Monthly Garden Diary - January 2008

Introduction

As we contemplate the new year and new beginnings our gardens also deserve some new thoughts and new ideas. Thankfully plant producers and garden care manufacturers rely on new ideas to fuel our insatiable appetite for something different. As we start to plan our 2008 gardens here’s a hint of some of the new ideas that will be around later this year.

  Download Complete Diary Text (MS Word)
  Download Complete Diary Text (PDF)
  Read previous editions of our garden diary in the archives

Ornamental Gardening

Snowdrops are the first harbinger of Spring and in sheltered corners of many gardens will be poking their heads through the soil before the end of January. To ensure the flower buds come through undamaged, collect fallen leaves and debris from where they are planted and in mild weather sprinkle a few SlugClear Ultra Pellets around the clumps. Flowering time for snowdrops will depend a lot on the weather in your area, but look out for publicity for gardens open in your area that feature snowdrop walks.

Other flowers that can be on show include the Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger), some varieties of dwarf iris and potted crocus species placed in a sheltered spot.

Patio Gardening

Despite regular rainfall, the compost in large containers planted with permanent evergreen shrubs such as rhododendrons, skimmias and camellias will need to be watered occasionally to ensure it is wet all through. With ericaceous plants use fresh rainwater as this is more suitable for long term survival.

To add some useful colour to the patio, buy some cheerful primulas, Winter iris and Winter pansies from your local garden centre and place in attractive pots close to the house.

Roses, Trees and Shrubs

Perfume in the garden is much appreciated in the depths of Winter and nowhere is it stronger than beside a bush of Viburnum farreri. This deciduous old favourite is easy to grow and will produce pink buds and fragrant white flowers for most of the Winter. Plant one now if your garden is devoid of January interest using Levington Rose, Tree & Shrub Compost in the planting hole to encourage quick establishment of new roots.

Collect up Autumn leaves that may have gathered below roses and shrubs and stack away inside a wire cage near your compost heap. These leaves will take two or three years to rot down into leaf mould unless they are mixed with equal amounts of grass cuttings during the following Spring and Summer. If you prefer to have a good supply of exclusively leaf mould, then add a few handfuls of a new compost activator to be launched this year called Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Compost Maker between layers of the dead foliage. This will add nitrogen to the heap and encourage quicker decomposition of the leaves. Adding a lid of old carpet or several layers of plastic sheeting will help to insulate the heap and keep in any heat that is generated.

If snow falls heavily knock it off branches so that the weight carried by branches is immediately reduced.

Recently planted conifers and other evergreen shrubs can suffer from exposure to wind in cold weather as the roots are unable to take up enough moisture to replace that which is lost from the foliage. To reduce wind scorch to the evergreen leaves, erect a windbreak material around the plant.

While your shrubs are dormant it’s a great time to prune back any that are over-reaching the space they have been allocated. Use sharp secateurs or lopers for small branches and a sharp saw to take out whole branches. Many of those shrubs that flower after the end of May need to be pruned back during this dormant period to ensure they flower well. Examples that flower on new wood and that should be pruned back hard in Winter include Buddleia davidii, hardy fuchsia, Potentilla and Tamarix. Leave shrubs that bloom during Winter and early Spring, such as Forsythia, Winter-flowering Jasmine and Deutzia until after they have finished flowering before cutting back hard.

New Plants from Seeds/Bulbs

Most garden centres will have removed their Christmas lights and glitter ready to concentrate on their core activity of providing plants, seeds and inspiration towards a better garden.

Displays of colourful seed packets are a bright and fascinating attraction for January browsing. The colourful pictures of incredible plants are designed to tempt us all to grow from scratch and good therapy it is in the depths of Winter. The germination and growth of seeds fascinate children, so make sure they are involved at all stages. Suitable, easy-to-grow seeds for kids to sow in mid Winter include sweet peas, nasturtiums and broad beans. For a patriotic sweet pea display of red, white and blue look no further than Thompson & Morgan’s Lathyrus ‘Fly the Flag’. The three small flowered heirlooms are highly scented so are great for children to watch them grow up trellis or arches.

Study the packets of seed you buy carefully to decide the best month to sow and the conditions and temperature that will ensure maximum success. At this time of the year you will need to sow those plants that take several months to grow from seed to flowering plants. These include antirrhinums, busy lizzies, pelargoniums, geraniums and zinnias.

Look out for newer varieties of old favourites, especially those that have two colours in one bloom. For example, Thompson & Morgan are introducing a new bi-coloured geranium called Orange Ice. This unique F1 hybrid has three orange lower petals and two icy white upper petals with an orange picotee edge and intense orange reverse. Just 6 seeds in a packet, but each will produce an eye-catching display in borders or containers at the cost of just £2.69 a packet.

