1 Feb 2021

Gardenwatch: January in my garden

Potatoes being chatted on windowsill

There’s a pair of very muddy boots in my hallway, evidence of my gardening efforts over the past week. Helped by a couple of afternoons of warm winter sunshine, I’ve had a productive week which has been mostly about getting prepared. What have I been up to? Even  in January there are  plenty of garden tasks to tick off the list.

Mulching

For me that meant emptying the soil from last year’s four large tomato growbags onto the veg beds. I have more proper mulch to add but these needed to cleared away. A good couple of inches spread around the quince tree border will give the soil a boost ready for the rhubarb plants that will be transplanted into that bed. The soil needed it and I could almost see worms racing over to enjoy the meal. 

Weeding

Yep, that one. My vision of having wildflowers among the veg to invite pollinators in results in an annual decluttering of the self seeded wildlings. Last year it was forget me nots and calendula, this year the dominant plants are ox-eye daisies and feverfew. The patch would look beautifully frothy if left alone but I have to be practical and make room for the veg. A couple of small clumps under the quince tree have survived the cull after the seedlings were uprooted and before mulching the bed.  

The Salad Garden

Lessons learned from last year are that pests (aphids, etc) will find my salad leaves and birds (or possibly mice or squirrels) do love to rummage and dig in the Veg Trug soil. I’ve tidied the area up, topped up the soil in the raised beds and pots then covered the soil for protection with wire rolls, netting or black cloth - really, anything I had to hand. Once I’ve attached hoops to the beds for mesh netting later on, I’ll cover all the soil with black fabric to warm it up ready for first sowings of hardy leaves under fleece in a couple of weeks.


Lemon tree with fruit

Lemon Tree

I love this little tree, an impulse buy from Aldi last February, and it’s thrived in the sunny shelter of the salad garden wall.  I’m absolutely not going to cave in and bring it indoors so I’ve moved it closer to the lee of the wall and wrapped the pot/roots in a generous length of horticultural fleece for protection against the winter weather. And now have my fingers crossed for its survival and the lack of any more snow.

Potatoes

I must head out to buy a few spuds to grow this year. I’m hoping that I can find small packets of just a few seed potatoes as I grow them just for the thrill of digging them up and seeing how many new potatoes I’ve got! I miss the annual Potato Days that used to be held at the RHS horticultural halls as I would buy a pick and mix from a huge variety of spuds. It was the perfect solution for me as I don’t have a lot of space for growing the big bags of seed potatoes. For now though, I’m chitting (with more than a touch of optimism) a couple of last year’s stored potatoes and a random spud found at the bottom of my fridge. Please try not to laugh. 

Raspberries

Mine are autumn fruiting raspberries so the canes get cut back once a year, which I did last week. I’ve put aside the sturdiest cut canes as they’ll be useful as pea supports. In the past, I’ve left a few of the canes at a height of 12” as this gives a slightly earlier harvest; this year I’ve taken them back to just above the ground as this will promote new strong canes and better fruiting. Raspberries thrive in a slightly acid soil; the veg patch soil is in the middle of the pH scale (perfect for most plants) so I’ll be mulching around the raspberry canes with a mix of home compost and ericaceous wool compost. It’s an experiment but I can’t see why it won’t work to temporarily adjust the pH of the soil in that area. 


Packets of veg seeds


Seeds

A bumper delivery arrived during the past week so now I have all the seeds I need. Seed companies seem better prepared this year to cope with the upsurge in gardening interest but a couple are closing their online shops until orders are despatched and then reopening for the next round. I’m glad I got on with ordering rather than leaving it as I did last year! 

So what’s left to do?

Pruning, emptying the Hotbin compost, planting out edible shrubs from their pots, planning what to grow where and making a seed sowing plan. Oh yes, and making newspaper pots for seeds ... must start saving the Sunday papers! The gardening year has begun.

What’s everyone else up to? Are you ready for the gardening year? Let me know!  


