‘New Year’s day is everyman’s birthday.’ Charles Lamb
January is named after the Etruscan word janua, meaning door. Whilst often the coldest month, it heralds the New Year ahead and as the days lengthen nature senses it’s time for growth.Welcome back to the Gardener’s Journal where we begin our journey and open the door to a new gardening year. If it’s cold outside we can sit by the fire with the seed and plant catalogues, plotting what plant where in the coming months.
A milder, even sunny day draws us out into the fresh air to recycle the Christmas tree through the shredder, unless you chose one growing in the pot to plant out after the festive season. An amble around your plot reveals plenty of little jobs to be done such as tying in climbing plants, digging vacant plots if the ground’s not too hard and cleaning and ventilating the greenhouse and cold frames.
Sweet peas can be sown in deep pots under cover for early flowering. Use newspaper to cover them and keep out the light. You can start growing hardy annuals such as calendula and nigella from seed and delphiniums, oriental poppies and phlox from root cuttings.
Asparagus, freesias and fuschias can all be grown under glass. You can still prune apple and pear trees, plant bare root roses, shrubs, hedging and trees as well as new fruit bushes. The door is open.
- Sow Iceland poppies
- Take hardwood cuttings of deciduous trees and shrubs.
- Sow hardy bulbs in succession
- Remove ice from bird baths and put out food for birds
- Remove rotting vegetation from ponds
- Sow antirrhinums in a propagator
- Start forcing rhubarb
- Plant lily bulbs for spring displays
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