January Gardening Tips….

Although January always seems like a long month, here at The Interiors Yard it has flown by and we’ve enjoyed seeing lots of styled (& restyled) Dorset Troughs and Cotswolds Bowl Planters with varieties of spring bulbs in your homes and gardens.

So, if you’re looking to get into your gardens to start breathing a little life back into them, here’s Lizzie from The Rose Press Garden with her monthly gardening tips.

January is both a brilliant and slightly frustrating month for gardening. There is so much you can get on with whilst everything is dormant, but also no flowers to enjoy yet! But the promise of Spring bulbs poking through the soil, and longer days is refreshing.

Things to do this month:

If you haven't sown all your Spring bulbs yet then go go go! Most of you will probably have planted yours in Autumn but if you have any hanging around then you will need to be quick and get them in the ground as soon as possible.

If you're new to gardening then digging borders is a good thing to do this time of year. I moved into my house in April and for the first summer I was waiting for grass seed to grow, then when it got to Winter I could plan my garden and dig the borders where I wanted them. This gave me plenty of time in Spring to get sowing all the seeds for the borders. So even if it is raining- get outside and get digging!

January is a great month to plant bare-root roses, shrubs, hedging and ornamental trees, as long as the ground isn't frozen. So don't do it if it very cold. The reason this time of year is perfect is because the plants are dormant.

Deadhead winter pansies and other bedding plants regularly, this will keep new flowers coming and will help keep your pots and borders looking fresh.

Keep checking your pot for snails and slugs and remove as and when you see them. This is best done at dusk to nightime as this is when they come out to play.

Now is a good time to move any plants that were in the wrong place when they were in bloom. They will be dormant now so moving them won't affect them compared to moving them in the summer. Make sure you dig up a large area around them so you get as much of their roots as possible. It can sometimes be hard to know where the plants are, so in the summer get some sticks and try to label what you want to move.

Check up on your dahlia tubers to ensure they're not totally dried out, or have any rot. I am storing mine indoors at this time of year.

Buy Hellebores and Snowdrops in bloom so you can choose the flowers you like the most. Plant them and then they will hopefully colonise by creating more plants for next Winter. Hellebores look particularly fantastic in containers at this time of year to add some winter colour.

Ensure there are no soggy or collapsed perennials. Compost them, or add them to your garden waste bin. If you've left a lot of the perennials over winter for wildlife, you may want to start cutting some back to the ground to ensure they don't rot the new growth which will be coming very soon!

If you're already thinking ahead to Christmas next year then try pressing mistletoe berries into the bark of apple trees to establish your own mistletoe plants.

Have fun in your garden,

Lizzie at The Rose Press Garden x

Potting Shed Moments with Lizzie from The Rose Press Garden | January