Seed Sowing - Getting Ahead

I am always tempted to try and get ahead with sowing the seeds of tender vegetables that require a long growing season, things like chillies. We're proper chilliheads and if I cannot get a load of jalapenos pickled for the winter my name is mud!

Last season I had a very average chilli harvest, mostly because the really long, cold and wet spring meant that the plants were slow to get away once planted out. In truth I probably put them out into the ground too soon; cold soil or limited sunshine & the cool weather will have stopped the plants from growing on.

Jobs for January

When the weather is grim and the days short in January, it is tempting to simply curl up indoors with a book and ignore the garden, but there are plenty of jobs to get on with at this time of year. 







And for me there is no better way to beat the winter blues (apart from a day on skis) than to potter in the garden, if only a for an hour or two. And even in January there are pretty plants to admire.