What To Do In The Garden In January

“January grey is here, Like a sexton by her grave…” So wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley but, despite the atrocious weather, January in the garden is not at all grey, happily. While there’s not a great deal of varied colour to see, all the different hues of green are very striking. And not altogether surprising when you consider the amount of rain we’ve had already this year. So then, what else can you see in the first month of the new year? Let’s take a look at what things there are to do in your garden in January.

What To Do In The Garden In January

As regular readers will know, I break my garden updates down into sections: flowers, vegetables, jobs, wildlife. So, you can skip to whatever you want to read about – although obviously I hope you’ll enjoy the full article with this month’s garden tasks and all my January gardening tips too 🙂

January In The Flower Garden

Colourful flowering plants in January are few and far between, but one plant you can always rely on is the Hellebore (cover pic). We have lots, mainly in pinks, whites, and cream, although they’re available in plenty of other shades too. If you haven’t already done so, you should remove any old Hellebore foliage leaves to give the new buds plenty of light as they emerge this month. Less colour doesn’t mean less scent thanks to hardy outdoor winter plants like our Daphne odora and her heady perfumed flowers.  Although her foliage didn’t appreciate the icy temperatures before Christmas, her buds seem fine. And our new-last-year Hamamelis (winter hazel) with her bright yellow ribbon-like scented blooms is also quite happy by the large pond. Apparently, she could grow up to around 4m in height but I plan to keep her down to more manageable 2m. Next to our front door we have my favourite Winter Honeysuckle, with her delicate little white blooms. Also by our front door is a fragrant little Sarcococca (sweet box) which is perfect to pick for small bedside posies. She doesn’t get much light behind the Hydrangea once Spring arrives, but I still haven’t got around to moving her yet. So, that’s something for my garden planning list later this year. If you’re wondering what to plant in the garden in January, now’s the perfect time to buy and plant bare root Roses, a much cheaper way increasing your rose family than potted plants. Take them out of their plastic bags and put them in a bucket of water for a good drink as soon as they arrive and then get them into the ground (as long as it’s not frozen). Continue pruning existing Roses back to a bud as well, while they’re dormant. Leave pruning Hydrangeas until around mid-February at the earliest though, as the attractive seed heads give the new buds behind them some frost protection. Earlier than last year we have some Snowdrops emerging in our orchard and lots of self-seeded wild yellow Primroses popping up throughout our garden and orchard. Sadly, our Cyclamen (both wild and shop-bought) didn’t like those very heavy frosts. So although the plants are fine, their flowers haven’t survived. As with all bedding plants, including Winter Pansies, one of your January garden jobs should be vigilant dead heading and removal of any mildewed foliage, to keep them blooming. Other splashes of colour come from our ruby-red Skimmias and our tough-as-old-boots purple Vinca (periwinkle) which seem to survive both ice and drought with equanimity 🙂 Both plants are easy to grow and highly recommended. Talking of survival, one plant that I am quite frankly astounded to see flowering is our Rosemary. She’s a drought-tolerant Mediterranean herb, so seeing flowers in the depths of Winter is incredible! Sadly, my November-sown Broad Beans* and Sweet Pea* seeds in the greenhouse didn’t survive, so I’ve just sown them again – fingers crossed for round two.

January In The Vegetable Garden

Vegetables in January are also few and far between in my garden. As mentioned above, our Broad Beans will take a little longer to get going this year, and we’re not Runner Bean fans so won’t be sowing those in the veg plot. However, other vegetable seeds you could consider sowing are are Winter Salads inside a frost-free  greenhouse. You could also think about sowing Onions, and it’s not too early to start chitting Seed Potatoes ready for planting in March/April either. We have a few feathery Fennel fronds poking through the protective mulch, and some new Lemon Balm leaves sprouting underneath the old dead shoots. But otherwise, the vegetable garden in January is really all about planning and preparation. If you haven’t done so already, you could order a frost protection fleece*, a zip up netted cage*,  and a few cloches* to place over the soil to warm up the ground for a few weeks before direct sowing some early Peas* in the next month or two.

