January - January is a quiet month in the vegetable garden. It's all about getting ready for the growing year by planning what to grow and making sure everything is in place. In dry spells its good to get out and tidy existing beds and tubs. Cut down dead growth and pull out weeds. Dig over the soil if its not too soggy.

• Week 1
  • At the allotment continue to dig over beds if weather is mild and soil not too wet. Leave the soil in big lumps for the frost to rain and break down.
  • This is the time to start planning what to grow this year. Make a list of your favourite fruit and vegetables and decide which ones to try.
• Week 2
  • If growing potatoes its best to use special seed potatoes rather than planting supermarket ones. Order from a catalogue or buy at a garden centre soon.
  • Encourage wild birds into the garden. At this time of year its important to keep feeding them. Try making some energy-rich fat balls with seeds, stale cake and lard. Hang these where cats can't reach.
• Week 3
  • It may be too cold to sow seeds outside, but sprouted seeds can be grown all year round. Try sprouting alfalfa, pink stemmed radish or fenugreek to add to sandwiches or salad.
• Week 4
  • Make sure used seed trays and pots are clean and ready for the season. Used clear plastic fruit containers from the supermarket make great mini seed trays, especially those with a lid. Just remember to make drainage holes. Start collecting now for sowing in the next few months.
  • Make new plant labels by cutting yoghurt pots into strips.

February - Although the weather can be wet and cold, signs of spring may be emerging. Seed sowing can begin towards the end of the month, so finish any digging and tidying still left to do.

• Week 1
  • Seed potatoes should be set out in a cool bright place in trays or egg boxes to make small stubby shoots. This is called 'chitting'.
  • Soil that has been dug over ready for planting can be covered with black plastic to stop weeds bursting into life on fine days.
• Week 2
  • Plant fruit trees and bushes such as blackcurrant as soon as weather conditions permit. If it's wet or frosty, keep somewhere cool but frost-free until the weather is suitable.
  • If not done so already, cut down autumn-fruiting raspberries on your plot, cut all the old canes down to the ground now.
• Week 3
  • Rhubarb plants can be planted this month. It grows best in cool damp soil with plenty of manure or compost.
  • Check pots outside don't freeze solid - raise them off the ground using bricks or pot feet and move to a sheltered spot.
  • How about growing some Barbie pink cress? Special red cabbage seeds can be sown like cress on damp cotton wool on a window sill.
• Week 4
  • collect and wash empty drinks bottles to make mini plant cloches to use later. Each bottle can be cut in half to make 2 mini cloches.
  • If not too wet, garlic cloves can be planted outside in garden beds or large pots of well-drained compost. Plant each clove about 2cm deep and 15cm apart.
  • At the allotment, shallots can be planted now. Delay by a few weeks in the North or if your soil is heavy.

March - This is a busy time in the vegetable garden since the sowing season gets underway this month. Delay this by a couple of weeks in the North or if your soil is heavy and slow to drain.

• Week 1
  • If you don't have much room, plant early potatoes in a large tub or container to grow elsewhere. One-third fill a large pot and put in 2 or 3 seed potatoes. Cover with compost until half full and stand in a sheltered place where it will not catch the frost. As the shoots grow, top up with compost. Harvest in about 10-12 weeks.
  • Plant sprouting seeds and mixed salad leaves indoors for early salads. Sow baby leaf or cut-and-come-again salads in pots (at least 20cm in diameter) inside or grow bags in the greenhouse. They should be ready to crop in about 25-40 days.
• Week 2
  • Vegetables to be grown in a greenhouse can be sown about now. This includes greenhouse tomatoes, peppers, chili peppers and aubergines. If you only want a few of each it might be easier to buy young plants ready grown later on.
  • Strawberry plants from the garden centre can now be planted in a large tub of compost or special strawberry pot. A 35cm pot will hold about 4 plants.
  • Radishes can take only three weeks from sowing to eating. Sow a short row outside now and keep sowing little and often throughout spring and summer.
• Week 3
  • Sunflowers are fun to grow and the seed heads provide food for birds. Sow now in pots on the windowsill for planting out in late April.
  • Onion sets can be planted in raised beds or the school garden. Plant about 10cm apart in rows spaced 30cm apart. Push the set into the ground so just the tip can be seen.
  • Be quick -- if you are ordering vegetable plants, last ordering dates are approaching.
• Week 4
  • Over the next few weeks depending on the weather, early or 'new' potatoes can be planted in the allotments. Plan 12cm deep, 30cm apart, in rows 60cm apart.
  • Sow hardy peas in a shallow trench, spacing seeds about 5cm apart and 5cm deep. Protect from birds with netting or twigs.

