Vegetable Gardening Masterclass: Use My Month-by-Month Growing Guide

Here’s my guide to your gardening priorities over the coming year. Think of it as your blueprint to gardening success!

January

This quieter time of year is perfect for planning and setting up new growing areas (assuming you’re not under snow of course – if so, you’ll need to wait until conditions improve).

Sun and Shade

Plenty of sunlight means stronger, healthier plants and faster growth, so prioritise the sunniest part of your garden for growing most fruits and veggies. As well as better growth, high sunshine levels also improve flavour, especially from fruiting crops like tomatoes.

Some plants like leafy greens will do just fine with a little bit of shade however. If you suffer from exceptionally hot summers then you might want to actually seek out an area that gets some shade during the hottest part of the day, or plan to grow taller crops that will cast shade for lower-growing shade-loving crops.

Even in a more temperate climate like mine, a little bit of shade can be useful for some crops. For example, lettuce can be prone to bolting (flowering and going to seed) in hot, dry weather. In light shade the soil stays cooler and moister for longer, helping to delay bolting and so extending the cropping season.

Get Vegetable Beds Ready

This past year has been a lot wetter than average where I live. In fact, in the autumn we got two months’ worth of rain in just one week! I find that raised beds really help with drainage, avoiding soggy, saturated soil. My garden slopes, so I dug the raised beds into the slope to give me a level surface to plant into.

I put down a layer of cardboard under both the beds and the surrounding paths to suppress and eventually kill off the lawn and weeds beneath. The paths then got a topping of wood chips, while the beds were filled with a mix of rough compost and other organic matter, finished off with lovely well-rotted compost.

Whether you're setting up in-ground or raised beds, get them ready now so your growing medium has a chance to settle down, ready for sowing and planting in a few months' time.

February

Towards the end of winter, as we look forward to spring, it's time to start thinking about sowing. One of the biggest mistakes many of us make is sowing at the wrong temperature. Cool-season vegetables like cabbage, parsnip, peas and spinach need a vastly different sowing temperature compared to warm-season and frost-susceptible crops like tomatoes, melons and peppers. By keeping temperatures within the optimal range you can really boost your germination wins.

Optimal Sowing Temperatures

With the optimal temperature range for most cool season staples beginning at around 45-50ºF (7-10ºC), it makes sense to delay sowing in a cold spring. Trying to jump the gun can lead to disappointing results.

However, by using horticultural fleece or cloches you can start sowing a little sooner. This will passively warm up the soil beneath and provide shelter from the elements, essentially shifting the whole growing season forward by as much as two weeks. If you're using our Garden Planner, when you add one of these season-extending covers the growing dates in your Plant List will automatically readjust for the crops growing beneath them.

Warm-season favourites, on the other hand, usually need a minimum temperature of around 60-70ºF (16-21ºC). It's one reason why in cool or temperate climates like mine they really need to be sown indoors with a little bit of background heat. A heat mat or heated propagator is perfect, but if you don't have one, look around the house for alternatives. For example, you could put seeded pots and flats above a radiator or fireplace, or perhaps close to your gas boiler or furnace. It’s a good idea to include a maximum/minimum thermometer so you can keep track of temperatures and check that you're close to the optimal range for what you're sowing.

March

Shortly after your seedlings have germinated, it's time to transplant them into individual plugs or pots to keep them growing along nicely, ready to plant out in a few weeks’ time. This is one job I enjoy more than any other! The gardening term for it is ‘pricking out’, and if you've never done it before, don’t worry, it's very easy.

Prick Out Seedlings

Carefully ease the seedlings and their roots out of their pot. A teaspoon works well for this, or sometimes I like to use a chopstick. Then the delicate part: always handle the seedling by its leaf, never the stem, as it could be crushed or snapped. Make a hole in the potting mix with your chopstick or little spoon, and carefully guide the roots down into the pot or plug. Gently firm the seedling in.

