January Gardening Jobs

With our top 5 January gardening jobs, you'll be prepped and ready to enter the warmer seasons! Now is a better time than ever to prepare...

1. Write your 2022 garden resolutions down

It can be easier to write your 2022 resolutions down, than it is to actually complete them. So we recommend sticking to a few simple, but effective, ones. 

For instance, keeping the essential maintenance jobs at the forefront of all tasks is always important. This can range from pruning or weeding, to watering and mulching. You must ensure your plants are well-looked after, especially during the colder weather.

As well as this, organising your shed is another fantastic New Years garden resolution. It's not too extravagant, but it will have an immediate effect on your organisation and general feel for tidiness. Preparing and creating your spring garden will be so much easier when you know exactly where your tools are placed, and how much fertiliser you have left!

Of course, that's only two of many possible garden resolutions! Have a brainstorm for ideas, and take some notes. Remember to keep them simple but effective.

2. Protect your garden from harsh winds

If not done already, you must ensure you have weather-proofed your garden from harsh, high winds. Strong winds can cause a substantial amount of damage to plants, especially to young, fragile ones, so it is particularly important to provide some wind protection. 

We recommend planting a deciduous hedge that will filter high winds, which will lead to a much smaller impact on the smaller plants. Any native deciduous hedging plants will work perfectly- for instance, Hawthorn, Beech, Hornbeam, and Hazel are fabulous choices.

3. Prepare the soil for planting or sowing

It's not long until spring comes along, and you'll want to start planting much more! Of course, you can still plant during winter- bare roots and root ball plants are particularly planted during these colder months- but you'll want to make sure the ground is ready.

Prepare the soil by not only weeding it and raking over, but also by feeding and mulching the soil. This will help to not only stop the soil from freezing, but also keep it moist and hold any warmth.

You can only prepare your soil when the ground is not frozen. You do not want to mulch it when it's freezing temperatures, as the mulch will help to hold the coldness in.

4. Consider moving a tree/shrub to a preferable place

Winter can make your garden look rather bare, as a lot of plants enter into dormancy and will drop their foliage. This makes it the perfect time to consider relocating any plants.

Between November and the end of February is the best time to move any plants you think would look better somewhere else. So it's the perfect job for January!

We would like to note, however, that it's better to choose plants that have been in the ground for less than 5 years. This is due to the fact the plant is likely to still be establishing it's root system- it may not have fully settled down quite yet, so moving it now will not have as much of an impact on it as it would to a 10 year old plant, for instance.

Be sure to make the move as quickly and swiftly as you can- you don't want the roots to dry out, or to cause any damage in the process of transporting it. You must re-plant into the same depth as it was in the soil before, and firm the soil down very well after being planted.

Don't forget to give the plant a really good watering, and add plenty of mulch. Sprinkling some RootGrow at the bottom of the planting hole is always a good idea, too.

5. Protect your potted plants

Though winter is generally a difficult time for most plants, it is particularly hard for those growing in containers. Hardy, durable plants can even become vulnerable to winter weather! 

However, with that being said, there's ways you can prevent as much damage as possible, so you're not to worry...

A lot of containers are sold as frost-proof, but it doesn't mean they won't crack if the compost expands/freezes. To prevent this as much as possible, we recommend wrapping the pots in bubble wrap- just don't block the drainage holes, as you do not want the plants to become waterlogged (you may end up with an even bigger problem on your hands!).

 

So that's 5 of our top gardening jobs for January! They're big enough to make an immediate effect on your garden, but not too big that you will feel loaded with things to do for the next couple of weeks in the cold weather!

We hope you feel motivated to get your gardening gloves on and to start your list...

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact our team.