January is an ideal time to start planning for the new growing season. Now is the time to buy your seed potatoes. Egg boxes come in handy for chitting your potatoes so start saving them up!Crops will need protection from frost so keep some frost fleece handy.
Harvest Brussels sprouts Leeks Jerusalem artichokes Sprouting Broccoli Parsnips Swede Celeriac Turnips
A touch of frost will improve the flavour of Parsnips but it's better to harvest other root vegetables earlier in the winter thereby keeping them safe from frost and making them more easily accessible for use in the kitchen. Keep them stored in the shed, or they can be kept in a (shallow) trench but ensure it is covered to protect from frost.
Any leggy Brussels sprouts stalks should be staked or earthed up to protect the plant from 'wind rock'. When harvesting sprouts, first pick the biggest ones from lower down the stalks.
Appropriate varieties of Chicory can be forced at this time of year by digging up selected chicory roots, potting them up, and then putting them in a dark warm place (around 10-13°C/50-55°F), placing an upturned pot over the top. In three to six weeks the chicons should start tom appear. Seakale can also be forced, outside, by excluding the light with a box or an upturned pot over the top.
Give some consideration to the upcoming new season by planning what crops are to be grown and where. Veg patches need a rotation system so as to ensure the same crops are not grown in the same place. This helps to prevent the build-up of disease.
Seed Sowing
In the mildest areas of the country, assuming the winter is mild and the ground has been 'warmed' by covering with polythene for a few weeks, early sowings of crops such as early peas, broad beans, spinach, lettuces, spring onions and radishes may be sown into the ground directly. Tunnel cloches will need to be used to protect the crops from frost.
Alternatively, broad beans can be sown in pots and then kept in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame in readiness for planting out in the spring. Similiarly, lettuces, radishes, spinach, spring onions, cabbages, cauliflowers and other summer brassicas can also be started off in pots on the windowsill to be grown on in the greenhouse or frame for planting out in February, result in earlier crops.
Start onions from seed now in a heated propagator, in readiness for planting out in March.
Soil Preparation
If you need to work on wet soil, stand on planks of wood to avoid compaction of the soil. Dig over empty areas of the vegetable plot, working in manure or soil improver. Heavy soils benefit from the addition of lots of organic matter in order to improve drainage. Don't rely solely on the addition of grit to improve drainage as this only works when organic matter is added too. Calcified seaweed is good for breaking up heavy soils.
Cover the soil with thick polythene to keep the soil dry, making it easier to work in the spring and to warm the soil for earlier sowings.
Alternatively, keeping heavy soils exposed through periods of dry and frosty weather will improve soil structure by the cycle of freezing and thawing. The cold will also help to kill soil pests.
Pests, diseases and weeds
Stored vegetables are always at risk of attracting mice. Remove anything rotten or mouldy and use mouse controls. Similiarly protect crops in the ground and new sowings under cloches from mice. Slugs are a constant problem so use controls as necessary. Protect brassicas and other vulnerable veg from the threat of pigeons by using cloches, growing tunnels, netting or fruit cages.
Avoid the spread of diseases within the veg patch by removing any plant debris and don't be tempted to compost any diseased plants. Any diseased plants should always be burned or binned. Avoid downy mildew and grey mould on sprouts and other brassicas by promptly picking off any yellowing leaves.
Digging the soil during winter is helps control soil pests by exposing them to birds and frosts.
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