I like to do this while the seedlings are quite young. At this stage the root system is still small, so it's easier to guide them into the holes. Sometimes the roots hang on to some potting mix, and that’s fine – just feed the whole clump of soil from the original nursery pot into its new home to avoid disturbing the roots too much.

Feed Fruit Trees and Bushes

The easiest crops to grow for sheer hands-off effort have to be fruit trees and bushes, which are also some of the highest-yielding. Repay their generosity by laying down some mulch to give plants a boost for the coming growing season. Birds have had plenty of time to peck around and get rid of any overwintering grubs that might cause a problem next season, so now we can get that soil covered up.

Mulching with organic matter nourishes the soil and the fruits growing in it. I like to use part-decomposed leaves to mulch around my fruit bushes, but you could use garden compost, wood chips, or anything else that will eventually rot down. Just be careful to keep the mulch away from the stems of your plants to prevent the wood from rotting.

This is also a good time to plant new fruit trees and bushes. You can purchase container-grown plants, or alternatively many are also available more cheaply as bare-rooted plants while they are still dormant. Planting at this time of year gives them a few weeks to settle into position before the growing season really begins.

Plant Potatoes in Containers

Spring's arrival is a time of peak excitement for any gardener! Sowing and planting can begin apace, and what better crop to begin with than the humble but ever versatile potato? The most accessible way to grow potatoes is in large containers or tubs which can be placed anywhere - on a patio, decking, balcony, or indeed in any spare corner.

Choose a large container – 30 litres (8 US gallons) is good – to give plenty of room for the tubers to grow and reduce the speed at which the containers dry out. Mix screened garden compost with old potting mix, and some fresh potting mix as well. This three-way split makes it more economical, because potting mix is quite expensive stuff! Add a small handful of general-purpose organic fertiliser such as blood, fish and bone, or a tailor-made organic potato fertiliser. Mix it all together so everything is evenly combined.

Fill your container about one-third full with your mix, and then place two seed potatoes on top with the shoots or ‘eyes’ facing up. Add another third of your mix, making sure to avoid toppling the seed potatoes over so they're still facing the right way up. Plant another two seed potatoes, making sure they are not positioned directly over the first two so that when the stems grows they're not immediately on top of each other. Then fill up with your potting mix right the way to the top of the container.

April

With warmer weather comes faster growth, and the need to keep on top of watering. Plants in greenhouses or cold frames need close monitoring, as they will be reliant on you to keep them happy. I like to lift pots up to check the weight, and if they're light that's a good indication they need some water.

Harden Off Seedlings

Within the blink of an eye, the main planting period is upon us! Indoor-sown warm-season crops like tomatoes, peppers, pole beans and squashes need to be gradually acclimatised to outdoor conditions before planting. Suddenly moving your plants from a warm, cossetted environment to the wind and chill of outdoors risks shocking plants and setting them back, which makes this slow and steady transfer process, called 'hardening off', so important.

Start 10-14 days before you plan to plant, once temperatures are warm enough. Take your young plants outdoors on a calm, sunny-ish day. Initially, leave them outdoors in a sheltered spot for a few hours, and then gradually extend the time they’re left out over a week or two. A cold frame is really useful for this; it shields the plants from the wind, and you can gradually raise the lid further over time to get them used to outdoor conditions.

If possible, set plants into their final positions when calmer warmer weather is forecast for the next few days. I sometimes cover recent transplants with horticultural fleece for a week or two to smooth the transition.

Grow Broad Beans

Starting broad beans off away from growing areas not only enables an early start but also avoids any risk of mice eating the seeds. Transplant the seedlings 9in (23cm) apart each way. Run strings on canes around the blocks of plants to help stop them flopping over when they grow a bit taller. Broad beans grow really well in containers too, but pick a dwarf variety to keep them manageable.

Vegetable Garden Flowers

It's easy to overlook flowers in the vegetable garden, but they are so important for attracting beneficial insects – not to mention adding a splash of welcome cheer! Mid spring is the ideal time to sow frost-sensitive or half-hardy annuals like marigolds, cosmos and zinnias.