January In The Fruit Garden

If you’re not a bird, then fruit in January is non-existent, as we’re not about to start eating Hawthorn berries. However, this month is the best time to prune back our Grapevine to just above a new bud on the main frame, while it’s dormant. It looks brutal, but I do it every year, and the grape harvest just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And the same goes for Gooseberries and Blackcurrants, where you want to cut side shoots back to three buds from their base, and tie in any floppers. As with Roses, if you’re searching for what to plant in in January, bare root fruit bushes such as Raspberries and Gooseberries will do well now, as will a bare root Apple tree. Our Apple and Pear fruit trees are booked in for their prune at the beginning of March, but we’ll leave our soft fruit Plum and Cherry trees alone until the Summer as it’s too early for them.

General January Garden Jobs

What should I do in my garden in January? You might be surprised to discover that you can do quite a lot! Top of my January gardening to do list is replacing the grease bands on our Plum tree. The sticky bands guard against the wingless female winter moths climbing up the trunks and laying eggs in the new plums in Spring. And I need to finish clearing, feeding, and mulching our flower pots and vegetable garden beds too. Other jobs on the January to do list are to clean and sharpen all our garden tools including spades, hoes, and secateurs, and to spray metal tools with some WD40 to protect them against rust. Plus one of my least favourite jobs, to clean all trays, pots, baskets and containers, ready for Spring sowing and potting up. Now is also an excellent time time to clean the greenhouse – tip: wait for a rainy day to do the outside. What are some other jobs around the garden in January? If you have any self-seeded Foxgloves are growing away where you don’t want them, you can transplant them. Dig up as much root as possible, replant, and water well. And do take time to enjoy the structural elements of your garden, such as grasses and any bright red-stemmed shrubs. Here are couple of top January garden tips for you. Firstly, if you haven’t already got rid of your Christmas tree,  see if you have any goat farmers near you, as goats find Christmas trees delicious (real ones only, obviously!) And secondly, lawn care: please avoid walking on your lawn when it’s covered with heavy frost or snow, as this will damage and snap the grass blades beneath. Not strictly a January gardening job, but I don’t have an indoor plants section as my houseplant game is not strong. But if you do have any tender plants overwintering indoors, remember to feed and water them only when their soil feels dry. As you can see, our lemon tree seems perfectly happy in our chilly but frost-free conservatory 🙂

January Gardening For Wildlife

January in the garden is an unforgiving time of year and one of the hardest months for wildlife. Alan is keeping all our bird feeders topped up with quality wild bird food* every day, and hanging out some high energy fat balls* too. Another way you can help this month is by taking part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch 2023 at the end of January. You don’t even need a garden, counting birds from your balcony or your local park works too. Sign up for your free guide and let’s look out for birds together on 27-29 January. Frosts mean our wildlife ponds have often been frozen in the mornings. If you have ponds too, please don’t smash the ice, which will send shock waves through the water, and alarm any hibernating amphibians or fish, or even kill them. January pond care tip: a couple of footballs in the water will prevent a solid edge-to-edge ice sheet forming so any frogs, newts, or fish won’t suffocate. And rather than breaking the ice, hold a saucepan of boiling water on the surface for a few minutes to melt it instead. Hold off clearing out any accumulated debris from the pond depths too, because that’s where any frogs and newts hibernate.

Our Garden In January

And that concludes my first garden post of 2023. I hope you’ve found it a useful guide and reminder of what to do in the garden in January. True, there’s not as much colour to see and no real edibles to enjoy this month, but it’s been wonderful to see how so many of our plants have survived the recent icy snaps. Hopefully, if you join me next time, my February garden update will have some more good news to share 🙂

What does your garden in January look like? Is there much growing yet? Have any of your plants succumbed to the freezing conditions we’ve experienced recently?

* This post features affiliate links but all opinions are my own (see my Disclaimer).