April - Energies are concentrated on sowing seeds, potting on earlier sown plants, and keeping everything growing smoothly.

• Week 1
  • Carrots can be sown in containers, grow bags, or even in a window box. Choose a round, short-rooted or stumpy variety such as Parmex, Mokum, or Amsterdam Forcing.
  • Keep feeding the birds. They will be nesting soon and will need a regular source of food.
  • Tender greenhouse sowings like tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, chili pepper, and aubergines will need potting in 9cm pots if sown last month.
• Week 2
  • Lettuces sown earlier can be planted outside, but protect from birds, slugs, and snails.
  • If growing second early or main crop potatoes, plant in rows 60-70cm apart, with potatoes spaces 30-35cm apart.
  • French or dwarf runner beans such as Hestia can be grown in a tub outside for copping in early summer. Sow seeds now, two per 9cm pot on a sunny windowsill for planting later. You will need about 5 plants for a bucket-sized pot.
• Week 3
  • Sow some edible flowers to add to salads and attract beneficial insects. Both Nasturtium and pot marigold seeds are large and easy for small fingers to handle. Sow outdoors 1cm deep where you want them to flower or in small pots to transplant later.
  • At the allotment garden, sow some beetroot direct this month. This crop is best sown little and often. The roots are best harvested small and should be ready just before the summer holidays.
• Week 4
  • Some autumn/winter vegetables like kale and brussels sprouts can be sown in a seed bed now.
  • Regular small sowings of cut-and-come-again salad leaves will keep a regular supply going.
  • Inside, sow pumpkin and winter squash seeds, one seed per pot on its edge. Plant outside late Msy/early June. Courgettes can also be sown the same way until the end of May/early June. One courgette plant will grow quite happily in a large tub with regular watering.

May - By the end of the month, most areas of the UK have had their last frost. This means that tender vegetables such as courgettes and French beans can be sown and planted outside.

• Week 1
  • Sweetcorn seeds and runner beans can be sown in modules for planting towards the end of the month.
  • Make sure your bean frame is in place for climbing french beans or runner beans.
  • Weeds will start to romp away as the weather warms up. Keep on top of them with regular forking over or hoeing.
• Week 2
  • Sow winter cabbages, brussels sprouts and sprouting broccoli in a seed bed outdoors or in a small pot to crop in winter and early spring.
  • Last planting date for potatoes is approaching.
• Week 3
  • Plant out sunflowers sown earlier. Protect from slugs and snails and have canes ready for support.
  • Still time to sow pumpkins, squash and courgettes. If sown last month, plant outside in soil enriched with manure or compost. Give each plant protection with mini cloches made from drinks bottles.
• Week 4
  • French or runner beans can be sown directly into the soil now in most parts of the country.
  • Plant sweetcorn in a block of at least 5 plants to help the cobs to set. They will be ready to harvest from mid-August onward.

June - This is an exciting time as days are long and some of the first harvests are ready. Continue to make further sowings and plant out earlier pot-raised plants into their final growing position.

