Gardening Tips for January
Happy New Year and a good gardening year I hope.
A New Year’s resolution could be to save more water by installing water butts and to compost as much of your green waste as possible. When composting, try to layer
vegetable waste, green material from the garden and lawn cuttings. Not too much of any one or it could be a soggy mess. If it seems too wet, add some torn up newspapers or cardboard. Plastic compost bins are available from the council and aren’t too expensive. They will make good compost to enrich your soil. If you have more room then a larger heap is good and can be turned regularly to make compost faster.
An important job if you have a greenhouse is to check that the heater is working but also to ventilate it to prevent mould or rot forming on plants and cuttings.
If you are storing roots of cannas, dahlias or begonias, check the corms for signs of rotting and drying out, also for vine weevil damage. A light spray of water will help to stop them drying out. It is possible to start sowing seeds of pelargoniums, lobelias and begonias later in the month. They are slow growers, so will be ready for late spring planting. If you grew sweet peas last autumn the
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plants may be getting leggy, so pinch out the tips about half way. Alternatively you could grow seeds now. Plant lily bulbs, place them in a deep pot on a layer of sand to prevent rotting. It is best to plant one variety to a pot so that they all grow the same height at the same time.
Hellebores will soon be in fl ower so cut off the leaves to expose the fl owers, this will also reduce the possibility of leaf spot disease. Cut back any perennials that have been left for winter interest and also grasses. Not all of them need cutting back. Rake out dead foliage on evergreen varieties and cut back deciduous ones. Since these often seed around, they may also need thinning out. Rake up leaves and debris from borders to discourage slugs and snails.
Roses, bare rooted deciduous hedging and trees can be planted now as long as the ground isn’t frosty and also moved if necessary.
Sow broad beans in pots and keep in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. Sow onion seed in a heated propagator. Prune autumn raspberries (cut back to the ground), currants and gooseberries. Seed potatoes will be available soon in garden centres and nurseries and there are also special potato days around the area where you can fi nd a large selection of different varieties. You can usually buy smaller quantities to fi nd your favourite.
Hopefully the weather won’t be too cold so that you can get on with the gardening.
Denise Hill Broadstone in Bloom
kempo79@sky.com 01258 721347 or 07703 034127
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