- Plants for January – Skimmias (evergreen leaves with long-lasting berries), Hamamelis (spidery winter blooms), Pernettya (shade tolerant evergreen with showy berries), Hedera helix (evergreen ivy).
- Sow sweet peas and annual bedding plants like salvias, petunias, busy lizzies and lobelia.
- Take root cuttings from dormant perennials like acanthus, ceanothus, dicentra, echinacea, Japanese anemones, phlox and verbascum.
- Protect alpines from excess dampness.
- Stake new trees and check supports of older ones.
- Shape young trees.
- Prune trees and shrubs grown for their leaf colour like Sambucus nigra ‘Aurea’, Acer negundo ‘Flamingo’, Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ and Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’.
- Winter-prune wisteria by shortening sideshoots back to 2-3 buds.
- Improve the lawn drainage by spiking with a fork.
- Plan vegetables and herbs for an early start to the cropping year.
- Set up early potatoes to sprout or chit.
- Bring strawberry plants in pots into the greenhouse for forcing.
- Prune hazelnut trees.
Posted on Wednesday, January 1st, 2020
