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.

Deep winter is pruning time for many trees and shrubs. This month, weather willing, I will be tackling -

• Wisteria - taking the bulk of shoots back to a single bud from the main framework, removing any unwanted new growth and then tying in the rest.
• Apple trees - taking out the vertical growth and keeping the more productive horizontal stems
• Buddleia - this can be pruned almost to the ground if you want as it will come back really vigorously, or just trim back to a pair of strong shoots at the required height
• Mermaid climbing rose - she covers the pergola over our terrace and provides vital shade, as well as dropping lots of thorn-covered twigs that easily penetrate summer flip flops. The rose has been neglected for a couple of years so this year I will be taking out as much as two thirds of the framework - a mammoth job.
• Black currants - removing any very old and diseased stems plus any that are growing in towards the middle. I want to achieve an open bowl or goblet shaped bush, allowing both easier picking and ripening of fruit in the middle, and better movement of air to reduce the incidence of mildew. Black currants root easily; push the pruned sticks around the edge of a pot, or even just into a patch of ground where they can be left to grow for a year. New growth will be visible in the spring and they can be potted on in the autumn. I have produced at least twenty new plants from the first bush planted here!
• Some bush or shrub roses can be pruned at the end of the month - any unknown varieties plus those that flower on that season's growth. Meanwhile any rose can have diseased and dead wood removed while the plant remains dormant.

The other big job for the start of this month and one beloved of many vegetable and flower growers is seed ordering. Seed suppliers should have all their fresh seed in place by the winter and the catalogues start dropping into the letter box or websites get updated around the turn of the new year. It is a time of joy and discovery, and quite often gluttonous over spending! Luckily seeds are a relatively cheap way of trying something new.


How about trying a new variety of kale? Easy to grow, tastes great, is easy to cook and is really nutritious, as well as being very hardy and looking spectacular in the frost.

Happy New Year!