Free personalised online veg garden planning calendar

In a nutshell – gardenfocused.co.uk have a free grow your own fruit and veg planning calendar that you can personalise. It even helps you plan crop rotations

Unless you are growing indoors under lights you will need to pay attention to the seasons. I forget from year to year what I need to do in the garden and when. Books are great but they list all sorts of things I’m never going to grow, like broad beans, I really don’t like broad beans. I’m easily distracted by gardening books too and I can go off on tangents for hours. A lot of really good gardening books assume you have a large garden or allotment. Knowing what to plant and when means you can plan for growing veg in pots as well as in long rows if you have the space. I grew gorgeous carrots in pots last year so even if you have a tiny bit of outdoor space, this calendar can still be very useful.

Garden Focused online veg calendar

Along came the Garden Focused website. Not only does it give you information based on your location and weather conditions, it lets you choose the vegetables and fruit you want to grow and produces a free online calendar telling you what to do in each month. And it gives you a quick guide to crop rotation at the end of your calendar. All for free. There is no need to make an account, log in or sign up to anything.

If you are not sure how to plant something, or what variety to choose Garden Focused goes into detail for every vegetable, giving you expert advice in clear simple terms.

The link to the online fruit and vegetable calendar is here www.gardenfocused.co.uk/calendar-veg-personalised.php

All of this is copied with permission from Garden Focused. I have no affiliate relationship with them, I’m not getting anything other than good karma for sharing their good work.

This is my broad bean hating calendar and it has reminded me to prune my apple tree because it is January.

WHEN	WHAT TO DO
JAN
January	Save inner cardboard tubes from toilet rolls for runner beans etc
January	Apple – plant trees
January	Apple – prune trees
FEB
February	Apple – plant trees
February	Apple – prune trees
Week 2 on	Broccoli (sprouting) – begin to harvest
Week 3	Potatoes– chit / sprout seed potatoes
Week 4	Peas / mangetout – Sow early types under cloches
MARCH
March	Apple – plant trees
March	Apple – prune trees
Weeks 1 – 2	Carrot – sow seed of early varieties under cloches
Week 1	Squash / pumpkins – prepare soil
Week 2	Garlic – plant in late winter / spring
Week 2	Peas / mangetout – start to sow seeds of early types outdoors
Week 2	Tomatoes – sow seed inside / greenhouse
Week 3	Spring Onions – start to sow fortnightly
Week 3	Peas / mangetout – sow maincrop seeds outdoors
Week 3	Spinach – sow seed outside
Week 4	Beetroot – sow seeds under cloches
Week 4	Lettuce – start sowing seed outside every two weeks
Week 4	Potatoes – plant out sprouted sets
APRIL
Week 1	Radish – sow seed under cloches
Week 1	Spinach – sow seed inside
Week 1 – 2	Carrot – remove cloches from early sown varieties
Week 1 – 2	Carrot – sow early seed varieties in open
Week 1 – 2	Strawberries – buy and plant potted plants
Week 2	Beetroot – sow seed in pots indoors
Week 2	Tomatoes – pot-up young plants
Week 2	Squash / pumpkins – sow seed indoors
Week 3	Broccoli (sprouting) – sow early varieties in seed bed
Week 3	Cabbage Spring – harvest
Week 3	Courgette – sow seeds indoors
Week 3	Kale – sow in pots or seed bed
Week 3	Lettuce – begin to thin seedlings, distance by variety
Week 3	Radish – sow seed outside
Week 4	Beetroot – sow seed outside
Week 4	French Beans – sow seeds under cloches
Week 4	French Beans – sow seeds in pots indoors
Week 4	Parsnip – sow seed outside
Week 4	Spinach – plant out seed sown indoors
Week 4	Spinach – thin out previously sown seedlings
MAY
Week 1	Runner Beans – sow seed in pots indoors
Week 1	Runner Beans – sow seed under cloches
Week 1	Tomatoes – begin to harden off
Week 1 – 2	Carrot – sow maincrop seed
Week 2	Beetroot – plant out seedlings sown in pots indoors
Week 2	Broccoli (sprouting) – sow late varieties in seed bed
Week 2	French Beans – sow seed outside
Week 2	French Beans – harden off seedlings
Week 2	Potatoes – nitrogen feed fortnightly
Week 2	Squash / pumpkins – harden off
Week 2	Strawberries – mulch around plants
Week 3	Beetroot – thin out seedlings
Week 3	Courgette – Harden off indoor grown plants
Week 3	French Beans – plant out seedlings sown in pots indoors
Week 3	Runner Beans – harden off seedlings
Week 4	Courgettes – plant out
Week 4	Parsnip – thin seedlings to 15cm / 6in apart
Week 4	Peas / mangetout – harvest early types started off under cloches
Week 4	Radish – begin to harvest
Week 4	Runner Beans – sow seed outside
Week 4	Runner Beans – plant out seedlings sown in pots indoors
Week 4	Squash / pumpkins – plant out
Week 4	Tomatoes – plant out
JUNE
Week 1	Carrot (early) – harvest those sown under cloches
Week 1	Lettuce – begin to harvest
Week 1	Peas / mangetout – harvest early types sown outdoors
Week 2	Plum – prune from now to mid July
Week 2	Potatoes – potash feed fortnightly
Week 3 on	Carrot – harvest as they become ready
Week 3	Spinach – havest spring grown leaves
JULY
Week 2	Broccoli (sprouting) – move to final position when 10cm high
Week 2	Courgettes – begin to harvest
Week 2	Potatoes – plant sets for autumn harvest
Week 3	Kale – transplant to final position
Week 3	Peas / mangetout (maincrop) – harvest
Week 4	Beetroot – begin to harvest
Week 4	Cabbage (spring) – sow (pots / temporary bed)
Week 4	French Beans (dwarf) – begin to harvest
AUG
Week 1	Garlic – begin to harvest
Week 2	French Beans – begin to harvest climbing / pole
Week 2	Runner Beans – begin to harvest
Week 3	Raspberries (summer fruiting) – prune
SEP
Week 2	Parsnips – begin to harvest
Week 2	Spinach – sow in autumn
Week 4	Cabbage (spring) – transplant
OCT
Week 2	Strawberries – buy runners
Week 3	Kale – begin to harvest
Week 3	Squash / pumpkins – take indoors to cure
Week 4	Spinach (autumn sown) – begin to harvest
NOV
Week 2	Squash / pumpkins – start to use
Week 3	Garlic – autumn planting
Week 4	Plum – plant trees from now to early March
DEC
December	Apple – plant trees
December	Apple – prune trees
Dec – Mar	Raspberries – buy and plant (up to end February)
Dec – Feb	Raspberries (autumn fruiting) – prune

CROP ROTATION PLOT 1
French Beans
Runner Beans
Peas / mangetout

CROP ROTATION PLOT 2
Broccoli Sprouting – Sprouting
Cabbage – Spring
Kale
Spinach

CROP ROTATION PLOT 3
Potatoes
Tomatoes

CROP ROTATION PLOT 4
Beetroot
Carrots
Garlic
Parsnips

ANYWHERE / PERMANENT
Courgettes
Squashes and pumpkins
Lettuce
Radish

If you prefer books to online gardening resources

If you are in a spending mood this book is the one I rely on for month to month guidance. It’s easy to read, has short chapters and tells you just what you need to know and when. I use it in conjunction with the online planner from Garden Focussed because it makes good bedtime reading. The link to Vegetable Growing Month-by-Month: The down-to-earth guide that takes you through the vegetable year is an advert and I’ll get a tiny amount if you buy through the link.