January tasks |  | This is the least gardening-friendly month of the year, so it's a case of keeping everything on tickover until things begin to warm up. |
|
|
|
Borders | |  | • | The frost can make newly-planted trees and shrubs lift slightly, so check them regularly. Push them back into position and firm the soil right round the base with the heel of your boot. | | • | Check mulches and pull them back around the plants if necessary. |
|
|
|
|
| • | Mulch around the base of Hellebore plants to prevent rain splashes marking the flowers and reduce the spread of Hellebore leaf spot disease.. | | • | Collect leaves that have collected around small plants like alpines, as they can be easily smothered. |
|
|
|
|
 | • | Check and adjust tree, shrub and climber ties, especially in windy weather, to make sure they are not rubbing or loose. Trim back any long, whippy shoots that may damage themselves in the wind. |
|
|
|
|
Bedding plants | | | • | Check for grey mould, which will spread right through plants like cyclamen if not stopped. Remove affected leaves and flowers completely. | | • | New season bedding plants may be tender, so keep fleece to hand for the first few days after you plant them out.
| | • | If you have ordered early plug plants, unpack them as soon as they arrive and keep them warm (and watered) but only transplant them when the conditions are suitable. | | • | Support bulb stems with canes if necessary and remove the dead flower heads from early bulbs to stop them wasting energy producing seeds. |
|
|
|
|
Containers | |  | • | In frosty weather, protect your pots with bubble wrap or fleece as more plants die from frozen roots than other winter cold. Don't leave plastic wrapping around the leaves though - it causes condensation that will freeze the leaves to the plastic and burn them. | | • | If your autumn containers are looking tired, refresh them by removing plants like cyclamen that have finished flowering (they can be planted in the border) and replace them with lovely fresh primroses, polyanthus or pansies. Plunge small pots of flowering bulbs into the gaps for instant colour. |
|
|
|
|
| • | Group container plants together against a south-facing wall for maximum warmth and protection. | | • | Raise patio containers onto pot feet (or bricks) to prevent waterlogging. If a pot becomes too wet, lie it on its side for a day to drain.
|
|
|
|
|
Lawns | | | • | Stay off the lawn in frosty weather to avoid leaving burned footprints (as you damage the frozen cells). | | • | Repair damaged edges around borders by lifting a square of turf and rotating it. Sow seed in the gap that is left. Work from a board to save causing further damage, especially if it's wet. | | • | Push a fork into the lawn to the full depth of the tines to relieve compaction and poor drainage. On heavy soils, fill the holes with a mixture of sharp sand and loam, brushed in with a stiff broom. | | • | Mow the lawn in mild weather, if necessary, and brush any worm casts away before they kill the grass. |
|
|
|
|
Fruit | | | • | Continue winter pruning fruit trees such as apples and pears (not trained fruit, as this needs summer pruning). | | • | Shoots taken from soft fruit, like gooseberries or currants, can be used to make hardwood cuttings for propagation, but only select healthy, disease-free material. | | • | Spray with a winter tree wash to kill hibernating insects and their eggs. | | • | Place cloches over strawberries planted last summer to encourage earlier cropping. |
|
|
|
|
The vegetable garden | |  | • | If you have home-made compost, it's ready to use when you can no longer tell what went into it and it looks like crumbly, dark peat. Spread it over the soil as a mulch and let the soil organisms do the work of taking it down into the soil for you. | | • | After digging, cover your soil with black polythene to warm it up for an early start to the season (it will also keep the weeds down by excluding light). |
|
|
|
|
| • | Start forcing rhubarb by placing a large bucket (or dustbin) over the crown to encourage tasty, fresh, pink stalks. Check regularly for slug damage. | | • | Make sure you have a rotation plan so that you change the position of the crops every year. This prevents too many nutrients being taken from any one area and helps control pests and diseases. |
|
|
|
|
The greenhouse, polytunnel & conservatory | | | • | If you're heating your greenhouse, watch for the odd sharp frost that can affect even protected plants.
| | • | Clean the inside thoroughly with a citrus-based disinfectant (that won't harm the plants) to reduce the chance of pests or diseases over-wintering to re-infect the plants next year. Clean walls and frames too, don't miss anywhere.
| | • | Look for any insects that have managed to survive and use a control method. Biological controls are ideal for the conservatory, where they can work all year round in the warmth.
| | • | Prune indoor grapes and remove any loose bark. |
|
|
|
|
Ponds | | | • | Rake out fallen leaves from un-netted ponds before they sink. | | • | Float a ball or piece of wood on the surface to reduce the chance of the water freezing over completely if you have fish. | | • | If the water does freeze completely, hold a pan of hot water on the surface until the base has melted a hole through the ice. | | • | Net the pond if a hungry heron is in the area. |
|
|
|
|
General tasks | |  | • | Give the mower a good clean and sharpen the blades (rotary mowers) in readiness for an early spring cut. |
|
|
|
|
