Cottonmill and Nunnery Allotment Association

Potatoes Your first earlies should be sown in late March, but April is ideal for planting second earlies and maincrop potatoes. Remember the young plants aren't very frost-tolerant so will need protecting with cloches, fleece or newspaper on frosty nights.

Asparagus If you have a completely weed free area then why not start an asparagus bed? It takes a bit of work to plant and look after the crop and you won’t get a harvest for two years, but from then on you’ll pick more than you can eat for at least the next ten years!
If you already grow asparagus then you should be harvesting it from late April for around 6 weeks.

Harvesting Crops coming into harvest include chicory, rhubarb, spring cabbage and the first of this years lettuces. Hopefully you'll still be picking leeks, sprouting broccoli, parsnips, sprouts, Swiss chard, kale, winter radishes, winter salad leaves and herbs.

Greenhouse Your greenhouse chillies, tomatoes, aubergines, capsicums and cucumbers should be sown in Feb/March and planted on in April or May. You might also try getting some early lettuces, radish, new potatoes and broad beans started in the greenhouse to bridge the gap between the last of your winter veg and the first summer crops.

Fruit Finish planting fruit bushes and trees, and feed established plants in March. Most fruit flowers in April/May, to help protect them from frost damage cover them with fleece on evenings when frosts look likely, i.e. on calm, cloudless evenings.

Must do jobs for the spring

• Finish planting fruit bushes. Feed and mulch established plants
• Chit your seed potatoes and sow them in late March and April
• Finish getting your plots/beds ready for the busy spring planting period
• Sow tender summer crops indoors to give them a good head start