Bi-coloured busy lizzies are also popular. T&M have a new hybrid called Envoy Peach Butterfly. Each robust bushy plant is covered in soft peach blooms blushed in deep orange. Very eye-catching. A spectacular mix of bi-coloured antirrhinum seeds from Suttons called Chuckles will also put a smile on your face if you like the versatility of snapdragons in sunny beds and borders.

To get the best results from your packets of seed you need some clean trays and the best growing medium you can find. If you use fresh seed compost such as Levington Seed & Cutting Compost you will achieve their maximum germination potential and thus obtain the optimum number of plants for your time and effort. Follow the instructions on the packet as to temperature and atmosphere the seeds need and also whether you should cover with compost or leave open to the light.

If you find the germination of seeds a daunting task then look instead to the displays of ready-germinated seedlings that garden retailers will be selling. All have been nurtured by expert growers and you will see fascinating displays under brand names such as Kinder Plants, Plug U Grow and Colourpots. Buying seedlings at this stage saves a lot of heartache to those people who can't easily find the right temperatures and light conditions for seed germination and it takes away the risk of complete failure from novice gardeners.

You will find plenty of different varieties of busy lizzie, petunias and geranium seedlings in January. These pots contain between 12 and 50+ seedlings, depending on variety. Transplant or ‘prick out’ your seedlings as soon as possible and protect them from cold weather at all times.

For best results use clean seed trays and some fresh growing compost that will encourage strong onward growth. Manufacturers of growing compost are continuing to adjust the formulation they use so that gardeners are using less peat while increasing the amount of green waste and wood fibres included. The growing composts that once were all peat are now much more likely to be a mixture of half peat with other materials making up the rest of the bulk. This gradual change has meant that for most of us the transition to growing our plants with a lot less peat has been achieved without severe problems. Unfortunately there is no material around that behaves in quite the most perfect manner as top quality peat so the gradual change has allowed all of us to get used to the changing ways that we need to water and tend our seedlings and potted plants.

Most growing composts, including those from Levington and those under the Miracle-Gro brand name are a mixture of peat and other materials, and all will produce spectacular results. For those gardeners who prefer not to use peat at all in their growing, then Miracle-Gro are about to launch their best-ever peat-free compost under the name Organic Choice All Purpose Growing Compost. It is made from 100% natural and organic ingredients and enriched with organic fertilisers that will feed your plants for up to 6 weeks. Use this for transplanting your seedlings and you will get great results.

Fruit and Vegetables

Whenever possible dig over the area for vegetables and incorporate well-rotted organic matter from your home compost heap. If you have no supplies, you can buy large bags of enriched material that will not only improve the soil structure, but will also add nutrients to feed your garden plants. Levington Organic Blend Soil Conditioner or Miracle-Gro Eco Sense Soil Improver will do a great job or if you want a more traditional product then Levington’s Organic Blend Farmyard Manure is a 100% organic soil conditioner that supplies the humus and heavy-weight nutrients that will naturally increase soil vitality and cropping potential.

Every few years it’s worth taking the trouble to test the acidity of the soil where you are to grow cabbages, broccoli or other brassicas. For best results the soil needs to be in the neutral to alkaline side. A simple test kit will show if your soil is neutral (7) or on the alkaline side (8 and above) or acid (6.5 and below) If your test shows your soil is on the acid side of neutral, then don’t add the organic matter but sprinkle a dressing of garden lime or ground limestone instead.

Buy your seed potatoes early when there is plenty of choice and set the tubers to grow in light, frost-free conditions.

Peaches are often affected by a crippling disease called peach leaf curl. It shows as large red blisters on the leaf that turns white, then brown, and falls prematurely. The disease survives in the bark and between the bud scales so you need to spray very early to stand a hope of controlling it. For good results spray with Murphy Traditional Copper Fungicide at the end of January or the beginning of February as buds begin to swell and repeat the treatment in the Autumn at leaf fall. A couple of sprays every year should keep your peach trees clean and more able to produce a tasty crop of succulent fruit.

Apply a good fertiliser such as Miracle-Gro Controlled Release Plant Food or Osmocote granules around the root area of fruit trees to ensure long slow feeding throughout the season. If your fruit tree has developed the habit of cropping every other year you can hopefully kick start the tree into regular fruit production with an application of a new plant food called Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Bloom Booster. This special plant food is rich in Sulphate of Potash to boost the flowering potential of your fruit trees.

If grass has grown below the leaf canopy of the tree dig out the turf before feeding your tree so that there is a bare area of soil to absorb more rainwater and nutrients. A mulch dressing of Levington Water Saving Decorative Bark on the soil surface will help to suppress weeds and aid moisture retention down at root level.