January

In the flower garden:

• Take root cuttings from dormant perennials, eg oriental poppies, acanthus
• Plant or move rose bushes
• Cut down ornamental grass
• Move dormant plants that are growing in the wrong place
• Prune dogwood, buddleia and other shrubs - if the mild weather continues
• Order your dahlia plants and summer bulbs

In the vegetable garden:

• Clear old crops and rubbish
• Plant shallot sets
• Sow onion seed in a propagator
• Buy seed potatoes and set them up to sprout or 'Chit' either in seed trays or use an egg tray
• Dig your runner bean trench and fill with peelings, tea bags, banana skins etc. Leave room for approx. 3" of soil on top

February

In the flower garden:

• Start dahlia tubers into growth by putting them into trays or pots and cover the tubers with a potting compost or soil leaving the tops proud. The blue boxes from the Greengrocer are ideal
• Plant lily bulbs in pots for summer
• It's not too late to sow sweet pea seed
• Later in the month cut back perennials and ornamental grass. Divide clumps of herbaceous plants
• Start to prune bush and climbing roses but not rambling roses as they should have been cut back after flowering last July / August. Feed and mulch the herbaceous and rose beds after pruning

In the fruit and veg garden:

• February is the latest time to prune your apple and pear trees along with autumn raspberries, the canes of which should be cut down to ground level
• Complete digging of the vegetable area, prepare a seed bed and cover with polythene to warm the soil before sowing
• Sow greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers at 20°C / 21°C
• Set up, or chit, seed potatoes in boxes - egg trays are useful for this purpose, place in frost-free place
• Try a tray of runner bean seed to plant out in a sheltered position in March for an early crop

March

Now the work in the garden really starts!

• Prune shrubs and roses. With the early growth this year do not be afraid to cut or prune to the usual height. Growth on the roses will generally be 'blind' shoots as the frost will stop the flowering buds from forming
• Start sowing seeds, especially if you have a sheltered spot to grow them, like a greenhouse, cold-frame or porch
• Easter weekend is the potato planting time so get the ground ready to plant your tubers
• Wait until the end of the month before buying young plants from the nursery, unless of course you have a sheltered area to keep them - frosts are still likely
• If you wish to brighten up your garden buy some trays of primulas and/or primroses and plant out as these will be hardy
• Plant up some 10" pots with lily bulbs for colour during June and July
• Down here in the South-west it's worth planting some runner bean seed in a seed tray for an early crop. Likewise sow a run of French bean seed for early produce. Be prepared to put some horticultural fleece around or over the plants if frost is forecast
• Feed established shrubs and fruit trees with sulphate of potash
• Cut back willow, dogwood and buddleia - also mahonia
• Feed the daffodils with a general fertilizer such as phostrogen. Dead-head the old heads to stop them going to seed
• Cut back the hydrangea bush. Take off and burn the old heads that have been left on from last year. do not forget the lower that you cut back the stems the larger the new heads will be - but fewer in number
• Plant up your dahlia tubers and begonia corms to get new shoots - keep a look out for frosts
• Slugs will start feeding on your plants this month so use some slug control before the new shoots of plants such as hostas appear. Start spraying roses with a black-spot control before it appears. Top-dress your rose beds at the end of the month

April

In the flower garden:

• Keep dead-heading daffodils, let the leaves die back naturally and then give a dousing of liquid feed (eg Phostrogen) to help build up the bulbs for next year. As clumps of tulips fade remove heads and feed
• Pick off the fading camellia flowers if they do not drop off of their own accord, but watch out for bees or wasps sheltering in the faded blooms. Water the soil around camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons, heathers and other ericaceous plants with iron sequestrene or other ericaceous fertilizer for acid loving shrubs
• Cut back old growth on ferns, carefully, to assist fresh young fronds.
• Prune forsythia as soon as flowering has finished. Trim and tidy up winter jasmine
• Now is the time to take cuttings from dahlias, delphiniums and lupins for fresh new plants. Towards the end of the month, if no frosts are forecast, plant dahlia tubers, clumps of delphiniums and lupins that have been overwintered. The overwintered plants can be divided now to give you extra, free plants
• Towards the end of April, if no more frosts are likely, plant out annuals and plant up hanging baskets

