Cottonmill and Nunnery Allotment Association

Planting / Sowing In January you could start to sow onion seeds indoors to give you early summer crops or show winners! Under cloches you could sow early carrot and lettuce seed from February and if you have a greenhouse, you could sow early lettuce and cabbage varieties. In February you can plant garlic and shallots outside. Chris recommends starting broad beans and sweet peas in pots or root trainers indoors in mid February for planting out in late March.

Harvesting Remember to regularly check and harvest leaves of hardy winter salad crops, grown under a cloche or fleece. You could also be harvesting kale, leeks, parsnips, spring onions, sprouts, Swiss chard, winter cabbage, winter radishes and perennial herbs. Remember to start forcing chicory from December onwards.

Rhubarb If you have several clumps of rhubarb, why not cover one crown with straw and an upturned bucket (with no holes in) (or a forcer) in February, to give you sweet, tender, pink shoots for picking in late March / early April? February is a good time to move, split or start planting dormant rhubarb crowns.

Fruit These months are ideal for planting soft fruit, although any time until March is fine. Your existing fruit bushes will benefit from a good, deep mulch of compost or manure over the winter to keep them warm and put nutrients slowly back into the soil.

Care Make sure that your Brussels sprouts, kale and sprouting broccoli are staked and secure, to protect them from strong winter winds. It saves you having to try and harvest crops growing along the ground and in the mud!

Preparation Now's the time to give your plots a good winter dig. Leave the ground rough so that frosts will help break up the soil and weaken weeds and diseases. If your soil is light then you could wait until spring, just before sowing. This is also the best time to add compost or manure to your soil, and you should be top dressing your asparagus bed as well. If it gets windy, then check the stakes on your winter veg and fruit trees. Finally, if we get hard frosts then protect your winter salads with a cloche or fleece

At home Make sure that you regularly check your stored veg in bags, nets or boxes. It only takes a single rotten one to infect the whole lot, so it's well worth the time and effort.

Finally, why not spend a long evening at home in front of a blazing fire with a glass of mulled wine and browse through your Kings Seeds catalogues making your plans for next year?

Must do jobs for the winter