The Vegetable Plot - DECEMBER

As with the rest of the garden it’s a good time to plan for the growing season. You might consider mini-vegetables as a colourful addition to your vegetable crop. They look good on the plate and you’ll save a lot on buying them from the supermarket. 

Continue to force rhubarb and seakale and blanch chicory. If you like to have some mustard and cress you can make some successional sowings in a heated greenhouse or frame. 

You can plant new blackberry canes as well as pruning old ones. If you want some early crops and you have access to fresh horse manure you could build a Victorian style hotbed by building or buying a wooden compost container, filling it with the manure to build up the heat. Cover with a layer of soil, mushroom compost and grit. A cold frame on top of this will provide the conditions to sow early lettuces, turnips, carrots, spinach and radishes once it has fully heated and then cooled a little.

• Check vegetable plantings for signs they have lifted after frost and firm them back in 
• Protect celery by covering the ridges with dry straw or bracken 

Gardener’s notes: Crops in season include: Jerusalem artichoke, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, endive, kale, leeks, parsnips

Under glass: Chicory, endive, lettuce, radish, rhubarb