Sow the seeds on the soil surface and then lightly cover them over with a little screened potting mix. They will germinate best in the warm, so after watering pop them on a sunny windowsill to germinate. Once they're up, they can be moved back into the greenhouse to grow on in individual plugs or small pots.

If you don't have a greenhouse, don't worry, you can put them in a cold frame or just a sunny sheltered spot, bringing them in at night to keep them out of the chill. Once they've been hardened off and it's safe to do so, plant them into the vegetable garden where they will lend their cheer and spread their inimitable joy.

May

Growth is really rattling on by late spring, so we’re tending to earlier plantings and – if we’re lucky – enjoying the very first harvests of the new growing season.

Hill Up Potatoes

Most early season potatoes are determinate in growth habit, which means they produce their potatoes in a single layer. If they come to the surface they will turn green and become get a bit poisonous, so we need to mulch to keep the soil covered. I like to use grass clippings as they’re in good supply at this time of year, but you could also top up with compost or other organic matter. Spread in fairly thin layers every now and then to avoid creating hidey-holes for slugs.

Indeterminate varieties of potato are higher-yielding and form their tubers at different levels within the soil, so to help them along 'earth up' your potatoes by drawing up the soil around the stems to create more volume for those potatoes to grow into. Do this when the potatoes first poke through the soil surface, and then again two or three weeks later, once the foliage has got a bit taller.

Harvest Early Salad Crops

There's a good chance you might start harvesting your very first salad crops such as lettuce, spinach, radishes or salad onions. Salads are really quick and easy to start off. You can sow them direct, perhaps using a cut-and-come-again mix of salad leaves, or sow them into plug trays to plant out at their final spacings once they've grown on a bit.

To harvest cut-and-come-again leaves, just click off the outside leaves from each plant between your finger and thumb, leaving the central crown of the plant to grow on and produce the next set of leaves.

June

As summer gathers pace, so do harvests, but don't neglect growing plants as they approach maturity.

Prune Tomatoes

Vining (cordon or indeterminate) tomatoes need to be tied in to their supports. In most climates it's also a good idea to remove the sideshoots or suckers between the leaf and main stem to help plants concentrate on flower and fruit production, rather than growing more stems.

Prevent Brassica Pests

Ever-persistent pests are never far away, whether it's hungry caterpillars or marauding pigeons. In most cases the answer is very simple: set up defences to keep them at bay.

Early summer brings with it the moths and butterflies that trouble our brassica (cabbage family) crops. I use bird netting to keep pigeons off, but butterflies will lay their eggs through it where it touches the leaves, so a finer-gauge netting or mesh is needed to prevent this. Secure the sides really well at ground level so that the butterflies can't creep in underneath.

Harvest Early Potatoes

You can expect to start harvesting your first small early potatoes around now. They won’t be the biggest – probably about the size of a hen’s egg – but they are the absolute royalty of all potatoes, and will make a fantastic early potato salad!

July

It's not just pests that threaten a hearty harvest - so can poor pollination. Fortunately, there’s plenty we can do about that!

Hand-pollinate Squashes

Early in the summer and in cooler weather, when there are fewer pollinating insects around, it pays to hand-pollinate your squash family plants. You’ll get your fruits earlier, and more of them. It will also avoid problems caused by poor pollination, such as the ends of the fruits becoming squishy.

Hand-pollinating is really simple to do. First look for a male flower – these are the ones with a plain, straight stem behind the flower. Peel back the petals to reveal the stamen in the middle, with its tiny flecks of bright yellow pollen. Next, look for a female flower, which are the ones with the swelling (the immature fruit) behind the flower. Now reveal the female parts in the middle of the flower. Brush the stamen of the male flower right in the middle of the female flower to pollinate it. Each male flower should have enough pollen to pollinate about three female flowers.

It's worth growing at least two squash plants in close proximity. This increases the chances of there being both male and female flowers open at the same time, so pollination is more of a sure thing.

