Plants To Sow in January

It is too cold to do much outside in January but it is time to start to think about sowing and germinating seeds indoors if you want to get head start on the year. This handy RHS sowing calandar gives a nice overview of plants of sow over the next few months.

Vegetable to consider sowing now  include

• Broad Beans.
• Cauliflowers - not a fan so will be giving them a miss this year.
• Leeks - I usually get young leaks for transplanting in May from a neighbour but last year most of his got decimated by his dog. Definite want some leeks for later this year.
• Peas - Plan to start them off in some jars indoors and hope the ground is not too wet or freezen to plant outdoors in March.
• Might also try to plant some of my Winter Gem lettuce under cover in a few weeks.

A few jobs to get sorted in the the coming weeks

• Set up my cloche on a new raised bed. The cloche is a simple DIY job made from some old water piping, bamboos, and clear plastic.
• Empty out my compost bins and spread over my raised beds.
• Start to dig over my raised beds.
• Prune my fruit bushes.
• Clean last year's pots and trays with a weak detergent mix. This helps prevent the spread of disease and virus that might be hanging around from last year's plants.