I don’t consider myself a fair weather plotter (well maybe a little!) but there won’t be many days that I will be venturing out onto the plot in January. In reality the ground on our plot will be mostly waterlogged or frozen so even a bit of therapeutic digging is pretty much out of the question this month.

But there are some things you can do and this month and most of my prep will revolve around indoor activity. Here’s our list of things to be getting on with while we dream of springtime!

Harvesting

We’ve so far not had much of a successful over winter harvest so our ‘hungry gap’ tends to start a lot early than most, but I’m hoping for that to change one day as we start to make our homesteading journey a reality!

If you’ve been more organised than us then you can get on out there and harvest your Winter Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Leeks, Celeriac, Parsnips, Swedes and Winter Radishes!

Bed Maintenance

It’s a great time to get spreading some well-rotted manure or compost over any empty beds; no need to dig it in, spreading now will give ample time for the worms and bugs to do their thing and mix it for you!

Last year we spread a tonne of Mushroom compost over our empty beds which had such an amazing impact on our harvest in the summer, the best bit about it was it’s a byproduct of mushroom growing and so rather than it going to waste, it’s done a fantastic job on our plots. The mulchy straw content in it has proved to be such a good weed suppressant as well!

Get covering those seed beds if you have them, it’s time to start warming them up ready for February and March sowing. Try to avoid plastic if you can as it’s single use and the black stuff can disintegrate; when we took over our plot it was full of black plastic string from the old plastic weed stop. Old carpet will do the trick or use up some of those cardboard boxes you’ve been saving for a rainy day!

Check any fruit cages or structures in the plot or garden to make sure there’s no damage after the wet or snowy autumn and fix them before the growing season starts because when it does you won’t have time to fix them up then! And while your at it if you are lucky enough to have Fruit trees it’s time to give those Apples and Pears a good winter prune and check for damage and disease.

Growing

There is little sowing to do in January, especially on our plans, it doesn’t really start to kick in fully until Feb, but if you are itching to get your hands dirty here’s a list of plants you can get in now!