Contents of Charles Dowding's Veg Journal: Expert no-dig advice, month by month January January can be even more wintry than December, but there are often a few fine days to do jobs, even if they are not urgent. Winter is a time for getting ahead, and for generating plans and ideas for the season in situ, among your beds and plants as you do some gardening. February February sees greenhouses, conservatories and polytunnels come into their own, for harvests of salads sown in September, and the first sowings of lettuce, spinach, peas and tomatoes under cover. The latter need extra warmth and are best germinated in a heated space first. Outdoors you can still be picking leeks, parsnips, kale and sowing broad beans. March Any dry days in March, even if cold, can be spent making more beds, doing some weeding with your new year resolution to be on top of weeds, and using a rake or fork lightly to knock out larger lumps of compost and manure on the soil surface. Many indoor sowings are possible of tomatoes, spinach and leeks amongst others, but wait until mild days before sowing outdoors. April April can still be cold; therefore sow only seeds of plants that tolerate frost. Cover newly sown and planted areas with fleece laid directly on top to protect plants from wind-lay a few stones along its edges to ensure it does not blow away. I did this with lettuce planted 1 April and was picking leaves within three weeks, despite continual frost and wind. Purple sprouting broccoli and rhubarb are fully in season now. May May is a hungry month with winter vegetables finished and spring sowings barely ready. Welcome exceptions are overwintered cabbage, spinach and onions, and first plantings of spinach, lettuce and peas for shoots. After the middle of the month you can sow French beans, sweetcorn and courgettes. Perennial vegetables come into their own, including kales and asparagus. June June starts an exciting period as plants grow strongly and offer the first, tasty harvests of small carrots, beetroot, peas and broad beans and also late in the month the main harvest of garlic. Find time for extra weeding if weeds threaten to get ahead of you, keeping soil clean at all times. Apart from pea shoots and courgettes for summer crops, sow carrots, beetroot and swede for eating in winter. July July boasts the first signs of abundance as courgettes and many other spring sowings begin to produce in large amounts. Then as soon as any plants finish cropping, such as peas, broad beans, spinach and salads, clear all foliage and stems (leave roots in the soil) and immediately sow or plant kale, broccoli and fennel, as well as salads for autumn. August There are still great sowings to make at this late stage, including the beautiful, multiflavoured oriental leaves and quick-cropping radishes. Harvest potatoes in August before blight takes a hold, and onions too. Water occasionally and plentifully rather than little and often, and go looking for weeds that will be hiding among your vegetables, to hoe or remove them before they drop hundreds of seeds. September The first hints of autumn belie September’s excellent harvests of summer vegetables such as beans, courgettes and tomatoes. You can help the ripening of tomatoes grown undercover by halving the water given, and keeping leaves on the plants’ top half. Garlic is good to plant now. October Any dry days in October allow you to harvest most summer and winter vegetables, then clear beds and rows after final pickings, and spread compost on top of the clean soil. Aim to have your beds looking like chocolate cake, and keep them weeded through winter. Before the middle of the month, sow all salads you want for winter, to grow undercover if possible, for picking until April. Wait another month before planting broad beans. November Access to the plot may be limited in November by poor weather, but there should be a lot to pick, from cabbage and kale to parsnips, celeriac, beetroot and salads until frost arrives in earnest. After that you can still be cutting lamb’s lettuce, and salads under cover. Roots, except for parsnips, are best harvested and stored by the middle of the month, as they will remain in better condition well away from wet soil. December Cold, dry days in December are good for spreading your remaining compost and manure before Christmas, so that frost can break up any lumps and help make a soft surface for next year. Back indoors, reflect on the receding year and plan improvements for the next one; above all, aim to build more health into your soil so that plants can better resist whatever comes their way.
✔ Author(s): Charles Dowding
✔ Title: Charles Dowding's Veg Journal: Expert no-dig advice, month by month
✔ Rating : 4.7 out of 5 base on (661 reviews)
✔ ISBN-10: 0711239282
✔ Language: English
✔ Format ebook: PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Audio, HTML and MOBI
✔ Device compatibles: Android, iOS, PC and Amazon Kindle
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