15 comments:

  1. Love the spud in the wellies egg cup 😀
    We're better prepared than previous years and with lockdown/shielding I have more time and inclination to do the admin side of allotmenteering! I guess the weather has helped on that front too. But I'm really looking forward to sowing time... not too much longer to wait!

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    1. Haha, yes the spud looks like a potato person waving in that egg cup! I tend to underestimate the time needed to get prepared for the start of the growing year so this year has been good for that - if nothing else! Sowing time has already started here - what will you sow first?

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  2. You have lots of seeds, so various! The 'foot' makes the potato looks so funny!

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    1. And that's only the new seeds, Endah! There are more in my seed box but I like to grow small amounts of a variety of plants throughout the year, especially if there are new varieties to try. The egg cup 'foot' makes the perfect shape for chitting potatoes, glad you enjoyed the image!

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  3. Enjoyable post and pictures. My raspberries are a mix so my pruning tends to be a bit haphazard. Good to see you using MoreVeg who I've always used for most of my vegetable seeds.
    So far this year I've done no plotting as it's been either too cold or wet, but I got plenty done in the autumn so there's not much to apart from weeding and hoeing once the weather improves. Take care. xx

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    1. Thanks, Flighty. I quite like gardening in January as I quickly warm up once outside (well padded, of course!) and have a fresh view of what needs to be done ... but I agree it has been very wet, I always return with mud everywhere! Thanks, you too, stay safe. xx

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  4. Love the lemon tree! I have been cossetting a newly-purchased pomegranate tree, and hoping it likes its new home!

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    1. I've seen pomegranate trees growing successfully in a public garden on the south coast of Hampshire which inspired me to want one - so many plants, so little space!! Hope it does well for you!

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  5. Just want to say lovely you've been posting more over this gloomy winter. I've been reading through your archives chronologically to have the reassurance of the first signs of spring will come, as they do every year.

    In my South London garden have been waiting for the first flower of the year, but the wild primroses nor the snowdrops have yet ventured forth (despite seeing them around the neighborhood), and the camellia japonica remains curled up in bud, a real tease. Inside have sown half the chilli pepper seeds, will wait for their green heads to lift from the egg cartons in a few weeks.

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  6. Ooooh...look at all those seeds! I love your lemon tree, mine died during the beast from the east while we were on holiday. Your chitting potato in the eggcup had me laughing.xxx

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    1. The potato/egg cup makes me smile whenever I see it - looks exactly like a potato person waving! What a shame that you lost your lemon tree! I had similar happen with the first lot of lemon trees bought for the veg patch garden but this one is tucked away from harsh winds so, fingers crossed, will survive - but what weather we're having! Ghastly! (even if snow is pretty, haha!)

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  7. Oh you are well organised Caro and obviously all set to go. What a brave little lemon. I think that when I get back to shopping again a lemon tree might be high on my list. Interested to hear that you have a Hotbin and wonder what you think of it. I bought one at the back end of last year but have still to set it up.

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    1. I love the faith that you place in me being organised, Anna - but there's always more to do so I'm not there yet! The Hotbin, yes, I love it and found it so much easier than an open compost bin or one of those plastic Dalek shaped compost bins. Look out for a post on this very subject once I've emptied it! (Including some of the pitfalls, which are easily overcome.)

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  8. I need to buy seeds, last year they were hard to find as everyone rushed to buy lots in a Covid frenzy. Sadly no January gardening possible in Boston. We woke up to 10” of snow this morning and had to dig our way out of the house.

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    1. Good point, Jen - seed companies here seem to have geared up for another seed stampede but it's always a good idea to sort out what you want as soon as the catalogues come out. Most seed companies are ready to send out stock from late autumn and choice can run low by the time gardeners are ready to sow seeds in spring. Frustrating if you have particular seeds in mind (I always favour Amsterdam for carrots as they're quick-ish to grow!)

      PS good luck in the snow - we've had almost a week of it here and it's already frustrating me! :) xxx

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