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: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas, mangetout and broad beans

Sow seeds of dwarf beans in rows and climbing ones alongside canesPlant out crops being raised in pots under glass, such as marrows, courgettes and tomatoesCover soft fruits with netting to prevent birds eating themSow a few seeds of salad leaves

Hang old CDs among crops and from fruit trees to scare away birdsWater beans and sweet peas as they start to flowerGive extra water to ripening soft fruits such as raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries and currantsFeed tomatoes and crops

Check sweetcorn to see if it's ripe and ready to pick. This is when the tassels start to go brownPick beans and water crops regularlyLift onions once their tops die downPick plums as they ripenUse netting to protect blackberries, autumn raspberries

herbs to bring into a porch or grow on the window sillSow broad beans and hardy peas for early crops next yearCheck pears regularly to harvest when perfectly ripeVegetables to sow now include winter radishes, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, spring

Pick ripe apples and pearsFinish harvesting marrows, squashes, onions and potatoesSow broad beans and hardy peasPlant out garlic clovesEarth up leeks to cover and blanch their stemsCut away fruited blackberry canes at soil level and tie in new ones

Dig over empty borders and pile manure on top for the worms to pull undergroundLift and divide congested clumps of rhubarbCut down asparagus ferns and the tops of Jerusalem artichokesUse cloches to protect winter peas, beans and saladsLift and pot

to summerCover broad beans and peas with cloches for winter protectionLift and divide large clumps of rhubarbCut down Jerusalem artichokes then dig up and store tubers in buckets of dry compostPrune sideshoots on gooseberries back to about 5cmPile earth up

.I love the way home-grown salads start off as a meagre collection of leaves in spring, then steadily grow as tomatoes, broad beans and other ingredients are ready to harvest. The watercress growing in my pond is always the first leaf crop I pick, followed

. Then there are the Grazers, constantly picking and munching their way around the plot with a few baby broad beans here, a mouthful of lettuce leaves there.It's interesting spotting the types. Most of the old boys seem to be Harvesters, except for Vic. I don't think many