The Gardening Calendar - What to do each month in the garden

Keeping on top of the gardening jobs can be daunting, and it’s all too easy to let things slide in one area or another for a month or two.

The answer is to keep a detailed checklist of jobs that need doing in each month of the year, and that’s what this course is all about.

This course is aimed at all gardeners, from complete beginners to more advanced gardeners, to help you to keep on top of what needs doing in your garden. I’ve collected the most useful tasks to do for each month and given a brief description of how to do it and why.

Use this guide at the start of each month, make notes and then put the tips into practice for a beautiful garden year-round.

• Gardening Calendar - Introduction
• January - mulching, potted bulbs, greenhouse
• January - chitting, sowing, pruning
• January - onions, rhubarb, apple trees
• January - seed beds, cuttings, christmas tree
• February - Shoots, Primroses, Parsley
• February - Broad beans, cut back perennials, plant shrubs
• February - Snowdrops, sweet peas, dahlias
• February - Fuchsias, tomatoes, lettuce
• February - veg beds, shrub roses, top dress containers
• March - primroses, daffodils, sweet peas
• March - gladioli, cannas, plant supports
• March - polyanthus, seedlings, anemone corms
• March - flower seeds, garden pests, begonias
• March - strawberries, harvesting, perennials
• March - cuttings, heather, lawn
• April - pruning fuscias, planting sweet peas, chrysanthemums cuttings
• April - sow annual bulbs, hanging baskets, aeonium cuttings
• April - cucumbers, houseplants, melons
• April - boost strawberry yields, seeds for children to grow, plant seed potatoes
• April - laying turf, mowing lawns, using nematodes
• April - prune shrubs, more basal cuttings, tie in climbers
• May - ginger lillies, deadhead tulips, aster cuttings
• May - ladybird larvea, sow biennials, divide herbs
• May - Harvest rhubarb, sow veg outdoors, plant out peppers
• May - lavender plug plants, composting, edge the lawn
• June - planting pumpkins, sow French beans, plant ferns
• June - marigolds, deadhead roses, prune wisteria
• June - tomato side shoots, hydrangea cuttings, water greenhouse plants
• June - sow herbs in pots, sow radishes, raspberries
• June - foxgloves from seed, plant out dahlias, green up your lawn
• July - feeding containers, growing lettuce, cleaning the pond
• July - save seeds, pricking out seedlings, cuttings of penstemons
• July - plant autumn bulbs, potato blight and botrytis, deadhead herbs
• July - pinch out tomatoes, feed crops, take herb cuttings
• July - harvest summer crops, pruning, summer mowing
• August - make your own plant feed, shaping fruit trees, increase dahlia blooms
• August - layer clematis, divide bearded irises, collect poppy seeds
• August - capillary matting, harvest blackcurrants, green manure
• August - sow basil, late salad seeds, harvest beans
• August - marjoram plants, remove couch grass, salvia cuttings
• August - maintain roses, prune lavender, quick tips
• September - prune raspberries, elephant garlic, pelargonium cuttings
• September - oriental poppies, sweet williams, morning glory
• September - collect seeds, replace bedding plants, harvest sage
• September - tie in climbers, harvest late raspberries, plant onions
• September - rosemary cuttings, repot moth orchids, sow lettuce
• September - improve lawn quality, final privet trim, watering flowering plants
• October - leaf compost, bring succulents indoors, brussels sprouts
• October - winter flowers, prune roses,hardy geraniums
• October - divide summer perennials, grey mould, lettuce seed
• October - garden canes, non hearting salads,sow broad beans
• October - transplanting shrubs, plant wood anemones, prune Rowan trees
• November - greenhouse grown lettuce, protect semi tender shrubs
• November - swiss chard, mulch, winter prune peonies
• November - bare root roses, sow chilli seeds, Mealybugs
• November - harvest turnips, cover winter veg, leave seedheads for birds
• December - collect holly, parsnips, harvest celeriac
• December - container plants, add pots of colour, plant more bulbs
• December - sow pelargonium seeds, check sweet peas, brussels sprouts
• December - eat your beets, shrubs, Pollard dormant trees to limit size