January

Fruit and nut trees

• Keep checking stored fruits and remove rotten ones.
• Ensure tree stakes and ties are firm and sound.
• Harvest citrus fruits once mature.
• Prune apples, pears, quinces and medlars.

Soft fruits

• Prune currants and gooseberries.
• Prune autumn raspberries.

Vine fruits

• Lower indoor grapevine stems for even bud-break.

General care

• Apply winter washes to fruit trees and bushes.
• Plant bare-root trees and bushes, as long as the soil isn't frozen.
• Apply a top dressing of sulphate of potash to all fruits and nuts.

Sowing and planting

• Sow broad beans in pots in mild areas, placing them in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse.
• Sow seed indoors for early crops eg: lettuces, summer brassicas (e.g. cabbages and cauliflowers), spinach, salad onions and turnips.
• Sow onion seed in a heated propagator.

General care

• Stake or earth up Brussels sprouts stalks that look leggy and vulnerable to wind rock. Pick the biggest sprouts from low down the stalks first.
• Force chicory to produce plump leafy heads.
• Cultivate and prepare seed beds covering them with clear polythene, cloches or fleece to warm up the soil before sowing.
• If the weather is reliably dry and frosty, leave heavy soils exposed - the frosts will kill pests and improve soil structure by the continual freezing and thawing of soil water.
• Improve drainage of heavy soils by working in lots of organic matter. Grit will only be effective when used in conjunction with organic matter.
• When gardening on wet soils work from a plank of wood, rather than treading on the bed, to avoid compacting the soil.
• Save egg boxes as they will come in handy for potato chitting next month. Source your seed potatoes if you have not already done so.
• Plan a rotation system for vegetable plots to ensure the same crops are not grown in the same beds year after year to help prevent disease build-up.