Your Monthly Gardening Guide ~ 5 gardening jobs for January

During the lockdowns of 2020 our gardens became our sanctuaries. They became another room!

We were also blessed with some wonderful weather enabling us to garden, sit out and eat al fresco more than ever.

I, like many others, also discovered a real love of gardening.

So here we find ourselves in the depths of winter and back in lockdown with our thoughts beginning to turn to our gardens again.

Whether you’re blessed with a large or more compact garden, there are jobs we can all be doing each month to ensure they flourish & thrive through the warmer months enabling us to sit outside and immerse ourselves in our beautiful & nurtured creations.

As a complete beginner myself, I am not the person to help advise on these monthly jobs! My lovely avid gardener friend, Jenny, is however exactly the right person for the job!

So, pop the kettle on, grab a pen and a notebook and prepare to lose yourself in daydreams of warmer days sat in your gardens!

Over to you Jenny!

Hello, I’m Jenny and welcome to the first of your monthly dose of gardening tips to help you make the most of your outdoor space.

A little bit about me. I’m 45, a wife and mother to 3 boys and I live in the Vale of Clwyd in North East Wales. We have just under 3 acres of garden (including a 1-acre walled garden) that we began working on 10 years ago. We recently opened a luxury retreat specifically for adults, offering a romantic setting, in a beautiful rural location. Enjoy stunning views of the Clwydian range, notably an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

You can see more on my Instagram account @thelaundrygarden.

Gardening became my passion just before I had my eldest son over 21 years ago! ..and I’m still learning now..

~ Here are 5 Jobs for January ~

This is a great month for planning, dreaming and preparing for the coming year. Having a large garden, the job lists are endless and I always find the best way to tackle them is to head outside with a notepad and a pen.

Draw up a list, then break that into a smaller ‘priority’ list.

~ Feed the birds and keep refreshing their bird bath ~

One of our top jobs this month is to put out nuts and seeds for the birds. We have a bird table that sits right outside the kitchen window and a birdbath just beyond where they bathe and drink from.

~ Order plant and seed catalogues, book RHS Shows for the summer ~

Next up is probably my favourite job of all ~ browsing through catalogues and online dreaming of what flowers I’d like to have billowing from my pots in the summer months.

There are many to choose from too, some of my favourites for inspiration are Sarah Raven, Crocus, Suttons and Farmer Gracy.

Please check in your area for garden centres and nurseries that could also provide you with plants or catalogues.

Over the years I’ve kept lots of notebooks with lists of plants I have planted in the garden and the date they were planted. I also take lots of pictures to help me keep a log.

We love heading to an RHS Flower show every year as it helps you to see current trends and pick up lots of fresh ideas. Now is a good time to decide which one to go to, all can be seen on the RHS website.

I’m forever the optimist and would like to hope most garden shows will be going ahead this year! Another thing to seek out is the National Garden Scheme (yellow book) where you can visit gardens in your area.

~ Plant up fruit trees, shrubs and deciduous trees ~

~ Finish planting any bulbs you have! ~

~ Prepare the ground for any new areas to be planted up over the coming months ~

If you’re thinking of starting a new border, growing some veg or even planting a new tree or shrub, now is a good time to prepare the area for it. This is so the ground can offer the optimum growing conditions. A great person to take inspiration from on creating the ideal soil is Charles Dowding, he is the master of the no dig revolution!

~ Clear leaves and scrub any algae from drives and pathway ~

Lastly is some simple path and driveway maintenance. These are areas that can become very slimy with algae and moss if not cleaned, sometimes a stiff brush and some white vinegar should do the trick!

Oh, and if you have any Hellebores, now is a good time (if you haven’t already done so) to cut back their big leaves from last year to reveal their beautiful flowers.

~ This month’s garden inspiration reading and who to follow on Instagram ~

Read ~ Brilliant and Wild by Lucy Bellamy
Follow ~ @clausdalby

A huge thank you to Jenny for sharing these 5 top gardening tips for January. I can’t wait to watch your rose pruning tutorials! I haven’t a clue what I’m doing!

I also can’t wait for February’s instalment!

Till then, stay safe and happy gardening everyone.

Kirsty & Jenny
x

If you’re reading this as a beginner gardener you may find this blog (also written by the lovely, Jenny) really helpful ~ 5 quick gardening tips for beginners.

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