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• Start pulling rhubarb, do not take too many 'sticks' from the plant
• Plant out onion sets, sow seed of beetroot, cabbage, radish and lettuce
• Main crop seed potatoes for an August harvest can now be planted as well as another row of early seed potatoes for a July harvest
• Spray apples, pears and other fruit trees when in blossom to prevent fruit fly laying grubs. Also spray with fungicide to prevent mildew. Hang pheromone traps in the apple trees to catch the codling moth
• Plant out tomato plants in the greenhouse either into bags or 10" pots. I use tomato bag mixture in 10" pots and place the pots on trays of gravel, feed with Phostrogen once a week until the fruits appear and then change the feed to a tomato fertilizer

It's slug time! - protect your plants with copper rings, crushed egg shells or repellant gel

May

Lawns:

• Mow the lawn regularly. Do not set the cutting blades low - about 3cm - and if a dry period is forecast let the grass grow longer.
• Apply a lawn 'weed & feed' such as "Verdone"

In the flower garden:

• Spring bulbs - sprinkle granular fertilizer around spring flowering bulbs or give a feed of "Phostrogen". Bulbs should be left in the ground and the foliage left to die back as these supply food back to the bulb for next year
• Camellias - as the flowers fade or get spoilt by the weather take off the spent blooms taking care not to damage new shoots that are now emerging
• Roses - if you haven't started to spray against 'black-spot' then start now. Do not wait until you see the spots on the foliage - it's then too late. Also feed your bushes once a month until August with either rose fertilizer or water around the bushes with "Phostrogen" and, when buds show colour, tomato fertilizer
• Annuals - all the seeds of Annuals that have been sown over the past few weeks can now be potted on and hardened off ready to be planted at the end of the month. Keep an ear on the weather forecast for a late frost and keep the fleece handy to cover the plants if necessary
• Hanging baskets and tubs - this month is the time for planting tubs and baskets. The larger the basket the easier it is to keep moist as the smaller baskets dry out quicker

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• Sow both dwarf and runner beans direct into the ground
• Cauliflower, broccoli and leek seed can also be sown
• As the new potatoes start to shoot through, earth up, covering the growth
• When sowing seed in the garden, after making a shallow drill, water the ground before planting the seed then cover over.
• As well as sowing vegetable seeds also sow a pot or two of herbs such as parsley, chives or coriander

June

In the flower garden:

• The first week in June is the time to place in position the hanging baskets and containers
• Now that, hopefully, the threat of frosts has gone it is time to plant out all the summer bedding in their final positions, including dahlias
• Pinch out the leading shoots of fuchsias and chrysanthemums to encourage bushy growth
• Put supports in for tall growing herbaceous perennials and lilies
• As they finish flowering, towards the end of the month, deadhead lupins and delphiniums to encourage a second flowering

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• Thin out apples, pears and plums after the natural fruit drop has occurred
• Pinch out tips of new fig shoots once they show five leaves
• Put straw around strawberry plants to prevent soil splash
• Net raspberry canes and bush fruits to keep birds away
• Harvest salad crops as they mature and continue planting seed for successional crops
• Early potatoes may be ready for harvesting towards the end of the month as they take about 12 weeks from planting to harvesting
• Remove side shoots from ordinary and Beefsteak tomato plants
• Plant out peppers, courgettes, squash, sweetcorn and outdoor cucumbers
• Plant out runner beans in their final positions, look out for black-fly on the tender shoots. After a couple of weeks give the beans a feed of Sulphate of Ammonia but do not water directly onto the plants as they will burn - or even a feed of Phostrogen which will not harm the plants
• Earth up your potatoes to encourage more tubers to develop and to stop light reaching developing tubers, which would make them go green and therefore inedible

