Tips For January
Trees and Shrubs
You can plant out trees and shrubs this month, but only if the conditions are right. You don’t want to be planting when the ground is frozen or wet and sticky. When you are planting out it is advisable to use Rootgrow for the root system and farmyard manure for the plant to get a good start with nutrients.
It is a good time of year to examine stakes on trees and shrubs for damages. If any are damaged replace as soon as possible. With some shrubs after planting, such as Camellias and Magnolias which are early flowerers, it is wise to put some frost protection fleece over them so that the frost can’t damage the flowering buds.
Check after frosty nights that the frost hasn’t lifted any newly planted trees or shrubs. If it has, then heel them in and add mulch, such as decorative bark, on the surface to stop this from happening again. Any dead or damaged branches should be removed as soon as possible, but be careful to cut them flush and not to leave any snags.
Roses
All the new roses are now in stock!!
Start the year by tidying the rose beds by removing all the fallen leaves and putting them on the compost heap, unless they show any signed of disease. You will need to remove any weeds from the bed and then give it a mulch of garden compost, such as Westland Rose, Tree and Shrub or Multipurpose. This will stop the ground from being beaten down by the rain.
Planting of new roses can be done so long as the weather conditions are in your favour. You can’t plant out if the ground is frozen or too wet and sticky.
Beds and Borders
It is important that the beds and borders have a good dig and weed. Annual weeds may be buried under the surface of the soil. These should be removed and put on the compost heap, any perennial weeds should be burnt.
Hellebourus (Christmas Roses) produce excellent January blooms and are in stock. It is wise to leave herbaceous plants and not to cut them back until the beginning of spring. The old foliage will provide some protection to the new growth from the frost.
Any biennials or herbaceous plants that stay green over the winter need to have any leavesthat have fallen removed from them.
Bulbs and Corms
Summer flowering bulbs are now in Stock!!
When the signs of spring bulbs appear, it is wise to dig the surface of the soil to 1 inch. This will allow some air to get in, and also get rid of any moss that might have grown.
Ponds
Again this month keep the pond clear from any fallen leaves.
Lawns
Although not much can be done at this time of year with the lawn, worms can be a nuisance with their worm casts. Not only are they nuisances but these worm cast create an uneven ground and encourage the courser grasses to grow and stifle the finer grasses. You can distribute the worm casts over the surface of the soil with a broom. While doing this job any moss that may have appeared can be raked out as well.
If any puddle or wet patches appear in the line spike them with a garden fork. Then add a dressing of grit or sharp sand. This may also improve matters.