Monthly Archives: March 2013

To do on your plot in September

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Harvest

The maincrop potatoes should be ready now.

You may well have reasonably sized parsnips now but they will stay perfectly happy in the ground and do taste better after they have had a frost on them.

The runner beans and French beans will be continuing to produce and the last of the peas should be coming in. Compost the foliage of the peas but leave the roots in the ground as the nodules on them contain nitrogen.

Harvest:

  • Beetroot
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflowers
  • Courgettes
  • Cucumbers
  • Globe Artichokes
  • Kale
  • Kohlrabi
  • Lettuce
  • Leeks
  • Marrows
  • Onions
  • Pumpkins
  • Radishes
  • Spring Onions
  • Spinach
  • Sweetcorn
  • Tomatoes
  • Turnips

From the greenhouse you should be picking aubergines, chilli and sweet peppers as well as cucumbers and tomatoes.

If you grow fruit then the picking should be in full swing there as well:

Apples, pears, plums, peaches from the trees, blackberries and raspberries from the canes and strawberries from the bed.

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Sowing

There’s not a great deal to sow now but surprisingly it’s the right time to sow winter lettuces.

The other salad crop is the winter hardy spring onion.

Planting Out

Your spring cabbage plants can be planted out now and over wintering (Japanese) onion sets can go in for an early onion harvest.

You can plant out garlic as well although I prefer to plant it out later in the year.

Cultivating

Keep feeding your tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. It’s not really worthwhile feeding other plants at this time of year as they are nearly finished and the nutrients are best saved for the spring. Keep the side shoots in check on the tomatoes.

Fruit

Tidy up the summer fruiting raspberries, cutting off the canes that have fruited and tying in the new shoots that will bear next year.

The summer fruiting strawberries can be attended to now as well. Cut off the foliage about 1″ from the ground, clearing and weeding as you go. Any runners can be planted up to replace 3 year old plants that are best replaced now.

General Tasks

Keep an eye on your brassicas for butterfly eggs and caterpillars, these will most probably be under the leaves.

To do on your plot in August

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Harvest

  • French Beans
  • Runner Beans
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Celery
  • Courgettes
  • Cucumbers
  • Kale
  • Kohlrabi
  • Lettuce
  • Onions
  • Spring Onions
  • Peas
  • Early Maincrop Potatoes
  • Radish
  • Spinach
  • Tomatoes
  • Turnips

When you harvest your potatoes take care to remove all the tubers. Any left will not only sprout next year and become a weed but will also be a reservoir for disease and potato blight spores.

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Sowing

There are still quite a few things you can sow in August.

  • Spring Cabbage
  • Chinese cabbage
  • Kohlrabi
  • Lettuce (sow a hardy variety for winter use)
  • Spring Onions (White Lisbon winter hardy)
  • Radishes
  • Spinach
  • Turnips

Planting Out

August is the month to plant out:

  • Savoy Cabbages and Cauliflowers
  • Kale

Cultivating

Runner beans that have reached the top of their supports will benefit from having the growing tip pinched out.

Keep on top of the weeds, it really is far easier to hoe them as small seedlings than as grown plants.

Keep your tomato sideshoots in check, you want tomatoes not masses of foliage. Ensure they are watered regularly, drying out prevents the plant from taking up sufficient calcium and the deficit causes blossom end rot.

Keep feeding your tomatoes.

Fruit

Many fruits are ready to harvest or swelling. Swelling fruit requires a lot of water so ensure they have enough.

Finish summer pruning apple trees and prune mature plums after fruiting.

Plant new strawberry plants and pot up runners from established plants.

General Tasks

Keep on top of the pests. Aphids and Blackfly are a particular problem. You can control them with pesticides or just wash them off many plants with a strong jet of water. A wash with soft soap will do no harm to the plants and will reduce numbers.

Turn your compost. The warmth will be helping your compost break down and turning it out to in will ensure even breakdown. Water if it is dry as the microbes need some water but don’t make it absolutely sodden.

Keep an eye on your brassicas for butterfly eggs and caterpillars, these will most probably be under the leaves.

To do on your plot in July

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July is usually one of the driest months so a lot of time may be spent watering.

Another good method of preventing water loss is to hoe. This not only kills the weeds but breaks up the top of the soil stopping water from being drawn to the surface by capillary action and evaporating.

