The plot in February

Jobs on the plot

• Warm the soil. Cover beds with cloches or black plastic for two weeks before the first sowings.
• Cut autumn raspberries down. Cut every cane to the ground. The new ones will fruit this autumn.
• Finish winter digging. Only if the soil is not sticking to your boots. If it is, stay off it.
• Net the brassicas. Pigeons are at their hungriest. Check the nets on kale, sprouts and purple sprouting.
• Clean pots and trays. Wash them before the sowing rush. It prevents seedling diseases.
• Lime the brassica bed. If your soil is acid, lime the bed where the cabbages will go. Never at the same time as manure.

Times are for an average year in the English Midlands. Go two weeks earlier in the mild south, and two to three weeks later in the north and in Scotland.