The monthly note
One email at the start of each month. What to sow, what to pick, and the single job that makes the most difference over the next four weeks. Written for a half plot, and short enough to read standing up.
It goes out in the first few days of the month. Four short parts: what to sow, what should be ready to pick, one job worth doing, and one honest note on what went wrong on our plot. Under 400 words. Twelve a year, and one click to leave.
What is actually in it?
The same four parts every month, in the same order, so you can skip straight to the one you want.
| Part | What it covers | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Sow now | The three or four things genuinely worth sowing this month on a half plot, with spacings and depths | 100 words |
| Pick now | What should be coming ready, and what to do if it is not | 80 words |
| One job | The single task this month that changes the next three | 120 words |
| What went wrong | Something that failed on our plot, told honestly | 80 words |
Under 400 words, every time. When a month has nothing much worth saying, December for instance, the email gets shorter rather than padded out.
What does each month cover?
The job each note leads on. It is the same rhythm every year, because the British growing year is.
| Month | What that note leads on |
|---|---|
| January | Ordering seed against a plan rather than a wish list |
| February | Chitting potatoes, and warming one bed under cover |
| March | Getting the first earlies in without rushing the rest |
| April | Sowing your way through the hungry gap |
| May | Hardening off and planting out properly |
| June | The first handover: what goes in behind the early potatoes |
| July | Sowing for winter while the plot still looks full |
| August | Holiday cover, and the spring cabbage strip |
| September | Storing what you have, and covering bare ground |
| October | Garlic in, and putting beds to bed |
| November | Mulching, and turning the compost |
| December | Doing very little, deliberately |
Each one lines up with the matching month page on the site, so if the email leaves you wanting the long version it is already written and waiting.
What it will never do
Worth saying plainly, because most gardening email is not like this.
- No countdown timers, no last chance, no urgency. A sowing window is weeks wide, not hours
- Your address is never sold or shared. It sits in MailPoet on this site and nowhere else
- No daily emails, no drip sequence. Twelve a year and that is the whole of it
- No kit lists dressed up as advice, and nothing you have to buy to use the note
- One click to unsubscribe, at the bottom of every single one
The next one goes out at the start of the month.
What to sow, what to pick, one job worth doing, and one thing that went wrong.
One email a month. Unsubscribe any time. How we look after your details.
Questions that come up
How often is it, really?
Twelve times a year, in the first few days of each month. There is no welcome sequence, no follow up nudges and no re-send to people who did not open it.
What happens to my email address?
It is stored in MailPoet on this website and used only to send the monthly note. It is not sold, shared or passed to advertisers. The full detail is on our privacy and cookies page.
Can I see what one looks like first?
Not yet, honestly. The archive goes up once there are a few worth reading. In the meantime the month pages are the long form of exactly the same content, so you can judge the writing from those.
Do I need an allotment for it to be useful?
No, though it is written for one. If you have a decent sized vegetable garden the sowing dates, spacings and monthly jobs all transfer. The bed sizes assume 3m by 1.2m, which scales down easily enough.
I signed up and nothing arrived
Check the spam folder first, then look for a confirmation email, because the list is double opt in and nothing sends until you click the link in it. If it is still missing, send us a message and we will look.
Where to go next
Read the long version
Every month, in full, already written.
If you are just starting
Four weeks, four jobs, and permission to go slow.
How your details are handled
Plain English, no legalese, and what you can ask us to delete.