Get ahead with veg by following Elisabeth Arter's cropping-plan calendar
Veg plot: January to February
Plot A
Brussels sprouts
Parsnips
Brussels sprouts
Cabbages
Sprouting broccoli
Leeks
Cabbages
Onions
Plot B
Turnips
Kale
Cauliflower
Swiss chard
Broad beans
Onions
Plot C
Radishes
Parsley
Kale
Cauliflower
Swiss chard
Broad beans
Garlic
To see a larger image of this plan click here.
Veg plot: March to April
Plot A
Shallots
Onions
Peas
Lettuce
Sprouting broccoli
Cabbages
Cabbages
Onions
Potatoes (protected)
Lettuces under cloches
Parsnips
Dwarf beans under cover
Plot B
Broad beans
Beetroot
Peas
Spring onions
Cauliflower
Swiss chard
Broad beans
Garlic
Potatoes
Spinach
Cabbages
Radishes
Plot C
Broad beans
Parsley
Peas
Parsley
Cauliflower
Swiss chard
Broad beans
Lettuces under cloches
Potatoes
Spinach
Leeks
Radishes
To see a larger image of this plan click here.
To see a key to individual plants click here.
Calendar
January: Crops that stay in the ground through the winter are best planted alongside one another to leave a large block of land vacant for winter digging.
February: Early sowing or planting dates depend more on weather than the calendar. You can warm and dry the soil by covering it for 10-14 days with cloches or fleece.
March: Parsnips remain in the ground for up to 11 months. Site the row to make near top of the overwintering area, never on newly-manured land.
April: Use a windowsill propagator, greenhouse or cold frame to raise plants from seed to go in the open garden or patio containers later in spring.
Preparing for veg in winter
When it is possible to work outside, winter is the ideal time for clearing weeds and summer crops (if that has not already been done), spreading manure and garden compost and digging vacant land. What better than a few hours of healthy exercise in the fresh air to work off the excesses of festive fare and too much time in stuffy centrally heated rooms?
Your only chance to work outside may be at weekends, but even on dark December nights and in bad weather I find planning what to grow in the coming year gives me plenty to do. The cropping plan must take into account the size of your plot and bigger is not always best.
Over a long life as a vegetable grower I've twice down-sized my garden and been surprised at how much can be produced from a smaller area that is given more attention and intensively cropped.
Back in the day, a third of a full-size allotment, or old-style large garden, was often filled with maincrop potatoes, but these days it is far wiser to buy them by the sack from a farm shop and grow just a short row or two of new potatoes. Another third of the plot was planted with winter brassicas, but there's far more variety in a modern diet and a great many more crops to choose from.
Seed and plant swap and share
I'm a great believer in working with friends and often we'll combine seed orders so that packets can be split between us. It's good to share or swap your young plants too, and as I love raising seedlings and have a greenhouse, I often share with an energetic friend – who in return knocks in stakes and does some other heavy jobs. If several of you work as a team, one of the younger men may dig everyone's plots with a petrol-powered rotovator, an experienced old hand with a greenhouse may raise a lot of young plants to share, and someone who stays at home all day may water and ventilate several greenhouses in hot weather.
How to extend the harvest
To spread your harvest over the longest possible season, sow and plant runner beans in two to four batches; grow a few cabbages for cutting each month; plant some tomatoes in the greenhouse in mid-April, then some more in the open in late May; and at the same time sow a few seeds of a greenhouse variety to plant there in July for picking well into autumn.
Covering any early and late sowings, or plantings with fleece or cloches, is another splendid way of extending your harvest. Use these too for warming up the ground for early sowings and protecting vulnerable crops from pests. House sparrows are such a nuisance in my garden that all lettuce, beetroot and Swiss chard has to be covered throughout its life. Enviromesh will even keep away the dreaded carrot rootfly.
Involving the family
If you have a family it's a nice idea to find a small corner where the children can have their own vegetable gardens. I've been growing vegetables since I was a small girl, partly because we had plenty of land and my father was no gardener – unlike a chap I knew whose vegetables won many prizes at the village flower show, but wouldn't give his young daughter even the most modest plot! Children will enjoy eating fresh food if they help grow it. It's a great way to get them to eat their five a day.
Room for flowers
Old-style gardeners with their rigid rotation of crops may disapprove, but I include some flowers in my own cropping plans. Between May and October I'll have several rows of late-flowering chrysanthemum plants for moving into the greenhouse to follow summer tomatoes and stay on to give cuttings for next year's plants.
Alongside brassicas in my late-May seedbed are wallflowers, sweet Williams and other biennial flower seeds to grow on the vegetable plot after an early crop has been cleared in July. These make sturdy plants which I move in October to flowering borders.
Your choice of crops
My cropping plans don't include all the vegetables on offer. You can grow alternatives suited to your family's needs, choosing those that need similar space and will occupy the ground for the same time. I grow my own tomatoes and cucumbers, peppers, aubergines and melons in a greenhouse or polytunnel, but I've included them in the plan for those who must grow them in the open.
Aim for little and often
To avoid gluts and famines, never put in a lot of plants at once, but aim for little and often. This is especially true of lettuce. If you sow a long row, they'll run up to seed before you can eat them. Instead, sow just a sprinkling of seed in a small flowerpot, filled with damp vermiculite every three to four weeks, prick out in modules and plant out when they have a couple of pairs of true leaves.
When sowing any seed direct into the ground, go carefully or you'll have to thin out masses of unwanted seedlings. You'll probably want no more than a couple of courgette plants as they are fantastic croppers, and you can reckon two winter squash plants will yield a dozen fruits.
Buying seed
Seed catalogues provide very helpful advice about sowing dates, harvest times, spacing and how long a row you can expect from a packet. Study them before buying. Prices and contents vary enormously – a packet of greenhouse cucumber seeds may contain just four or five – I once found four and a half! But some packets of cabbage seed may contain 100 or more seeds, and self-blanching celery well over 1,000 seeds! However, most vegetable seeds will keep for a second year if stored carefully.
* For more on growing fruit and veg and cropping plans, see Related Articles at the bottom of this page.
denotes Subscriber-only content | Friday 25 July 2008 | Help | Glossary 
