The wet or frozen soil means there isn’t too much to do in your vegetable garden. If you start working in wet soil, the structure of the ground will deteriorate. It goes without saying that hard, frozen ground can’t be easily worked in either. If the weather is particularly mild, fruit trees can be planted, as well as berries. However, pay special attention that you do not walk too much over wet soil and compact it.
Although some trees and shrubs can be planted in January, it is too early for seeds to be planted in your garden. The days are too dark and cold and will only rot. Have a little patience and perhaps content yourself with ordering new seeds. This is the perfect time of year for it as some webshops require a long delivery time. You can also make a visit to you local garden center or special seed shop. The best option may be to exchange some of your seeds with fellow vegetable gardeners!
If you already had a vegetable garden last year, there may be a few cabbages or leeks left to harvest. Most likely though, this is not the case. January is a rather boring month for vegetable gardeners, but you can watch the days lengthen a know that the new season is coming quickly.
You can prepare yourself a bit by making your cultivation plan for the year. Search out your sowing pots from last year and clean them in hot water to prevent disease and unwanted fungi for when you start your seeds. You can also start saving boxes and egg cartons for germinating seeds.
Most likely your stock of potting soil is also running low, this is a good time to re-purchase. Then you are ready for when you can start the seeds. The ideal time to start different vegetables can best be read by consulting a sowing calendar, which are freely available on the internet and often in vegetable gardening books.
For vegetable gardeners with fruit trees, the winter pruning of apple and pear trees in coming up! Pruning is not the easiest job in the garden, even discounting the cold weather, so spending a night reading a good pruning book wouldn’t hurt. A good pruning session certainly has its benefits for the harvest, so it is worth it to jump right in!