Month by month guide to food growing: spring term
Early spring is a busy time in an edible garden with lots to sow and grow. Use this guide and the links to different crop sheets to help plan your growing.
Learning objectitves:
- Identify crops that can be sown, planted, and harvested during winter and spring
- Understand how to prepare soil, protect plants, and maintain a productive garden in colder months
- Learn seasonal gardening techniques such as mulching, pruning, and using protective coverings
Curriculum links:
- Science: Explores plant life cycles, growth conditions, and the impact of seasons on plants
- Geography: Encourages understanding of weather patterns, climate, and sustainable food production
Key vocabulary
January
Sow and plant (indoors):
- Cress
- Microgreens
- Mustard
- Parsley
- Basil
Harvest:
- Leeks
- Lettuce
Other jobs:
- Prepare soil and add compost if conditions allow (i.e. the soil isn't too wet or frozen)
- Cut autumn raspberry canes to ground level (if not done already)
- Keep overwintering crops protected
- Choose crops for the year ahead and order seeds
- Plant bare root fruit trees and bushes
- Warm soil ahead of sowing seeds with fleece or plastic
February
Sow and plant:
- Broad beans
- Peas
- Radish
Harvest:
- Leeks
- Lettuce
Other jobs:
- Prepare soil and add compost if conditions allow (i.e. the soil isn't too wet or frozen)
- Cut autumn raspberry canes to ground level (if not done already)
- Keep overwintering crops protected
- Choose crops for the year ahead and order seeds
- Plant bare root fruit trees and bushes
- Warm soil ahead of sowing seeds with fleece or plastic
March
Sow and plant:
- Broad beans
- Carrots
- Garlic (cloves)
- Leeks
- Lettuce
- Onions (sets)
- Peas
- Potatoes (earlies
- Radish
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
Harvest:
- Chard
- Leeks
- Salad leaves
Other jobs:
- Dig soil and dig in compost you've added if conditions allow (i.e. the soil isn't too wet or frozen)
- Prepare seed beds for sowing
- Mulch around plants with compost
- Put in supports for climbing plants such as beans and peas
- Grow carrots under fleece to protect from carrot fly
April
Sow and plant:
- Carrots
- Chard
- French beans
- Leeks
- Lettuce
- Peas
- Potatoes (main crop)
- Pumpkin
- Radish
- Salad leaves
- Spinach
- Squash
- Tomatoes
Harvest:
- Leeks
- Salad leaves
- Spinach
Other jobs:
- Dig soil and dig in compost you've added if conditions allow (i.e. the soil isn't too wet or frozen)
- Prepare seed beds for sowing
- Mulch around plants with compost
- Put in supports for climbing plants such as beans and peas
- Grow carrots under fleece to protect from carrot fly
Jargon buster
Many edible plants are typically grown from seed but some are more easily grown from baby plants, often because growing them from seed takes a long time or is unreliable. There are different names for different types, for example:
- Onions can be grown from miniature onions known as sets. These mature faster and are less prone to disease. Check the variety to see if they should be planted in autumn or spring
- Garlic is generally supplied in large bulbs made up of many cloves. Each individual clove can be planted to produce a new plant. Check the variety to see if they should be planted in autumn or spring
- Potatoes are grown from miniature potatoes known as seed potatoes and are generally split into three groups: first earlies, second earlies and main crop (depending on when you harvest them). To get them off to a good start, they are chitted before planting which allows the growing shoots to develop