Meadowscape - Gardeners Diary January

Gardeners diary for January

General tips

Continue digging heavy soils in winter, using boards to spread your weight.
Send off for the seed catalogues and plan your spring garden.
Repair any tools or machines, and sharpen lawn mower blades, giving them a coat of oil before storing.
Now is the time to feed the birds in your landscape, natural food sources are scarce at this time of year.
Use suet cakes along with birdseed to provide protein and fat for the birds.
Water is also important for birds, so have a birdbath in your garden.
Brush or sweep heavy snow off evergreens to prevent breakage.

Lawns

Don't walk too much on sodden, frozen lawns. The damage will be as noticeable next spring.
January and February are ideal months to lime the lawn if you have not done so in recent years. Lawns prefer a pH range of 6.2 - 6.8 If needed, apply 50 lb. of lime per 1,000 square feet of lawn area. This will raise the pH ½ point. If you need to apply more lime, wait six weeks between applications.

Containers

In icy weather, wrap the tubs or pots of container-grown shrubs and trees with sacking, and delay planting out.
Although the plant you are using in a container may be cold hardy, it may not be able to withstand the colder winter temperatures because its roots are not protected by the ground.
If you have containers that are not being used throughout the winter, be sure to turn them over to keep them from collecting water that could freeze and crack the container.

Beds & Borders

Check any stored tuber such as dahlias for rot or pest attack. Dahlia tubers that look shrivelled can be soaked in warm water to revive them.
Check any forced hyacinths. When the flower spike shows, it's time to bring them into the light and heat.
English Bluebells are invasive so for a less rampant variety choose the Spanish type, Hyacinthoides hispanica.

Fruit

Continue light pruning of apple and pear trees, and trim newly-planted trees, removing any canker or damage.
This the time to prune fruit trees if necessary.
Planting of all fruits can be done when weather favourable.
Prune and top dress orchard trees, figs, peaches and vines.
Spray orchard trees with Winter Wash.
Root prune where necessary.
Head back trees for grafting.
Mulch strawberries, loganberries and raspberries.
Fork the manure in shallowly. Pull out suckers if any.
Thin out oldest shoots of redcurrants and tip shoots of the gooseberries.

Vegetables

Continue sowing broad beans such as aquadulce claudia, under floating fleece in cold areas.
Start building cloches to help warm the soil for early crops.
Early plantings of potatoes can be made under polythene in late February or early March. Now is the time to begin 'chitting' the seed potatoes.
If you haven't yet got a rhubarb plant, now's a good time to buy a crown, setting it in soil forked through with well-rotted manure. If you have a plant, find a cover for it now to help force the early shoots.
If waterlogging is a real problem on the vegetable beds, cover them with polythene to help make the soil workable.
This is a great time to apply manure and other organic soil conditioners to your garden. Apply 2" deep in vegetable gardens and let the nutrients soak into the soil.
Protect Globe Artichokes, Celery, and tender varieties of Tea Roses with litter or bracken to prevent damage from severe frost.
Force sea-kale and rhubarb outside by covering the crowns with either pots or boxes, over which heap stable litter mixed with leaves.
Sow early cauliflower, carrots, lettuce and radishes on a mild hot-bed.
Plant First Crop potatoes in frames.

Greenhouse

Begin heating a greenhouse for early produce.
Get seeds of cucumber, onion, radish, carrots, globe artichokes and summer cabbage ready to sow late this month through to early February.
Wash the inside of the greenhouse.

Herbs

Now is the time to lift and divide mint roots. There are many varieties to swap with friends.
Dig up dormant mint roots and plant in shallow boxes indoors.

Shrubs, Trees and Climbers