Jobs to do in January

Now’s a great time to prune soft fruit bushes such as currants and gooseberries – especially new bushes or cordons. It’s also the season to winter prune apples and pears.

Sowing and planting

Fruit

• Plant bare-root trees and bushes, as long as the soil isn’t frozen.

Vegetables

• Sow broad beans in pots in mild areas, placing them in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse.

• Sow seed indoors for early crops, such as lettuces, summer brassicas (eg. cabbages and cauliflowers), spinach, salad onions and turnips. Use a peat-free seed compost.  

• Sow onion seed in a heated propagator.

Pruning and training

Fruit

• Winter prune apples, pears, quinces and medlars.

• Prune currants and gooseberries.

• You can prune autumn raspberries this month or in February.

Prevention

• Protect vulnerable early seed sowings from slugs. Manage populations by using traps, biological control or removal by hand.

• Protect brassicas from pigeons. If using netting, ensure it is taut and fastened securely so birds and other wildlife don’t get entangled in it. 

• Look out for grey mould and brassica downy mildew on brassicas.

• When clearing old crops, do not home compost diseased material such as blight-infected potatoes, onions affected by white rot or crops with rust. 

• Check apples for canker and prune out.

General care

Fruit

• Keep checking stored fruits and remove rotten ones.

• Ensure tree stakes and ties are firm and sound.

• Harvest citrus fruits once mature.

• Lower indoor grapevine stems for even bud-break.

Vegetables

• 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.

• Prepare seed beds, covering them with a cold frame, cloches or re-used fleece to warm up the soil before sowing.

• Improve drainage of heavy soils by adding  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 seed potatoes from a reputable supplier. 

• Plan a crop rotation system for your vegetable plot to avoid growing the same crops in the same beds year after year, helping to reduce the build-up of pests and diseases.