incorporating compost or manure
Jobs during March include:
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Harvest first rhubarb plus remaining sprouts, celeriac and swedes
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Prepare vegetable seed beds
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Continue chitting seed potatoes
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Towards end of month begin planting early potatoes
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Plant asparagus beds from crowns
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Plant onion, shallot and garlic sets if soil not waterlogged or frozen
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Plant fruit trees and raspberry canes
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Cover strawberries with cloches to encourage earlier fruiting
Jobs during April include:
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Harvest the first asparagus along with spring cabbages, cauliflowers, sprouting broccoli, remaining leeks and kale
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Sow carrots, beetroot and other root vegetables
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Sow indoors for successful germination, celery, chicory, endive chillies, peppers and cucumbers courgettes, pumpkins and other squashes
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Plant second early and Maincrop potatoes
Jobs during May include:
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Harvest asparagus, baby globe artichokes, fresh ‘green’ garlic and new season oriental leaves
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If weather is mild sow outdoors, beetroot, French and runner beans, lettuces, radishes, rocket, spinach and sprouting broccoli
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Harden off seedlings
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Plant the last of your seed potatoes
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Weed regularly and thoroughly. Hoe even if there are no weeds.
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Keep young plants well watered
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Net fruit bushes to protect against birds
Jobs during June include:
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Earth up potatoes
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Pinch outside shoots from tomato plants
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Harvest early new potatoes
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Onion and garlic leaves turning yellow – time to harvest
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Plant out tender veg such as courgettes, squash, tomatoes, sweetcorn
Jobs during July include:
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Feed crops with a general fertiliser
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Apply high potash fertiliser to peppers, cucumber, tomatoes
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Pick runner beans
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Harvest beetroot, peas, carrots, chard. potatoes, salad leaves
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Water fruit and vegetable crops during warm weather
Jobs during August include:
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Pinch out tips of runner beans once reached top of supports to encourage side shoots and more beans
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Harvest second early potatoes
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Store potatoes in hessian sacks to exclude light and allow ventilation
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Lift and dry onions, shallots and garlic
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Harvest French and runner beans
Jobs during September include:
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Collect and save seeds
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Harvest final summer vegetables – beans, tomatoes, peppers and chilies, beetroot
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Harvest first autumn crops – leeks, potatoes, squashes, carrots
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Pick fruit – apples, pears, raspberries
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Sow salad leaves
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Plant spring cabbage, overwinter onion sets, strawberries
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Prune blackberries
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Turn your compost heap
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Add disease free remains to your compost
Jobs during October include:
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Harvest remaining summer vegetables before first frosts
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Lift potatoes and beetroot
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Cut pumpkins and winter squashes and cure the fruits
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If a danger of frost cover autumn salads and Oriental leaves
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Sow broad bean seeds for next year
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Plant overwintering garlic and onion sets
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Plant bare root fruit bushes such as currants and gooseberries
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Take down supports used for climbing beans and tomatoes
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Clear away and compost dead plant material
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Begin winter digging and add plenty of well rotted organic material
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Order seeds from the Kings seed catalogue
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Renew your allotment lease
Jobs during November include:
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Harvest root vegetables, autumn brassicas, Oriental leaves and late salad crops
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Pick autumn raspberries and cranberries
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Sow broad bean seeds outdoors
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Plant over winter garlic and rhubarb
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Continue digging, removing weeds and adding well rotted organic material
Jobs during December include:
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Harvest leeks, root vegetables, autumn and winter brassicas and hardy salad crops
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If ground not frozen or waterlogged:
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Plant garlic, rhubarb, new bare root fruit trees and bushes
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If it’s not too cold:
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Prune apple and pear trees, soft fruit bushes and outdoor grape vines
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Dig your plot, add well rotted organic material and cover beds to protect soil
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Check nets over sprouts, cabbages and other brassicas
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Check stored fruit for signs of rot and discard
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Renew grease bands on fruit trees