Improve Corn Pollination

Corn is wind-pollinated, so it’s usually planted in a block rather than long thin rows. This means that, no matter which way the wind blows, the pollen drifting down from the tassels at the top should reach the silks at the end of the young cobs halfway down on an adjacent plant. If the cob doesn't get enough pollen, then not all kernels will be filled, so if there is little wind I like to tap the stems of the corn plants to release clouds of pollen. This simple act will greatly improve pollination, especially if your garden is sheltered like mine.

Fertilise Hungry Plants

With the halfway point of the growing season upon us, it’s time to top up soil fertility where required. A good dollop of nutrient-rich organic matter added earlier in the winter (for example garden compost) should power along most crops for much of the growing season, but if you do notice that plants are struggling, or they haven't quite reached their stride, it's time to break out the organic fertiliser.

Chicken manure pellets are a fantastically concentrated form of organic matter, far more concentrated than fresh manure. This is great sprinkled around actively growing plants and tickled into the top layer of soil at around 4-5oz per square yard (150g per square metre). Alternatively, blood, fish and bone can be used in much the same way, but at half the concentration. This stuff is fantastic for root growth, promoting stronger crops and better yields.

If you're not keen on animal-derived fertilisers, look out for organic vegan plant-based alternatives which will work just as well.

August

The heat of summer can prove a challenge, especially when it comes to keeping our plants happy and hydrated.

Water Plants Efficiently

Watering is an art, and getting it right is so important. So how do you know when it's time to water? Well, everyone's got a portable moisture checking tool: your finger! Just stick it down into the soil an inch or two deep, where the roots are. If it's cool and damp, there's enough moisture, but if it's dry and dusty - get watering!

It's best to water in the morning if you can, while the soil is still cool from the night-time, so plants can take charge of all that water ahead of the heat of the day. It also means that the soil surface has all day to dry out so slugs and diseases have fewer oppportunities to thrive.

But what if you don't have time in the morning? Perhaps you've got to rush to get to work or do the school run, and don't fancy getting up extra early to fit in your watering beforehand? Well, watering in the evening comes a close second. (That's when I tend to do my watering.)

Just try to avoid watering during the heat of the day when moisture can quickly evaporate, leaving less for your plants.

September

As summer wanes and autumn knocks on the garden gates, it's time to bring in the last of the summer’s bounty, including of course those lovely tomatoes!

Harvest Tomatoes

Regular feeding with a liquid tomato feed will help to encourage sluggish plants. It will give tomato plants a boost and encourage fruit formation and – crucially – ripening. In the summer months I like to feed my plants at least once every 2 weeks. It dramatically improves both the quantity and the quality of your fruits.

The best taste comes from tomatoes ripened on the vine or bush, and warmth really helps with that. As days start to cool off, consider shutting greenhouse windows, doors and vents, especially at night-time, to lock in more of that precious warmth. Wash off any greenhouse shade paint if you’ve added it.

Later on in the summer, as we tip into autumn – about 6 to 8 weeks before your first expected frost date – it's worth removing any more flowers that appear. Shorter days mean dramatically slower growth. In cooler climates any flowers that appear now are very unlikely to set fruit, swell and ripen in time, so pick them off.

With vining tomatoes, pinch out the top of your vines and any side shoots to effectively stop vegetative growth in its tracks. With the flowers removed and excess foliage removed, the plant has no choice but to concentrate all of its efforts into ripening the remaining fruits.

Sow Autumn Greens

If shortening days and cooler weather make you think time is up in the garden – think again! There's still plenty to sow, including two of my favourite leafy lovelies.

Rocket loves the cool of early autumn and will even thrive in partial shade. Broadcast seeds over raked soil. You can then add a little more compost or soil over the top to cover them or, my preference, just lightly rake the soil to contact the seeds with those crumbs of soil. Firm down with the back of the rake, then water them gently. Keep the soil nice and moist, and before long you’ll have lovely fresh, vibrant greens ready to pick.