• Week 1
  • Plant into final growing position vegetables sown last month, including winter cabbages, sprouting broccoli, and leeks. Cabbage-family plants may need protection from pigeons. Cover with netting or dangle old CDs from a line to scare them off.
  • Slugs and snails love to eat fresh seedlings and baby leaves. Make beer traps and empty out regularly onto compost heap.
• Week 2
  • Strawberries will start to produce runners now. Extra plants can be made from 2 and 3 year old plants by pegging (lolpegging) runners into small pots. Otherwise snip runners off.
  • As strawberries develop from flowers, protect from birds with netting.
• Week 3
  • Continue to sow cut-and-come-again salad leaves.
  • Look after greenhouse tomatoes by tying the plant into a cane. With cordon varieties, when side shoots develop pinch out to keep one main growing stem.
• Week 4
  • Thin carrots sown earlier to 5cm apart.
  • Make a last sowing of carrots to crop in early autumn.
  • Early potatoes, baby beetroot, broad beans, and carrots should be ready for harvesting about now. To check potatoes are ready you should be able to feel tubers if you push your hand under a plant.

July - Warm summer days are here. Tasks are more gentle now. Such as harvesting, watering, and hoeing.

• Week 1
  • Over the next few months make regular checks of cabbage-family plants for caterpillars. Pick off and place on the bird table.
  • Once courgettes start to crop, keep picking them small and tasty or they will grow to marrow-size.
• Week 2
  • Make efforts to remove weeds before the holiday season begins.
  • Continue to harvest early potatoes, broad beans, baby carrots, French beans, courgettes.
  • If the weather is dry, thirsty (lolol) crops like pumpkin, squash, courgettes and beans may need extra water. If possible, mulch to keep moisture around the roots.
• Week 3
  • Keep weeding around vegetables and water well in dry spells.
  • At the allotment and school garden, a last sowing of lettuce, beetroot, French beans will crop when school re-opens in September.
  • Continue training, tying-in and feeding tomatoes.
  • Harvest strawberries, currants, raspberries and gooseberries. Cut down the raspberry canes that fruited this year, leaving the new growth to fruit next summer.
• Week 4
  • Make arrangements for plants to be kept watered and weeded during the holidays.
  • Sow spring cabbages in pots or a seedbed.

August - In this holiday month the priority is to keep harvesting crops. Luckily weed growth tends to slow down in the heat and slugs are less of a problem. Keep plants well watered and fed to keep the crops coming.

• Week 1
  • Pumpkin and squash fruit should be swelling now. Raise them off the ground by placing on a tile or brick.
  • Check plants for mildew which looks like a white powdery coating on leaves. Pick off worst affected leaves.
  • Onions planted in spring should be ready to lift now. To store, make sure they are really dry by leaving them in the sun for a few days.
• Week 2
  • Harvest French and runner beans, sweetcorn, main crop potatoes, beetroot, courgettes and salad leaves. Beans need picking every other day to keep them cropping.
  • Keep training, tying-in and feeding cucumbers.
• Week 3
  • Stake sunflowers, remove seed heads of pot marigold and nasturtium unless you want them to self seed next year.
  • Autumn seed catalogues will be available by now. Order garlic and autumn sowings, such as hardy peas and broad beans.
• Week 4
  • As crops finish, tidy up and put the plants on the compost heap. Diseased plants and very woody stems should be burnt.
  • Give strawberry plants a haircut - remove all the leaves and old runners. Rooted runners can be moved to their final growing position.

September - The school year begins, but harvesting in the garden continues. This is now time to make provision for winter by sowing crops that will provide fresh feasts over the next few months.

