Jobs to do in the garden this January
1) Now is a really good time to tidy up the hellebores. Remove old leaves and make way for the
Flowers, which will be with us shortly. Plant winter aconites to improve the early spring show.
2) Be sure and remove dead leaves which have built up in the pond to prevent stagnation.
3) Service the lawnmower, spring will be with us before we realise it! If grass needs cutting,
remove it as it is too cold for it to decompose.
4) Make sure the water has been turned off to all outside taps.
5) Plant new fruit trees and bushes as conditions allow, applying a mulch of well-rotted material,
but leave a 10cm gap between the stem and the mulch to prevent potential stem rot.
6) Where Cyclamen coum has spread naturally from seed, select the best seedlings with good
leaf markings and replant into new areas which will benefit from the winter colour. Did you
know that ants carry the seed off to new locations?
7) Plant some lilies in deep pots and keep in the greenhouse ready for transfer to the flower
border when the flowers develop.
8) Placing a couple of forks of well-rotted manure on top of rhubarb crowns will encourage
them to make early growth. And, if covered with an upturned dustbin or similar, you will get
the beautiful red leaf stalks and yellow leaves we see in the shops in early spring.
9) Have a walk around the garden merely to see what additional colour you would like at this time of year and purchase new and attractive shrubs such as Hamamelis (Witch Hazel), snowdrops,
Cornus and decorative stemmed willows. Do you have enough interesting conifers in a range of sizes and colours?
10) If you have a grape vine under glass, now is the time to prune it, before the sap starts to rise.
Don’t leave it until next month as the wounds tend to bleed.
11) If you enjoy making an early start to the growing year, cover some areas with polythene or
cloches to protect the soil from the hardest frost and the heavy spring rains. This can improve
the soil temperature by up to six degrees when it is time for you to plant or sow.
12) Brush snow off conifers and heathers if there is a heavy fall, in order to prevent branches being
broken.
13) On a cold day when you are trying to keep warm, turn you compost heap sides to middle and
top to bottom, and this will ensure a good friable compost in late spring, ideal for potting on
plants of all kinds.
14) In rock gardens and raised beds, ensure that fallen leaves have been removed in order to
prevent botrytis.
15) Sit in front of a warm fire when there is a gale outside together with a blizzard, and go through
all the new seed catalogues for this coming spring and draw up a sowing/planting programme!
We hope you enjoyed our jobs for January, have you read our latest blog piece on “Hedging for 365 days of the year”?
Posted 1st Jan 5:01pm
