January can be a quiet month in the garden although, on mild days, there’s a chance to do a bit of weeding and, of course, clearing up borders, removing debris and mountains of leaves.
As it’s cold and frosty for birds, it’s a good time to put out food and water as birdbaths can easily freeze up. Shrubs with berries are important for birds but by this time of year often the berries have mostly been. A regular top up of the bird feeder is essential for as many birds as possible through the winter months.
Staying toasty warm and gardening from the sofa is very appealing, especially when it’s raining, snowing, icy and blowing a gale! Looking at seed catalogues, planning for spring and deciding whether to try new vegetables is perfect for indoor gardening.
Walking on frosty frozen lawns damages the grass because it becomes brittle, so during the winter it is important to protect it as footsteps will leave brown marks where grass gets damaged. Well worth resisting this damage given how much work is put in to creating an attractive lawn.
Many plants will have died back and winter is a good time to weed, because there’s less risk of standing on other plants or new shoots which makes it easier.
Colourful against the barren, cold, winter earth are the white and pink heads of Cyclamen Coum, the bright buttercup yellow heads of Eranthis Hyemalis (Winter Aconite) and the early nodding heads of Galanthus (Snowdrops)!
Look out for some of the plants that bring colour to gardens in January, such as: hellebores, chimonanthus, galanthus (better known as snowdrops), mahonia x media ‘Buckland’ and the colour and scent of hamamelis mollis (witch hazel).
Gardeneer teams are ready to get out there and tidy up leaves and debris, cut back unwanted dead stems of herbaceous perennials, dig over soil in preparation for spring plant, trench, protect and support plants, ensure spring bulbs are buried and lawns tidied so that your garden thrives.
Gardeneer can work with you to plan and design your garden whether it’s just one border or a whole new garden. Gardeneer will make it just the way you’d like it – so perhaps now is the best time to get in touch so that your garden dreams can spring into life. And don’t forget that, after any severe winter winds, a Gardeneer team is available to carry out repairs to damaged fences or build new ones.
Jobs for January
- Repair lawn edges around flower and shrub borders
- Hollow tine aerate any water logged lawns
- This is the time to dig over the vegetable plot.
- Hollow tine aerate any water logged lawns
- Remove any moss or leaves from borders and gently till, without damaging the shoots of emerging bulbs, to aerate the soil and promote growth. This also removes any weeds which have continued to grow and gives the garden a neat cultivated look.
- Faded flowers and the stems of some perennial plants, such as sedums, look untidy so should be cut down to soil level, ensuring that any new growth coming through is not damaged.
- Mulching herbaceous borders while the plants are still dormant helps to protect new growth from frost damage.
- Bare rooted roses and shrubs can continue to be planted. Apply plenty of compost into the bottom of the hole before planting to give the roots a good start. Roses planted this winter will flower in the summer.