January Decorative Gardening...

The Decorative Gardener's Diary - January

January is the chief month for planning and for ordering seeds and plants for the forthcoming flowering season. Think about the flowers and plants that you grew last year. Were they successful? Did you like where they were planted? Do you want to grow them again?

Once you have decided which decorative flowers and plants you want o grow, start a gardening diary, listing which seeds were sown when, this can be a great help in the future.

January is the time to:

Prepare:

- The ground for planting any trees or shrubs, dig over and add well rotted manure or compost

Indoors or in storage:

- Inspect tubers and corms in store to see that mice are not attacking them
- Remove and burn any damaged corms or tubers if they show any sign of decay

Take cuttings of:

• Anchusa
• Oriental poppy
• Phlox
• Guardia
• Perennial verbascum

Sow in a heated greenhouse:

• Antirrhinum
• Scarlet salvia
• Verbena
• Sweet peas

Plant:

- The planting of trees and shrubs can continue if the weather is favourable

Order:

• Begonias
• Gloxinas
• Dahlias
  
• Gladioli

Things to do:

- To make root cuttings of plants such as anchusa, oriental poppy, phlox, guardia and perennial verbascumby, simply cut the roots into 2 inch pieces and put them into rooting compost or a mix of sand and fine soil. Keep moist.
- Make sure that young plants are staked firmly when just planted
- Clear any heavy snow from the branches of trees, particularly evergreens. The weight of the snow can bend and break branches
- If frost has lifted newly planted shrubs, push them back into the ground with the heel of your foot, firming all around the plants