I don’t grow winter crops (just Swiss chard, lettuce and spinach). My garden can be quite hazardous. There are also cheap Christmas vegetables around and and I have lots stored that we grew during the last summer. Two freezers, a cold porch, and conservatory help with that. However, that doesn’t mean that I can totally have the winter off. These are my jobs for January when I am grewing food.
1. Sort out my seeds and order any that I need. I usually try to order one new thing to try, as well. Pak choi and Amaranyth were both experiments but are now both important crops for our meals, now. I buy heritage seeds so that I can save the seeds for the next year. This saves me money and the seeds adapt to my garden over time, and so produce more. I did get some cheap seeds in a sale at the end of last year and so don’t need to buy any this year. The saved seeds in the mini jam jars are usually kept in a cool dark place.
2. Cover bare areas of soil with card board. Some people add compost at this time but mine isn’t usually ready yet.
3. Turn my compost with a fork to get some oxygen into it.
4. Weed. I get lots of butter cups and foxgloves growing in my garden and this is the easiest time to take them out. Any debris can also start to be removed. I leave some of mine as a habitat for wildlife.
5. Put some compost in some sealed tubs and warm it up in the house by the radiators. I start planting seeds at the beginning of February and this helps with germination.
6. Ask relatives to start collecting tomato and grape punnets to sow seeds in later. If they don’t have a lid I cover them in cling film. I have a heat mat but don’t have lights or a heated propergator. You don’t need to buy all the gear to grow a vegetable garden. I only got my heat mat 2 years ago. Even the plastic trays with no holes in them are great as drip trays. I like those long brown mushroom ones for that. Toilet roll inners can also be saved for frugal seed sowing and gardening. Mine go in the compost bin..Cheap ways to grow your own vegetables
7. Mend any damaged tools or raised beds, or structures. My wooden green house needs a new roof but we will build that when there is less rain.
8. Clean any trays or pots that weren’t cleaned before. I have never actually sterilised mine but it is advised to stop disease. Some people clean out their greenhouses as well. I do this in April as I grow things in my conservatory before that. That way I can make sure that there are no slugs hiding before I put my plants in there.
9. Force my rhubarb by putting an upside down black bucket with a stone on top over the crown. I only do this with one crown each year as it weakens it. However, the rhubarb is thinner, sweeter and less stringy. A crown needs to be 3 years old before doing this.
10. Make a plan of your garden and where you will grow things this year. Crop rotation helps reduce disease and stops the crops depleting the nutrition. It is important to see if any of the conditions have changed in your garden as well. My next door neighbour now feeds pigeons on my border which has changed what I can grow in that bed. Getting to know your garden is so important to increase your yield. This link may help with that. Get to know your garden and increase your yield
11. Prune your apple and pear trees. This will increase your yield. Any crossed or diseased branches need to be cut above an outside bud. It is best to do this on a dry day. Stone fruit like plums should be done later in the year as they are prone to disease if cut now.. Currant and gooseberry bushes can be pruned now as well, and any Autumn fruiting raspberries.
12. Check any stored crops. I checked mine last week. With it being an abundant crop last year, this is the longest I have kept apples, and they are still perfect. I have squash left from my garden as well. Cabbages, swede, carrots, parsnips, and potatoes from the cheap Christmas vegatables are also stored to get us through until I can start harvesting. 
If you have a warm place like a sunny window sill, you can start seeds in January like chillies, onions, leeks, broad beans, and tomatoes. I only sow winter lettuce now. My house is too cold. I find that things catch up. You can also chit potatoes at this time of year but I usually wait until half way through February.
Gosh I didn’t realise how much I had done this month, and how much I have yet to do! Have I missed anything? What do you do at this time of year to help you grow food?
We have learnt over the years which crops grow where. The fruit bushes are in the ground and some in a raised bed in the sun as our garden is North facing but gets sun on half in the morning, then all except the patio. Patio has early morning and evening sun.
Crops are in the raised beds and in pots. The pots are placed where we know they will do best and can be moved if we want.We make our own compost and my husband has built quite a large compost bin. When the compost is ready any extra gets put in a spare wheelie bin to store it.
When we moved in in 1987 most of the garden was grass with a border each side and flowering plants and several rhus trees. The rhus trees were coming up everywhere so we took them up, gave baby ones away and put some in pots. We have 1 now but I scratched the roots so 2 new ones are sprouting up. Everywhere we dug we found boulders. These have gone at the bottom of some raised beds, around the pond, as rubble for a shed, now a summerhouse in the same spot and rubble for the greenhouse. We also once the children grew up got rid of our grass. We kept it for our first dog to play on. Our second dog did all he could to avoid the grass if it was at all wet, so we gradually took it up as we built raised beds.
During COVID we grew more than we had as there was nothing much else to do. We then realised we really liked having so much home grown food.
We had so much Yorkshire stone in our ground. Mr S built the walls of the tiered garden with it. It sounds like you have got your garden just as you want it.
Thank you for the reminders and for the links to past blog posts! It is frigid here, -10 degrees celsius, with several inches of snow on the ground, so I’m washing out pots to get ready for spring sowing next month. I’ll definitely plan to do some other items on your list Toni!
Great. You are better than me. I only do anything in the garden during the winter if it is sunny.
Great list of jobs. I’m getting ready start seeds of leeks, aubergine, chillie and sweet peppers this month. I don’t start my tomatoes until end feb/beginning of March as been caught out before and ended up with triffids on every window sill in early may waiting for snow and ice to disappear to get them outside🫣😂.
We are the same. We can’t eat on our dining room table in the conservatory until mid May.