This essential month-by-month gardening calendar for 2026 empowers keen gardeners to prepare for the seasons ahead, ensuring their gardens thrive throughout the year. By following these key tasks, you can cultivate a flourishing outdoor space.
What is a gardening calendar and why is it important for 2026? A gardening calendar is a seasonal guide that outlines essential tasks for each month, helping gardeners plan planting, pruning, and maintenance to maximize plant health and yield. It’s crucial for anticipating weather changes and plant needs.
January is a time for essential winter maintenance. Check the insulation around outside taps and carry out any necessary repair jobs on broken fence panels, greenhouses, and sheds. If the weather has been windy but not wet, water plants in containers, as any plants coming to life will need water to survive. Prune wisteria when the side shoots are easily visible. Order seeds from catalogues and online suppliers, and if you have a frost-free greenhouse, sow early crops such as lettuce, radishes, and early carrots under glass.
In February, focus on pruning specific plants. Prune large-flowered (Group 3) clematis, which flower on the current season’s growth in mid to late summer. Cut back deciduous hedging before birds start nesting in it. Plant summer-flowering bulbs such as lilies either directly into borders, if the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged, or in pots. Plant bare-rooted shrubs including roses and bare-rooted raspberry canes if the weather permits.
March marks the beginning of active gardening. Start weeding, hoeing off weed seedlings as they appear and removing pernicious weeds by hand. Plant out pot-grown trees, shrubs, and climbers. Prune shrub, bush, and climbing roses, Buddleia davidii, dogwoods with coloured winter stems, and willows. Mulch the soil with a generous layer of organic matter up to 5cm deep to enrich the ground and suppress weeds. Lay new turf while the soil is still quite moist but is warming up.
April requires vigilance against garden pests. Watch out for slugs, which will destroy young emerging plants. Set beer traps, or place eggshells around vulnerable leaves, or simply pick the slugs off after rainfall. Alternatively, try a biological control, a nematode that attacks them which can be watered onto the soil. Deadhead daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs before the seedheads start to form, which ensures the bulb’s energy is focused on next year’s flowers. Continue to sow vegetable seeds such as broad beans, peas, and lettuce directly into prepared soil. Clean out overcrowded ponds, dividing large clumps of waterlilies.
May is for planting summer bedding and protecting young plants. Plant up summer bedding in borders, containers, and hanging baskets when all danger of frost has passed and keep them well watered. Prune early-flowering shrubs such as forsythia and Japanese quince to encourage flowering next year. Keep mowing and feeding your lawn once the grass is growing well and lower the mower blades slightly as the season progresses, but avoid ‘scalping’ the lawn. Sow indoor seeds of French beans, courgettes, runner beans, and sweetcorn into cells or small pots, placing them on a sunny windowsill to encourage germination. Place straw underneath strawberry plants to help stop the fruitlets getting wet from the ground or attacked by slugs.
June is a crucial month for planting out vegetables and managing fruit trees. Plant out tomatoes in the garden, watering them in well, and start feeding them regularly. Fill gaps in borders with summer bedding or ornamental vegetables. Remove dead or damaged growth from deutzia, philadelphus, and weigela after they have finished flowering. Thin out fruit on established apples, pears, and plum trees to prevent branches from snapping and encourage remaining fruits to grow larger. Dig up spent tulip and hyacinth bulbs and store them away until autumn. Regularly water and feed containers and hanging baskets.
July is ideal for harvesting and preparing for holidays. Cut lavender and statice for drying. Make provision for watering your garden if you are going away on your summer holiday. Place all pots together in a shady spot, deadhead everything, water well, and hope for the best. Top up water for wildlife, filling bird baths and other containers to allow them to drink during dry spells. Prune roses which only produce a single flush of flowers each year when they have finished blooming. Propagate some of your favourite shrubs using semi-ripe cuttings. Keep tomatoes, aubergines, and peppers well watered and fed with a liquid high-potash fertiliser.
August is for seed collection and planting autumn bulbs. Collect seeds from plants you want to propagate, including sweet peas, nigella, poppies, and nasturtiums. Plant autumn-flowering bulbs including autumn crocuses, sternbergias, and colchicums. If you return from holiday to straggly container bedding plants, ditch them and concentrate on autumn and winter planting displays. Take cuttings from pelargoniums, fuchsias, and other tender perennials. Collect diseased fallen leaves from beneath roses to prevent problems next year. Remove some leaves from tomato plants to allow sunshine to ripen the fruit.
September is the time to plant spring bulbs and divide perennials. Plant spring bulbs. Lift and divide clumps of overcrowded perennials which have finished flowering and replant them. Thin aquatic plants and cover your pond with netting to stop leaves falling in. Create a new compost heap using old plant material. Give the lawn a boost by raking out moss and weeds and aerating it. Keep harvesting crops and work out how you’re going to preserve your gluts.
October is about preparing for winter and preserving harvests. Rake up autumn leaves and create leaf mould, a good soil texture improver. Pot a clump of mint or parsley to bring indoors. Dry attractive seed heads for indoor decorations. Lift and store summer bulbs. Reseed any bare patches which have developed on your lawn.
November provides winter protection and planting opportunities. Tidy up, but not too much, leaving some old stems and leaves for winter protection. Plant tulip bulbs; November is the best month for them. Give newly planted shrubs and trees some protection from the elements. Wrap containers in insulating material to stop plants from freezing. Lift dahlias and store them in a cool, dark, dry place. Check stored fruit and veg for signs of disease.
December offers winter colour and festive harvests. Plant up containers for winter colour, featuring plants such as skimmia, helleborus, winter-flowering heathers, and Cyclamen coum. Cut foliage, berries, and winter flowers to create your own Christmas wreath. Harvest Brussels sprouts, parsnips, and leeks for Christmas dinner.
This comprehensive 2026 gardening calendar provides a clear roadmap for successful gardening throughout the year, ensuring your plants receive the care they need each month.
