January in the garden is all about preparation for Spring. Put a little work in now and you will save lots of hard work later on. Our January Top Tips will help you decide what to focus on this month:
Top Tip 1
Remember to check your evergreen plants in containers to make sure that they do not go short of water in frosty conditions. Wrap the plants in horticultural fleece to help prevent damage from cold winds.
Top Tip 2
Choose a dry day to sort out the garden shed and make a note of any compost and fertilisers which can be purchased for the coming season. There are good stocks of these available now.
Top Tip 3
Check that established, woody climbing plants are tied into their supports before they begin to grow away and cover them. Remember to prune back late-flowering Clematis to 15cms above the ground to a pair of healthy buds at the beginning of February.
Top Tip 4
Complete any double-digging in the vegetable garden as soon as the weather allows. This will give time for the frosts to break up the soil clods and make it easier to work down later. Remove as many perennial weed roots as possible during the digging.
Top Tip 5
Visit your local garden centre and choose from the range of seed potatoes, onion sets and vegetable seeds available now. Store these in a cool, frost free place. Save your old egg boxes to stand seed potatoes in, when they are ‘chitting’ next month.
Top Tip 6
Bring planted containers of Spring bulbs into their flowering positions as they begin to shoot through the soil surface. Make sure that they do not go short of water as they begin to grow away.
Top Tip 7
Clean the glass on your greenhouse and use a sterilant to clean down staging and the inside. Check that your heater is working properly if you have not used it through the Winter. Begin to sow seeds of early annuals and perennials in a propagator towards the end of the month.
Top Tip 8
Get your mower serviced if it was not done through the Winter, before the workshops get busy and the grass begins to grow. Keep an eye on your lawn and make a note of areas which drain badly so that this can be rectified in the Spring.
Top Tip 9
Plan any major changes such as a new border before the Spring work begins. Visit your local garden centre for advice and to get ideas about the sort of planting you would like. Garden and lifestyle magazines are also a great source of inspiration.
Top Tip 10
Look out towards the end of the month for signs of Spring in your garden, with early perennials and Spring bulbs such as Crocus beginning to appear as well as Snowdrops – a sure sign that Winter is on the way out for another year.