Harvest

  • Broad Beans
  • French Beans
  • Runner Beans
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Celery
  • Courgettes
  • Cucumbers
  • Kale
  • Kohlrabi
  • Lettuce
  • Onions
  • Spring Onions
  • Peas
  • Early Potatoes
  • Radish
  • Spinach
  • Tomatoes
  • Turnips

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Sowing

A few things you can sow in July.

  • Spring Cabbage
  • Chicory
  • Chinese cabbage
  • Kohlrabi
  • Lettuce
  • Peas
  • French Beans
  • Beetroot
  • Carrots
  • Radishes

Planting Out

If they’ve not gone out yet, it’s time to plant out your leeks.

It’s also the month to plant out:

  • Broccoli and Calabrese
  • Cabbages and Cauliflowers
  • Kale

Cultivating

Keep on top of the weeds.

Keep your tomato sideshoots in check, you want tomatoes not masses of foliage. Ensure they are watered regularly, drying out prevents the plant from taking up sufficient calcium and the deficit causes blossom end rot.

Don’t forget to feed your tomatoes as well. It’s a good idea to give your maincrop potatoes a feed as well. A major cause of poor crops with potatoes is poor nutrition. A feed balanced as for tomatoes is ideal. If you make your own feed from comfrey, this is ideal.

Keep your onions well weeded and don’t forget to feed them as well to get the best possible crop.

Fruit

Many fruits are ready to harvest or swelling. Swelling fruit requires a lot of water so ensure they have enough.

July is a good month for summer pruning apple trees.

General Tasks

Keep on top of the pests. Aphids and Blackfly are a particular problem. You can control them with pesticides or just wash them off many plants with a strong jet of water. A wash with soft soap will do no harm to the plants and will reduce numbers.

With broad beans you can pinch out the tops which are most attractive to blackfly. Another ‘trick’ is to plant some nasturtiums which attract blackfly. You can then pull the nasturtiums and their blackfly.

Keep an eye on your brassicas for butterfly eggs and caterpillars, these will most probably be under the leaves.

To do on your plot in June

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Harvest

Salad crops should be available, lettuce, spring onion, radish etc, Summer cabbage and early carrots.

The early potatoes will be coming in this month as well as Beetroot, young turnips and summer spinach. Early peas could well be cropping in June.

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Cultivating

As with May, we really need to keep on top of the weeds. Hoeing them off as small seedlings will make the job far easier than waiting for them to grow and send their roots down.

Continue thinning out your carrots, parsnips, beetroot etc. Water when required.

In very dry weather, keeping the surface friable by hoeing will help keep the water from getting to the surface by capillary action and then evaporating away. It also helps water soak in when you do get some rain.

Planting

You should be able to plant out brassicas now. Broccoli and calabrese, Brussels sprouts, summer cabbage.

If you have started beans in pots, both runner and French these can go into the outside too. Leeks may well be ready to move to their final position. Celery can go out now as well.

Outdoor tomatoes can go to their final position now. When moving plants from greenhouse to outdoors it is a good idea to condition them to the move. Take them out in the day and put them back at night for a few days or move from greenhouse to coldframe. This avoids shocking the plant by a sudden and drastic change in climate.

Sowing

There is a lot to sow this month and with many crops you can sow one set and then a few weeks later re-sow to give you a succession of fresh vegetables. In dry weather it is a good idea to soak your seed drill before sowing and then just water with a fine rose after.

  • French and Runner Beans
  • Maincrop peas
  • Beetroot
  • Carrots
  • Turnips
  • Swedes
  • Cauliflowers
  • Chicory
  • Endive
  • Kohlrabi
  • Sweetcorn
  • Squash
  • Courgette and Marrows
  • Cucucumber

In the greenhouse

Keep pinching off the side shoots with your tomatoes and keep an eye out for pests such as aphids, whitefly, red spider mite. If you are subject to attack by these pests it is worth checking out biological controls as these are perfectly safe to use and, used correctly, more effective than traditional chemical controls. Many of the chemical controls of the past are no longer available anyway so the organic alternatives are now the mainstream choice.

Fruit

Make sure your fruiting plants have sufficient water when the fruit is swelling. This is critical to a good crop.

Thin out plums and apples in June.

General Tasks

Slugs and snails are at ground level so take action to keep them down and remember birds will eat your crops. Don’t forget the netting.

The butterflies are about now as well so check the undersides of your brassica leaves for the yellow or white eggs that will hatch into caterpillars and devastate the plant. You can squash them, wipe or wash them off easily at this stage.