Garden Planning
in January
Roots & Shoots
January 2008
January is a good time to start making plans for the gardening season 2008. Not only do we have the leisure to do so at this time of year, when there are no other gardening chores to be done, but in the bleak midwinter it is very cheering to sit by the fireside and envisage the flowers we will be enjoying in July and the vegetables we will be harvesting in sunny August.
If you are making a new garden, or even just new bed, it is a good idea to plan it out on squared paper, marking where each plant will go.
If you are planning a bed of ornamental plants, remember to take into account the height of the plants and their eventual size, as well as their requirements for shade, sun and water. You can get ideas from books and gardening catalogues.
The vegetable patch needs careful planning too, and it is essential to make detailed plans if you are using an intensive method of cultivation such as square-foot gardening.
If you want to buy seeds by mail order, January is the month to get the seed catalogue and send your order off.
Even if your garden is established, consider whether you’d like to do something new this year. Perhaps you could grow a variety of vegetable you have never eaten before; or raise a new flower from seed? Perhaps you could make an area for native plants, or plant a herb patch, or add some birdfeeders and a bird-bath?
If you have old seeds that you have saved and you are not sure if they are still viable, put a few of them on damp tissue paper in a plastic box. Keep the tissue moist but not too wet and check each day to see if the seeds germinate. If less than half sprout, then you need to buy some more.