January is a beautiful month to plan for the type of Garden you aspire to.

Perhaps you’d like to start a sensory garden with beautiful scents that fill the air as you sit and relax on a soft summer’s evening? Or maybe you can see yourself tearing fresh lettuce leaves for a tasty salad? Is your garden a place that you want to sit and listen to the sounds of birds and bees as the butterflies dance from bush to bush… or perhaps it’s the thought of a relaxing coffee with a good book or a happy gathering sitting to a late supper?

Whatever you wish for in your garden, it all starts with a first step. So now that January has arrived, we’d love to help you on your first steps to creating your beautiful, colourful garden for the rest of the year!

Pruning

January is a quiet month for gardeners and that’s exactly what makes it the perfect time to get snuggled into your warm sweater, get out your pruning shears, loppers or secateurs and step into your garden to begin to prune various types of shrubbery and woody plants.

You can prune your Fruit Trees, Current and Berry Bushes and Deciduous Hedges (shedding its leaves annually). You can also prune Wisteria or Buddlija (Often called Butterfly bushes because butterflies like to sit and rest on their flowers. Pruning makes way for beautiful new growth and leafy buds coming into the spring months.

Expert Tips for Pruning

• Always make sure you use clean, sharp tools
• Always prune on a dry day to reduce the risk of pruning wounds becoming infected with plant diseases

Thinking Ahead – Seedlings

January is the perfect month to start preparing to plant from Seed. It’s such a great way to move out the old and make way for the new. With that in mind, you can start by clearing away any clutter from your sunny windowsills so that your baby seedlings will have a bright, frost-free spot to thrive. Most seeds will be planted between February and April

Some handy things to have before you plant seeds are:

• Seeds (The instructions are on the back of each packet)
• Seed Compost
• Seed Trays
• Plant Labels
• A Waterproof Permanent Pen
• Horticultural Fleece

Expert Tips for Saving Money and Protecting the Environment

• See our Article called ‘Six Free DIY Seed Trays’
• Alternatives to Horticultural Fleece > Re-use Bubble wrap > Try Natural Hessian > Use old Panes of Glass

Fancy a Bigger Job?

Start the deep digging of your garden beds. This will allow the disturbed ground to settle before being re-planted later in the spring. And, unless you have been doing lots of physical exercise through the winter months, we advise that you should start back to physical work in the garden with a gentle approach… So start with a 24inch square patch.

Happy January 😉