July

In the flower garden:

• Dead-head your repeat flowering perennials, roses and bedding plants regularly
• Liquid feed summer bedding with tomato fertilizer on a weekly basis and cut back hardy geraniums after flowering
• Divide bearded iris after flowering
• Take cuttings of dianthus and osteospermum
• Plant autumn flowering crocus and colchicums
• Keep picking sweet pea flowers and snip off faded blooms, do not let the seed pods grow
• Peg down carnation stems to propagate new plants
• Keep your pots of flowers watered - also water the clematis, roses, laurel and honeysuckle as the warm, dry weather favours powdery mildew on all these plants
• Trim the hedges and prune wisteria and rambling roses as they finish flowering

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• Harvest your vegetables regularly, particularly courgettes, dwarf and runner beans
• Ensure that fruit and vegetables are kept watered
• Sow autumn and winter salads, also another row of carrots, beetroot and dwarf beans
• Plant out leek plants that have been in the seed bed
• Remove the main shoot on cordon tomatoes a leaf or two above the fourth truss
• Summer fruiting varieties of raspberries, loganberry, tayberry and other cane fruits develop their berries on canes produced last year, so once the crop has finished all fruiting canes can be cut away at their base. The new canes that develop will carry the fruit next year

August

In the flower garden:

• This is the month to prune hedges and topiary
• Trim lavender, you will get another lot of flowers
• Dead-head roses, take the stem back approximately 14 inches
• Keep camellias well watered if we get dry weather
• Prune rambling roses after they have flowered. Rambling roses only have one flush of flowers during June / July. Climbing roses repeat flowering all summer and may be pruned in either October or the following March
• Start bulbs for Christmas, prepared hyacinths will be sold soon. Non-prepared bulbs will not flower until next March / April
• Order spring bulbs such as daffodils to be planted in September

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• August is the month to start pruning apples, plum and pear trees. Summer pruning will help the production of fruiting spurs on which fruit will grow next year! Take action now against pests and / or diseases. If foliage starts turning pale or yellow give the tree a soaking with liquid feed, such as Phostrogen
• Check sweet corn for ripeness. Do not allow the cobs to become too old and starchy
• Continue sowing lettuce, especially the cut-and-come-again leaf type. Also radish and winter spinach
• You can also plant another row of dwarf beans - they take approximately 12 weeks to harvest from sowing

September

Get your entries in for the Village Show - always held at the beginning of September!

Lawns:

• Treat lawns for leatherjackets if many Daddy-Longlegs are seen in the early part of the month.
• Give the lawn a feed with a weed and feed fertilizer
• This is an ideal time to turf or seed new lawns

In the flower garden:

• Re-plant your hanging baskets using winter pansies, violas, cyclamen, primulas and polyanthus
• Take cuttings of fuchsias and pelargoniums
• Plant daffodils bulbs and indoor hyacinths
• Give camellias a feed - this is the time that new flower buds, for next spring, are formed. Do not let the plants dry out, especially if we have a dry spell [surely we are due a dry autumn!] If the leaves are yellow on the camellias growing in pots and containers give them an ericaceous feed or of iron sequestrene
• Dowse your outside and greenhouse pots with a vine weevil mixture such as 'Provado'

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• Sow winter lettuce and plant overwintering onion sets for an early harvest in 2009. Beware! The red onion sets do run to seed more than the ordinary varieties
• Sow radish, spring onions for a late crop
• Cut out the fruited canes of the summer raspberries
• Remove fruit affected with brown rot

October

Lawns:

• Scarify and give lawns a top-dressing
• Regularly rake fallen leaves and wormcasts off lawns

In the flower garden:

• Carry on picking and enjoying blooms of dahlias and outdoor chrysanthemums before the first of the frosts cut them down
• It is not too late to plant daffodils and narcissus bulbs. I mix some fine aggregate to the bulb mixture, when planting in pots, to help drainage
• Start planting tulip bulbs now for a display next April and May
• Plant bulbs of prepared hyacinths for Christmas and New Year flowering
• Move tender plants under cover for the winter
• Keep some fleece handy to cover frost-tender plants if it gets cold

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• During the next few weeks pick the apples. Some varieties such as "Discovery" and "Sunrise" ripen in August and should have been harvested by now. Not all apples store well and are best picked and eaten direct from the tree. Only store healthy, undamaged fruit. Stack in trays in a cool frost-free shed or outhouse.
• Tidy up the runners on the strawberry patch
• Pick and dry herbs for use during the winter months. Sprigs of parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano and marjoram can be cut and hung in a warm, airy position to dry before storing in jars
• In this area of Devon it's not too late to plant lettuce plants for picking in early November, if we do not get frosts before then.
• Plant onion sets of the winter variety to harvest next May and June
• If you like garlic then October is the time to plant cloves for next year

November

Lawns:

• Trim your lawns with blades of the mower set higher
• Rake off fallen leaves

In the flower garden:

• Complete the planting of tulips and other spring bulbs
• Now is also the time to plant new rose bushes which come bare-rooted. Soak the rose roots in water for an hour or so before planting
• Cut down the dahlias, now that the frost has caught them, to about six inches or so from the tuber and either cover them over with peat or leaf-mould, if you intend to leave them in situ, or dig them up. Wash them in a Jeyes Fluid solution (tablespoon of JF to two gallons of water) and store upside down in a ten inch pot in a shed or sheltered position that is frost free
• Protect holly berries needed for Christmas decoration with netting
• Reduce houseplant watering and feeding

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• November is the perfect time to improve the vegetable garden. Buy bags or loads of well rotted manure and either dig it in or lay it on top of the soil and let the worms do the job for you
• Sow broad beans such as 'Aquadulce Claudia' or the dwarf 'The Sutton'
• Plant garlic cloves in their prepared spot
• Protect late salad crops with cloches
• Having now had the first frost of the winter, leeks and parsnips can now be harvested to order
• Carrots ought to be harvested and packed into trays of peat or similar and stored in a sheltered area
• Apples not blown off the trees should now be picked and stored and the trees pruned back
• Plant bush, cane and tree fruit such as raspberries and redcurrants

December

General:

• It's amazing how much garden waste is generated when clearing the flower and vegetable areas. All the weeds can go into the 'Green' wheelie bin and the old plant waste into your own compost bin. My compost bins are now full so I dig shallow trenches where the runner beans and sweet peas will go next year and put the garden waste, especially the lawn clippings, into them. I then cover with a layer of soil, mark them with canes and next April the plants will be able to grow with their feet in some moisture-retaining, well rotted compost
• Remove, wash and store water features and pond pumps
• Get your lawn mower serviced
• Wash seed trays and pots using a disinfectant (weak Jeyes Fluid) solution

In the flower garden:

• Shorten stems on roses to about waist height to reduce wind rock and collect all the leaves from around the base of the bushes
• Cut spent perennial stems down to ground level
• Take cuttings, when the weather allows, of buddleia, forsythia and hydrangea by taking out a shallow narrow trench with a spade, add a layer of grit, place the cuttings (about 12 to 15 inches in length) into the trench so about 4 to 6 inches are showing and push the soil back. Water well

In the fruit and vegetable garden:

• Now is the time to prune apple and pear trees but leave all stone fruit (ie cherries and plums) until summer
• Cut back all autumn raspberry stems to approximately soil level
• Check stored fruit for rot

When the weather is wet and cold, stoke up the fire and make a list from gardening catalogues of the plants and seeds needed for next year.

A Merry Christmas to you all!