• Week 1
  • This is the ideal time to start making a school garden or working a new allotment. Ideally the ground should be cleared and dug as early as possibly to let frost and soil break the soil down.
  • If not done in July, one of the first gardening jobs to do when you return to school can be to sow spring cabbages next to pots to plant out at the allotment or school garden next month.
• Week 2
  • Keep checking sweetcorn to see if the cobs are ready. This is generally when the whiskers have turned dry and brown. Pick and cook as quickly as possible to enjoy the sweet taste.
  • If not done so already, lift carrots, onions and potatoes.
  • Finish lifting potatoes at the allotment or school garden. Choose a sunny day and leave potatoes to dry and skins to toughen for a couple of hours before storing in paper or hessian sacks.
• Week 3
  • Cut back canes of blackberries that fruited this year. It's a prickly job and thorn-proof gloves are needed.
  • If space permits, perhaps your school would enjoy planting and caring for some apple trees. The blossom is pretty and crops can be enjoyed by all. To help pollination it's best to plant 2 or 3 varieties if possible. Choose a dwarf rootstock to keep trees to a manageable size and consider local varieties as they are likely to crop well. You may have to order trees soon from a specialist nursery to get what you want.
• Week 4
  • Tomatoes grown outdoors should be harvested by the end of this month.
  • Complete planting strawberries if making a new bed. Any later and the crop next year will be small.

October - The month there is a focus on fruit, both harvesting (apples and pears), planning and planting. Time spent tidying, clearing and preparing the soil before bad weather sets in can get you ahead for next year.

• Week 1
  • For the simplest addition to salads and sandwiches grow mustard and cress on the windowsill. A pinch of seed sprinkled on damp cotton wool or thin layer of compost will sprout within days and be ready to crop in a week.
  • As the garden is cleared of old crops you will have lots of green waste. This is a good time to start making compost. Invest in a bin or make one from spare wood or pallets.
• Week 2
  • Finish harvesting autumn fruiting raspberries and then cut the canes down to the ground. New canes will grow in spring to crop next autumn.
  • Late autumn is a good time to plant fruit trees, bushes and cane fruits such as raspberries and blackcurrants. Plan what you would like to grow and order now. Some fruit bushes will grow well in containers. Try blackcurrant Ben Sarek in a pot as it doesn't get too large.
• Week 3
  • Cut pumpkins and winter squashes off the main plant with a few inches of stalk attached. Leave to harden in the sun if possible, but take care they don't get frosted.
  • It's a bit of a gamble, but in milder parts of the country it can be worth sowing hardy peas and broad beans (try Aquadulce claudia) now for cropping in early spring.
  • Around autumn half term is a very good time of year to plant autumn onion sets and garlic at the allotment or school garden.
• Week 4
  • Plant spring cabbages (sown in July) about 30cm apart. Protect from slugs, snails, and birds.
  • If the school playground doesn't provide enough space for veg growing consider taking on an allotment. To find out about availability in your area contact your local council. Be aware, however, that some parts of the country have long waiting lists.

November - This is a quiet time in the garden with short, cold days and sometimes frosty nights. An ideal time to plan what to grow next year.

• Week 1
  • Prepare the planting areas for winter planted fruits such as raspberries and rhubarb.
• Week 2
  • Collect the last of the fallen leaves to make leaf mould, a much appreciated mulch for vegetable beds.
  • If you live near the coast, collect seaweed to add to the compost bin or lay on the soil surface to improve the soil.
• Week 3
  • If you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse, give everything a good clean and tidy now.
• Week 4
  • If you have raised beds or patches of bare soil that have been dug over, consider growing a green manure such as grazing rye. This will stop the weeds growing, improve the soil and stop nutrients being washed away by the rain.

December - Preparations for Christmas will be in full swing. Don't forget to harvest winter vegetables.

• Week 1
  • If fruit trees or bushes ordered earlier arrive, plant as soon as possible. If the soil is very wet or frosty, store somewhere cool and damp until conditions improve.
  • Gather tools together, check for damage, clean them, and tidy away.
• Week 2
  • If not too wet, continue digging over ground for spring sowing or planting. Make sure all the old summer vegetable plants are cleared away as they provide hiding places for slugs and snails.
  • If you have sandy soil and it has been cleared, cover with old cardboard weighted down with bricks or even plastic sheet. This stops soil goodness being washed away.
• Week 3
  • Keep bird feeders topped up with a variety of seeds and nuts.
  • To speed up the composting process, turn out all the composting material in your bin, mix and then pile back in.
• Week 4
  • Harvest winter cabbages, leeks, and brussels sprouts