New Year Resolutions For Your Garden

Getting out into the garden in January can be hard to contemplate when the cold winter weather can be atrocious. However, there are many jobs which can be done in preparation for the gardening year to come, if you’re prepared to venture out into the winter cold.

If you’re planning to grow some vegetables in the garden in 2019, now is the time to start thinking of what to sow. Start by getting a seed catalogue and make a list of what you will manage to grow and more importantly what you will actually get around to eating.

Now is the time to sow leeks, onions, broad bean, hardy peas, spinach and carrots under cover, using a cloche to protect your seedlings. You can also start tomatoes in a heated greenhouse for an early crop. If you are planning to grow potatoes in the spring, now is the time to start to chit early seed potatoes for sowing in March or April (Fig.1).

Winter bedding, such as pansies and violas, can be dead-headed to prolong flowering. Perennials can be cut down and dead leaves can be cleared from around the plants. Dead growth on old annual plants, like sweet pea and morning glory, can be removed.

January is a great time to start pruning your trees and shrubs, but make sure you have a good sharp pair of secateurs and cut just above a bud and cut out dead shoots or any crossing stems. Remove dead leaves from hellebores to reveal the flowers (Fig.2) and cut ornamental grasses, such as Miscanthus, down to about 10cm, before new growth begins (Fig.3).