New year, new Rhino Greenhouse perhaps?! January brings rain, snow and grey skies after the fun of the festivities but I’m keeping the January blues away with seed catalogues, planning the year ahead and getting outside on the allotment and in the greenhouse as much as I can. Even in January there are gardening jobs to do and I cannot say enough about how joyful pottering with seedlings and have a tidy up in the greenhouse is when it’s snowing outside! No rest for the green fingered.
If the ground isn’t waterlogged or frozen, bare-root plants can be planted and beds can be mulched. I finally managed to tidy and mulch my asparagus bed and added a thicker layer of mulch to the Dahlias as well. I leave them in every year with a good mulch to protect the tubers but with a longer cold spell on the way, I gave them some added protection. I garden on well drained sandy soil so they do tend to make it through winter - fingers crossed.
There’s still plenty of weeding to be done and this might be the only time of year I enjoy the task of weeding. When there is little else going on, it really gives space and time to get to the more tenacious weeds and clear any annuals that could go to seed or get their roots well established before spring, plus a newly weeded vegetable bed really does look neat and tidy! If the soil is moist, it’s much easier to pull out the weeds. I identify weeds on the allotment because some are medicinal, many are left in situ if they are at the corners or outside of the bed to grow ready for early pollinators. There’s plenty of spaces on my allotment for wildlife to shelter but the vegetable beds remain clear and mulched thanks to the no dig method. Hand weeding is my preferred choice and then a gentle hoe over the top.
Don’t forget to support plants if needed and brush off heavy snow from tree branches so they don’t break, and if your pond and bird bath water has frozen, make sure to top them up with fresh water for garden birds. They need plenty of food to get through the cold months so fill up feeders as much as you can and enjoy watching the birds come for a feed.
There’s something magical about this time of year. Perhaps it’s watching so much of the natural world sleeping, or the glistening frost on evergreen leaves. Or perhaps it's because as the new year begins, so does the excitement for what’s to come in the garden when winter ends.
Ellen Mary