Spinach is another fantastic choice for sowing in autumn as it loves the cooler weather. It's absolutely loaded with nutrients, and can be ready to pick just 40 days after sowing. Look for varieties that are described as quick-growing to make sure you get a harvest before the cold weather returns.

Spinach can be sown direct where it's to grow about half an inch (1 cm) deep into rows about 1 foot (30cm) apart. However I like to start mine in plug trays, because at this time of year there's just not quite enough space in the garden beds. Sowing into plugs means I can start my spinach off before earlier crops are finished. That's a great example of succession sowing, which is a fantastic way to get even more from the space you have.

Sow a couple of seeds into each plug, then cover them over with a little screened potting mix. Keep them well-watered then, once you have space in the garden, plant them about 8 in (20cm) apart in both directions. You can begin harvesting as soon as the leaves are big enough. Spinach is a cut-and-come-again leaf, which means that so long as you only pick a few of the outermost leaves from each plant, more will grow to give several more harvests.

October

And who can turn their nose up at garlic? Not me!

Plant Garlic

Space garlic cloves about 6in (15cm) apart in both directions. Giving plants plenty of space will help to plump up big bulbs, and it will also encourage better airflow. That’s really important to reduce the risk of diseases like rust that can occur later on in the growth cycle to really slow things down.

Plant the cloves into holes that are about 5in (12-13 cm) deep, so that when you cover them with soil there will be about 4in (10 cm) of soil above the top of the clove. Plant cloves with the flat part (where the roots will emerge from) facing downwards and the pointy end facing up, because that's where the leaves will sprout from.

November

As the trees start shedding their leaves and we experience our first frosts of the season, there comes a chance for us to take a breath and take stock – but not before taking advantage of that annual bonanza, fallen leaves!

Make Leafmould

Autumn is a time of huge excitement for me, because I know there are piles of leaves just waiting for me to hunt down, rake up and hoard to use in my garden. You can make a simple leafmould cage to contain the leaves and stop them getting blown away by the wind.

Just hammer in four corner posts, then wrap around some wire mesh – chicken wire or stock fencing, for instance – and secure it to the posts with wire staples. I position the wire about 6in in (15cm) up off the ground, so that any critters who want to walk in at ground level to rest in the leaves over the winter can do that. The leaves won't be touched for at least a year, so as they decompose they can also offer a welcome winter home for wildlife.

You can secure the ends of the wire mesh with a bamboo cane to make it quick and easy to open and shut the ‘door’ side, making accessing the leafmould much easier once it’s ready.

You can speed up the process of making leafmould by composting ‘greens’ such as grass clippings along with your leaves. Just put leaves on your lawn to pick up the grass clippings at the same time. This will give a final product that is slightly richer in nutrients, so it may not be suitable for all uses (such as a seed starting mix).

Make sure that your leaves are nice and damp. This will help make conditions habitable for the mycelium of the fungi that will help break the leaves down. If they are dry, you can always water them as you fill your leafmould cage.

December

To reinvigorate the soil we need to add material that will improve its structure and feed the plants growing in it, and two of the very best additions are garden compost and manure.

Add a Winter Mulch

One of the advantages of spreading organic matter as winter approaches is that we're not going to be planting anything for 3 or 4 months, which gives nature plenty of time to build our soil. Spread your organic matter about 2in (5 cm) deep. Use the back of your fork or rake to smash apart any bigger clods. Nature will do the rest!

Improve Your Soil With Wood Ash

If you have any wood ash, now is a good time to spread it too. Just make sure that it’s pure wood ash, without any coal ash, treated wood, or anything else in it – we want it nice and pure. Just spread it on in a thin layer, and it'll add a dose of extra nutrients that will really zhuzh up your soil!

And so we find the gardening year coming round full circle. Us gardeners are rarely idle, but we wouldn't have it any other way, right?

Plants Related to this Article

Lettuce (Loose Leaf) Grow Guide

Potatoes (Maincrop) Grow Guide

Tomato (Regular) Grow Guide