Month by month
Garden jobs for January: what to do in the garden
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This month | This month in January |
January is the garden at its lowest ebb. Days are short, the soil is cold and often sodden, and hard frosts are likely anywhere from the Scottish Highlands to the Kent coast. In the south-west and along western coasts of Ireland and Wales, mild spells can arrive between cold snaps, and you may even see the first bulbs nosing through. Further north and inland, expect the ground to freeze for days at a time. The golden rule this month: if the soil sticks to your boots or crunches underfoot, leave it alone. Walking on wet or frozen ground squashes the structure out of it. Use the quiet weeks to plan, prune and tidy, and save the digging for later.
Flowers and borders
Most herbaceous perennials are dormant, so this is a good time to look hard at your borders and decide what works. Make notes now while the bones of the garden are bare: gaps that need filling, shrubs that have outgrown their space, plants that sulked all summer.
Cut the old leaves off hellebores as the flower buds rise. The tatty foliage often carries leaf spot, and removing it shows off the flowers and stops the disease spreading to the new leaves. Snip each leaf at the base and bin it rather than composting.
If you left seed heads standing over autumn for birds and insects, keep them a little longer. Ornamental grasses such as miscanthus look wonderful rimed with frost and give overwintering ladybirds a home. Cut them back in late February or March instead.
On mild, dry days you can prune deciduous shrubs that flower on new growth later in the year, but most can wait until late winter. Check that tree ties and stakes are secure after the winter gales, and knock heavy snow off evergreen hedges and conifers before it splays the branches.
Vegetables
January is planning month for the vegetable plot. Order seeds and seed potatoes now, while choice is widest. When seed potatoes arrive, stand them in egg boxes with the end that has the most eyes facing up, and keep them somewhere light, cool and frost-free to chit. Sturdy dark shoots about 2cm long by planting time give first earlies a head start.
Harvest winter crops such as leeks, parsnips, kale, Brussels sprouts and winter cabbages as needed. Parsnips taste sweeter after frost. If a deep freeze is forecast, lift a few leeks and parsnips and heel them into a bucket of compost in a shed so you can still get at them.
Clean pots, seed trays and canes, sharpen tools, and empty and wash out the greenhouse if you have not already. On dry days, spread well-rotted manure or compost over empty beds; worms will take it down by spring. Cover a bed or two with black sheeting or cloches to warm the soil for early sowings.
Fruit
This is the main window for winter pruning apple and pear trees. Remove dead, damaged and crossing branches first, then thin crowded growth to open the centre to light and air. Aim to shorten the previous summer’s leading shoots by about a third. Do not winter-prune plums, cherries or other stone fruit, as cuts made now invite silver leaf disease; leave them for summer.
Plant bare-root fruit trees and bushes whenever the soil is workable. Prune newly planted and established blackcurrants by taking out about a third of the oldest stems at the base. Cut autumn-fruiting raspberries right down to the ground. Check stored apples every week and remove any that are going soft.
Lawns
Keep off the lawn when it is frozen or waterlogged; footprints on frosted grass leave brown marks, and treading on wet turf compacts it. Brush off worm casts on dry days so they do not get smeared flat by the mower later. If you have the odd mild, dry spell in the south and the grass is still growing, a very light trim with the blades set high is fine, but in most gardens the mower can stay in the shed. Service it now, before the spring rush at repair shops.
Wildlife
Birds need high-energy food and liquid water more than ever this month. Top up feeders with sunflower hearts, suet and seed mixes, and clean them regularly to stop disease spreading. Float a ball in the bird bath, or pour on warm (not boiling) water to melt the ice each morning. Clean out nest boxes if you have not done so, and put up new ones on a sheltered wall facing between north and east, out of strong sun.
Leave piles of leaves and logs undisturbed, as hedgehogs, toads and insects may be sleeping inside. Berries on holly and rowan are often stripped by thrushes and redwings in hard weather, so plant more berrying shrubs and trees this winter if your garden is short on them.
Indoors and under cover
Ventilate the greenhouse on sunny days to keep humidity down and grey mould at bay, then close it by mid-afternoon to hold in warmth. Water overwintering plants sparingly. Check tender plants such as dahlia tubers in store, and discard any that have gone soft or mouldy. Sow sweet peas indoors now if you did not sow in autumn; deep root trainers give the long roots room. Towards the end of the month you can start onions from seed and early chillies on a warm windowsill or heated propagator.
Plants looking good this month
Even in January, a well-planted garden has plenty to enjoy:
- Snowdrops push up through the cold soil, flowering from mid-January in the south.
- Hellebores open nodding flowers in white, pink, plum and near-black.
- Red-barked dogwood glows scarlet in low winter sun.
- Sweet box fills the air with honey scent from tiny white flowers.
- Silver birch shows off its white bark against a grey sky.
- Viburnum tinus carries clusters of pink-budded white flowers all winter.
- Cyclamen hederifolium leaves form marbled carpets under trees.
Plan a winter border around a few of these and January becomes a month to look forward to rather than endure.
Looking back or ahead? See December jobs or move on to February jobs.
From the plant finder
In flower in January
Good time to plant
Due for pruning
Grow your own in January
Sow now
Plant out
Ready to harvest
Problems to watch for in January
Spotted something else? Diagnose it by symptom.