What you can do in the Garden During January

January is a cold and dark month, and not a month of the year that we tend to associate with gardening. However, in order to get your garden ready for the brighter and warmer weather, there are plenty of jobs that you can get on with in the garden at this time of the year in order to make sure that you are giving your garden the best start to the new year.

Whether you want to make sure that your garden is neat and tidy, or you want to create a haven of beautiful blooms to enjoy on those warm summer days and evenings, here are some of the things that you can do in the garden in January…

Repairs and practical jobs

Practical tasks and repairs are often needed at this time of the year, as the garden takes a battering from the bad weather. Check fences, sheds and garden furniture for signs of damage, and make the necessary repairs to them.

If you have a dry spell of weather, you could treat a fence to weather and damp proof it too, or spruce up your wooden furniture with a fresh coat of paint.

Planting out in January

Some plants can be planted out now. Bare root shrubs that can be used for hedging, such as hawthorn, as well as bare root roses, and plants like snowdrops planted ‘in the green ‘can both be planted in January. Buy plants from a specialist like this plants for trade nursery https://www.palmstead.co.uk as they will be able to advise you on the plants that you are buying and how best to care for them for the time of year.

If you have a fruit tree in your garden, then now is also a good time to encourage that winter favourite mistletoe to grow on it. If you dream of having beautiful clumps of mistletoe on trees in the winter, then now you can harvest the berries and start rubbing them on the boughs of the tree (this is naturally how the birds do it and how mistletoe gets from tree to tree in the wild).

Planning for vegetables

If you are growing vegetables, now is the time to start planning what you are going to plant and getting all of your bulbs and seeds ready to go. Make sure that you have an area for each vegetable to grow.

Summary

January might not feel like a gardening month, but there’s plenty that can be done to set a garden up for the year ahead. Practical jobs like checking fences and sheds for weather damage, and treating or repainting wood during a dry spell, are worth tackling first. Bare root shrubs and roses can be planted out now, along with encouraging mistletoe on fruit trees, while it’s a good time to plan what vegetables to grow.

Questions this article raises

• Which plants are best suited to being planted bare root in January?
• How is mistletoe encouraged to grow on a fruit tree?
• What vegetable planning should start this early in the year?