Happy New Year to you all, If your New Years resolution is to spend more time in the garden be sure you check out our January 2020 garden hints and tips by our chairman and horticulturalist, John Richardson.
1) Now is a good time to move shrubs which have outgrown their allotted space. With big shrubs remove up to 25% of the older branches before you start digging. Dig a trench around the shrub 45-60cm from the base and remove the soil from the trench, this allows you to get a spade, angled downwards, under the shrub to dig under the roots and prise them out of the ground. Lift the rootball onto a piece of sacking or plastic and drag to the new planting location. The new hole should be 20-30 cm wider than the rootball but only the same depth. Fill back the hole with topsoil mixed with some good compost, firm in with the feet, and water well.
2) A good time for a warm job, insert metal or wood lawn edging as clearly define edges add so much to the look of a good lawn. Make sure the edges will not be damaged by the lawnmower.
3) If you have a large garden, buy in a load of well-rotted farmyard manure to mulch borders or dig into the ground or add to your compost heap to promote decomposition.
4) Give the greenhouse a really good clean, both inside and out. Wash the glass, framework and staging with disinfectant to remove pests and diseases.
5) Continue to plant new trees and shrubs in frost-free weather conditions.
6) Thin out dead and diseased branches from established trees and shrubs together with those branches growing too strongly in the wrong direction. Be aware of the plant's natural habit.
7) Cut back the young shoots of Wisteria to within 8-10cm of the old wood.
8) Examine stored Dahlia tubers, if they are shrivelling, place them in tepid water overnight, then dry them & replace in peat, sawdust or vermiculite. Cut off diseased areas & dust with sulphur.
9) Where Cyclamen coum has spread naturally from seed, select the best seedlings with good leaf markings and replants into new areas which will benefit from the winter colour. Did you know that ants carry the seed off to new locations?
10) Shrubs to enjoy in January: Chimonanthus fragrans, Daphne mezereum, Garrya eliptica,Hamemellis, Jasminum nudiflorum, Lonicera fragrantissima, Mahonia.
11) Now is the time to contemplate sowing sweet peas under glass over the next 4-6 weeks, but only in a mild heat of about 39 degrees F.
Enjoyed our January 2020 Gardening Reminders? Look back at last years here > January 2019 Gardening Reminders
Posted 8th Jan 11:29am