My Tiny Plot10 Jobs for January
January is a month of taking stock, getting ready for the coming season and generally trying to keep warm. Nothing has ‘really’ started growing yet and there is very little to do in the way of sowing yet. However, January is full of hope. It won’t be long before the growing season will be gathering speed so take some time out now to ensure that your soil, your tools and seed store are in tip-top condition ready for the busy months ahead.
- Dig some manure into your beds
- Order your seed Potatoes ready for chitting next month
- Trim back Sage to give it a new lease of life
- Winter prune Apples, Pears, Currants, Blackberries and Raspberries
- Force Rhubarb
- Sow Spring Cabbage, hardy Lettuce and Broadbeans in the cold-frame
- Sow Early Carrots and more Garlic in situ under cloches
- Clean your tools
- Harvest the last of your Winter vegetables
- Keep adding kitchen waste to your Runner Bean trench
If you have any more suggestions for January jobs, add them to the list.
I thought it was too late for garlic? I can really put them in now?
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I need to get starting planning for the coming year. It’s about time to start those onion seeds.
Re: Keep adding kitchen waste to your Runner Bean trench
Does this increase the amount of slugs/snails in the soil? My compost bins are full, and rotting down is slow at this time of year, so have been considering the trench option for kitchen waste.
I sowed some parsnips early this weekend to try and get the biggest roots possible. They’re in toilet-roll plugs indoors on a bright windowsill, and notwithstanding their erratic germination, we should have a few massive roots to eat in about 9 months’ time!
http://www.fennelandfern.blogspot.com
I used to add kitchen waste to a bean trench – then the thieving puppy discovered it and I found a trail of tea bags, banana skins and other kitchen waste across the lawn!
The problem I have is keeping a cloche on the raised bed where my pak choi, spinach & broad beans are trying to grow. I’m in Suffolk where the winds just charge over the flat landscape. I bought a cloche kit (from harrods horticulture) which is effectively supports plus a giant plastic sheet. I have tacked the sheet to the bed (sleepers, 9’x4′) and placed bricks over the sides for good measure – that blew off. I then nailed wooden batons along the sides and weighted the ends down with bricks – still the wind finds its way in and wrenches off the sheet. I used to have mini tunnel cloches and they too were always blown off.
Has anyone successfully overcome wind vs cloche??
Hi
I love this site
I am in my 3rd year of trying to grow my own veg so need all the help I can get
The main thing I struggle with is what to sow and when as everywhere seems to tell you something different
Can I really still sow spring cabbage in January I thought I would have had to do it ages ago
I want to be self sufficient in the veg front so any suggestions or help anyone can give would be appreciated
Sharon
Hi Anja – nope it’s not too late for Garlic in the UK so long as you are still expecting some frost in your area. They will just mature later than the ones you sowed in Nov/Dec.
Hope that helps.
Hi Mr D,
I don’t think adding to your Bean Trench at this time of year will increase your snail and slug count because I’m pretty sure they hibernate at this time of year. By the time they wake up your kitchen waste should be rotted down and your slug defenses will be up (or should be). They’re days are numbered, right?
aj – I feel your pain re: the wind and the cloche. I used to have an allotment on a nice big windy hill in Bath, UK. I bought a shiny new mini poly tunnel for my allotment, only to have it blown away and ripped apart by the wind the week after. In my experience there is very little you can do except build some kind of permanent structure against the wind – either a brick cold-frame, a wall or a line of trees. Not much help I know!
I love your site. I only found it the other day and I’ve subscribed to the feed to make sure I never miss one of your lovely posts and wonderful pictures.
I haven’t managed to persuage my husband to let me take over any of the lawn with a veggie garden yet but I do have a plastic greenhouse and containers. Last year we got potatoes, tomatoes and aubergines… I’m hoping for more this year.
In the days when I had a garden (sigh!), I’d bury my messy plant waste in the garden paths between rows of veggies. I used to make a lot of jam, so all the sieved out blackberry seeds would get sloshed in there and a spadeful of dirt chucked on top. Lucky I didn’t have a puppy. I guess you could put planks on top and leave em there until that section has composted and then just kinda move on down the path.
Heh heh…just remembered: I had some neighbors who thought gardening ‘lowered the tone’ of the ‘hood but one year I got maybe 3 tons of fresh manure dumped on my driveway. While I was barrowing it along to the back, one of the neighboring dogs came to visit. It must have smelled good in his house that day.