Gardening with the RHS

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Things to do now

Jan
  1. Recycle your Christmas tree by shredding it for mulch
  2. Ventilate the greenhouse on sunny days
  3. Dig over any vacant plots that have not been dug already
  4. Disperse worm casts in lawns
  5. Inspect stored tubers of Dahlia, Begonia and Canna for rots or drying out
Feb
  1. Prepare vegetable seed beds, and sow some vegetables under cover
  2. Chit potato tubers
  3. Protect blossom on apricots, nectarines and peaches
  4. Net fruit and vegetable crops to keep the birds off
  5. Prune winter-flowering shrubs that have finished flowering
Mar
  1. Protect new spring shoots from slugs
  2. Plant shallots, onion sets and early potatoes
  3. Plant summer-flowering bulbs
  4. Lift and divide overgrown clumps of perennials
  5. Top dress containers with fresh compost
Apr
  1. Keep weeds under control
  2. Protect fruit blossom from late frosts
  3. Tie in climbing and rambling roses
  4. Sow hardy annuals and herb seeds
  5. Start to feed citrus plants
May
  1. Watch out for late frosts. Protect tender plants
  2. Earth up potatoes, and promptly plant any still remaining
  3. Plant out summer bedding at the end of the month (except in cold areas)
  4. Collect rainwater and investigate ways to recycle water for irrigation
  5. Regularly hoe off weeds
Jun
  1. Hoe borders regularly to keep down weeds
  2. Be water-wise, especially in drought-affected areas
  3. Pinch out sideshoots on tomatoes
  4. Harvest lettuce, radish, other salads and early potatoes
  5. Position summer hanging baskets and containers outside
Jul
  1. Check clematis for signs of clematis wilt
  2. Care for your houseplants while on holiday
  3. Water tubs and new plants if dry, but be water-wise
  4. Deadhead bedding plants and repeat-flowering perennials, to ensure continuous flowering
  5. Pick courgettes before they become marrows
Aug
  1. Prune Wisteria
  2. Don’t delay summer pruning restricted fruits
  3. Deadhead flowering plants regularly
  4. Watering - particularly containers, and new plants, preferably with grey recycled water or stored rainwater
  5. Collect seed from favourite plants
Sep
  1. Divide herbaceous perennials
  2. Pick autumn raspberries
  3. Collect and sow seed from perennials and hardy annuals
  4. Dig up remaining potatoes before slug damage spoils them
  5. Net ponds before leaf fall gets underway
Oct
  1. Divide established rhubarb crowns
  2. Cut back perennials that have died down
  3. Divide herbaceous perennials
  4. Move tender plants, including aquatic ones, into the greenhouse
  5. Plant out spring cabbages
Nov
  1. Clear up fallen leaves - especially from lawns, ponds and beds
  2. Raise containers onto pot feet to prevent waterlogging
  3. Plant tulip bulbs for a spring display next year
  4. Prune roses to prevent wind-rock
  5. Plant out winter bedding
Dec
  1. Check your winter protection structures are still securely in place
  2. Check that greenhouse heaters are working
  3. Prevent ponds and stand pipes from freezing
  4. Prune open-grown apples and pears (but not those trained against walls)
  5. Prune acers, birches and vines before Christmas to avoid bleeding
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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.