Things to do in.......January

Dr Galen

Maybe we could run a regular monthly thread here, as an addition to posting up lots of links to other sites and their gardening calendars?

If some of the regulars could add bits and pieces of their wisdom that would be great, as I'm less of an all round gardener and more into the grow your own lark

Dr Galen

If you already have one, well its all about praying for the weather really. I've done quite a bit of ground prep in the months before christmas, and will just to hang fire until things warm up and bit and the ground gets a bit softer.

Other than that, I use the time to plan. I've been caught before regarding not planning what I was going to grow, where I was gong to grow it and such. You can nerdy like me and draw out diagrams in excel or just make some sketches on bits of paper.

For me, 2010 is going to be the year of the planned, tidy and raised growing allotment. I'm looking at creating some good sized raised beds to make a life a little easier later in the season. and to allow for better pest control measures.


For anyone who hasn't gotten the allotment yet, or is in the process of planning what to do with the back garden, well, the planning advice holds true.

The temptation when you first get your allotment, is to dig lots of holes, throw stuff in and get carried away. My advice is to use some of that energy into deciding how much time you've got, what you really really want to grow in year 1 and start from there.

I'll post some more thoughts in a bit

Thanos

There is not a whole lot going on in January (especially when the ground is covered in snow) but one thing I do like to do is a bit of prep work.

I will clear my patch of any weeds that have taken hold over the winter and remove any moss that has started to grow around the edges. I also give the soil a very rough turn. This lets the frost in and helps kill off any nasty bugs and also helps to break up the soil.
I usually do this around 20th of the month onwards, depending on the weather of course.

foxinsox

January - so far all I've done is watch all my plants being killed/buried by snow!

The plan is to get out and do a tidy up as soon as snow melts. Cut all dead bits off the plants. I think I may have lost most of the nice grasses I have but I'm hoping that if I cut them right back they might come back to life in Spring.

If I actually get a chance to get out I'll post again with update.

lucylu

1. Go to your Garden centre and get your potato seed and Chit them
Put them in a shoe box or egg carton and leave them in a cool space with light.
2. Tomato seeds can be sown in Jan
3. Collect all your seed trays and have them wash them and dry them and clean

The Kitchen Garden Magazine brought out a little booklets last year covering
1: A year in the fruit and vegetable garden
2: Start growing vegetables
3: Start growing herbs

and are now downloadable from their website
http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/features/index.php

wewantchilly

soil prep as much and as early as u can. ideally this should have been done last oct/nov but its not too late to throw in organic matter/manure/seaweed and bury it deep(double digging) so there is a supply of nutrients as well as the decomposition of material heating up the soil slightly. flip the soil and like said in similar post,the frost will help in sterilising slightly. raised beds are the bees knees,easier to access,easy pest management,more control over your growing medium, the list of pros goes on.
for those starting out on new soil, a planting of potatoes is a good way of cleaning the soil if worried about contaminants, then in few months can remove the spuds and use the rest of plants as green manure.
if lucky enough to hav a tunnel or glasshouse, and temp inside is controlled,eg heated seed trays, then seed tomatoes,peppers etc and see how they go.
for newbies,if this is first year,read up on crop rotation and try to incorporate this into ur plans.remember to sow in succession,not all at once or u will end up with massive amounts of crops all at once.

hope it helps

Lazairus

groundwork mostly

for example i have already built a ckicken pen

im starting to clear ground for this years planting ,

etc

Laz

Sapsorrow

lucylu wrote: »

1. Go to your Garden centre and get your potato seed and Chit them
Put them in a shoe box or egg carton and leave them in a cool space with light.
2. Tomato seeds can be sown in Jan

are seed potatos generally available already?? Whats a good early variety to chit now?
Do you need a heated greenhouse to start the toms off or will a cloche do? It's still very frosty out there but I have a little plug in seed tray thing.

lucylu

After a bit of looking, we got our seed potatoes from our local co-op and the remainder this week from Mr Middletons. Alot of Garden centres will not start stocking seed potatoes until Feb.

I think a cloche might still be too cold still but there is no harm in trying Seeds need warm, moist conditions for germination.
Start some of your seed off in your cloche and incase they dont germinate,
put some of your tomato seeds in a propagator or on a warm windowsill with a homemade propagator (a seed tray covered with Plastic bag or plastic cover) and kept moist and warm.
For the seeds in the cloche when they come up I would cover them in fleece or line the cloche with some bubble wrap for a few weeks.

Some vegetables are subject to damage by frost and cannot be grown outdoors until the danger of late frost is past – about mid to late May. So these crops should be sown indoors and planted out at the end of May. These tender vegetables include tomatoes, sweet corn, courgettes, pumpkins, celery and peppers.
adding link:
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/tomatoes-seeds-grow/

Sapsorrow

Thanks a Mil Lucy, wow this is exciting I thought I'd have to wait another month or two before I could get started yay! :)

Cabaal

Bought all my seed potatoes today in Hennessy's garden center just outside Kilkenny, they have loads of them in stock

magicbastarder

is there any benefit to buying second earlies and maincrop now, considering they won't be planted for another six to eight weeks?

lucylu

No harm in buying all your potatoes now.
Chit them in a cool, bright and frost free spot.

Thanos

I have planted potatoes before and always planted them around St. Patricks day.

I have seen both First Early and Second Early potato seeds but was wondering what is the difference in when you plant them and when you harvest them?

secman

Have cut back Hawthorn & Field Maple hedging in order to thicken it up in the next spring growth. Its a releatively newish hedge from saplings, this will be only the 4th year of growth. Have also topped a row of Elder trees across back boundary . I now have 3 heaps of cuttings to dispose of, looking at either buying or borrowing or hiring a shredder! Any suggestions are welcome.

Yours

Secman

JuliusCaesar

The grass I sowed last Oct/Nov came up a bit sparse. Should I throw down a few more seeds soon?

pinkfloyd34

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

The grass I sowed last Oct/Nov came up a bit sparse. Should I throw down a few more seeds soon?

in my opinion id leave it until late march early april, when the frost has gone, i did my lawn last april or even may and had no problems

Discodog

Commercially it has been a busy month as the number of practical working days were reduced. I like to finish cutting hedges, pruning trees, cutting back ivy etc now before the birds start nesting. The unusual Easterly gales had the effect of covering some of my client gardens in leaves. The prevailing Westerly's push some leaves deep under hedges etc & the Easterly gale blew them all back out !.

A lot of my gardens have Crocosmia (Montbretia). Normally I would of removed the ugly dead leaves but I left them on to protect the new shoots from the extreme cold. The other big job that is looming is lawns - I have never seen so much moss !

Sido

There seems to be 2 sorts of shredder those that work and those that don't the majority fall into the later class.
They are quite expensive to hire and the petrol powered ones start at around 700 Euros.
I tried my luck with a Garden Centre Shredder from B & Q. There are 2 sorts Those that have a rotating blade and chip the wood and those that use a gear wheel against an aluminium pltate to grind down the wood.
The chips look better - the grindings can be easily composted - I suppose.
Bosch do an electric chipper - I tried it and it worked for 3 seconds - It was ****e and I took it back.
I bought a gear wheel type from B&Q for around 200 Euros. Handy for grinding up hawthorn spikes I would suppose.
Though if you are looking for a very cheap alternative you can buy a Garden Incinerator for 30 Euros from Watson Hire in Donegal
http://watsonhire.ie/?product=garden-incinerator-bin-2
And save yourself a lot of heartache