Plot holders contributions

Harvest crops as they are ready, and water in dry weather. A good weekly soak is much better than little and often, except for tomatoes and cucumbers which need to be kept moist at all times. Cucumbers are the one crop that benefit from the leaves being watered over. Finish cutting back summer fruiting raspberries. Cut back blackcurrants after fruiting. Strawberry runners can be planted in pots in situ: once they have rooted they can be cut from the main plant and planted out to form new plants. Strawberry plants need to be renewed every three years to ensure fruit is maximised. Watch out for caterpillars on brassicas from now on.

Keep hoeing and keep harvesting crops as they mature. Shallots and garlic should be lifted and stored. If growing cordon tomatoes, remove side shoots that emerge between the stem and leaf stem. Cut down to ground level summer fruiting raspberries that have finished fruiting. Runner beans should flower this month, water when beans have set. Onions should be starting to die down this month: allow the stems to bend over at the neck and let them die off. Then you can lift the onions, but make sure they dry off before storing them. Sow spring cabbage and turnips, according to vendor’s instructions, for winter use. Finish pulling rhubarb

Keep plot weed free by hoeing or hand weeding. Harvest crops when ready.
Finish planting out from the seed bed. Plant out all the greenhouse grown plants as frosts have now finished. Water as required, avoiding watering over plants in bright sunlight. Do not water over the leaves of courgettes/marrows as this will encourage mildew. Early potatoes are ready as soon as they are in bloom – but not all varieties bloom! Spray against potato blight and repeat at two week intervals.

Potatoes will need earthing up when about 9-12 inches tall. Pea support should be put in place. About the middle of the month, direct sowing of runner beans, French beans, and sweetcorn can be made. Successional sowing of peas, beetroot, lettuce and spinach can be made. Keep checking the seed bed, and when sufficiently advanced, plants may be put in their final position. Check strawberries and remove any runners, and put straw or matting in place to keep the fruit off the ground. Net when the fruit has set. Thin out parsnips.

Plant maincrop potatoes, bearing in mind that they are not frost hardy and will benefit from being protected by frost when they have sprouted above ground. Any delayed sowings should be made now, e.g. parsnips, which require a ground temperature of 9 degrees before they will germinate. Keep the seed bed weed free. In the greenhouse, around the middle of the month, sow marrow, courgettes, cucumbers for outdoors and outdoor tomatoes, but in all cases check seed packet notes. Prick out the African marigolds into trays, also the celery. Runner beans and dwarf beans may be sown in pots for planting out later after frosts have finished. Sweetcorn can be sown in pots for planting out. Rhubarb may be ready.

Around the middle of the month, plant first early potatoes, second earlies being planted at the end of the month. The seed bed may be sown around the middle of the month if conditions permit. This includes cabbage, sprouts, broccoli, leeks. Sow in their final growing positions peas, broad beans, onions, radish, parsley, parsnips, spinach, swedes, turnips, beetroots, carrots. Carrots will need protecting from carrot root fly by either a tall barrier around them, or by covering with a mesh tunnel. Both need leaving in position until autumn. In a greenhouse, sow celery and African marigolds for companion planting with brassicas to reduce whitefly in summer. Cut down autumn-fruiting raspberries when new growth appears.

Prepare ground for seed bed. Remove any weeds from autumn-dug ground. Plant shallots and garlic. Early peas may be sown under cloches or fleece. Prune gooseberries, red and white currants. Towards the end of the month, top-dress around spring greens, gooseberries, and rhubarb if not mulched. Plant rhubarb – give it two to three weeks exposure out of the soil if you are moving it.

Continue winter digging if conditions permit. Purchase seed potatoes and set them to chit in trays in a light, frost-free position. Order seeds if not done in the autumn. At the end of the month, plant winter broad beans. If rhubarb has become spindly, dig up and replant next month.

Harvest winter vegetables.
Continue winter digging if conditions permit; generally this is difficult between mid December and the end of January.
In severe weather, protect emerging winter broad beans - these should stand a minimum temperature of -5 degrees.
Sit at home on Christmas day and remember all the lovely vegetables and fruit you have harvested over the year with a drink!!!

One of the questions facing all gardeners, and particularly new ones, is the spacing of crops. Too close and your crops don’t have space to reach a good size or to produce a good yield; too far apart and you are wasting ground.Most seed packets and gardening books will give instructions about spacing and it is probably worth keeping a note-book/diary with planting dates and spacings to refer to later.

With potatoes my Dad always put his rows the length of a spade handle apart. One year when I had early blight, Peter Parr suggested that I had planted my potatoes too close. However, early potatoes can be planted closer in the row than main crop.

With carrots, sow the seeds thinly. This year I must have had nearly 100% germination and as I don’t thin carrots I have got a massive crop of mini carrots.

With beetroots, harvest the larger ones first to give the smaller ones room to grow on. However with carrots, thinning can attract carrot root fly.

Find out what works best for you!

Happy Christmas to you all and happy planting in 2010!

Andrew Hawkins, Chairman