Gardening tips for January
January brings us some of the shortest and coldest days of the year, the perfect excuse to curl up in front of the fire making plans as the new gardening year starts. When the weather allows escape into the garden for some welcome fresh air and keep warm with jobs to prepare for your best growing season yet.
Indoor Plants
- Once all the decorations come down and the Christmas tree has gone your house will look bare and in need of something new. Inject vibrant fresh foliage and colour with new-season houseplants that will revitalise your home. Choose from our range of fragrant flowering plants, lush foliage, hanging and trailing plants, ferns and succulents. Look out for air-purifying plants to support a healthier environment in your home or office space
Terrace Garden
Start thinking about your bedding displays for the coming summer. The most economical way to fill your tubs and baskets with your summer favourites is to grow your own from seeds or our young plant range. Pot up into growing trays or fibre pots, using Dobbies young plant compost, and grow on in a warm frost-free greenhouse, well-lit windowsill or conservatory until all risk of frost has passed
Summer Flowering Bulbs are available to buy from mid-January so select early to pick from the full range. Perfect for garden borders and patio containers alike, chose from Begonias, Dahlias, Gladioli, Lilies and more for fabulous summer colour with very little effort. Store in a frost free, cool and dry place in readiness for planting as per the instructions on the pack
Beds and Borders
As weather allows, now is the perfect time to plant new trees and hedges, creating wildlife friendly structure and boundaries to your garden. If you are planning on moving any plants in your garden, choose a frost-free day this month to allow them time to establish ready for the coming spring
On frost free days take the opportunity to prune deciduous trees and shrubs to maintain their shape. In the event of heavy snowfall, use a broom to gently brush off prized conifers, topiary and evergreen shrubs, helping to prevent damage under the extra weight. Protect any of your more tender plants from cold and wind with frost protection fleece or jackets
Cottage Garden
Sow Sweet Peas under cover now to make strong plants for the earliest blooms. Sow two seeds into each re-usable deep root trainer or growing pot, keeping an eye out for mice, which have a taste for germinating pea seeds
Hellebores are full of bud now ready to reveal their welcome blooms. Carefully cut off any damaged foliage at the base to show the flowers in all their glory. Continue to cut back and tidy faded cottage garden perennials but leave grasses and seed heads for their architectural interest, particularly beautiful on frosty mornings, but also to feed winter birds and shelter overwintering insects
Fruit & Vegetable Garden
A great time to be planning and stocking up on seeds for the season. Look out for great money saving offers at your local Dobbies in-store and online
New season seed potatoes, onion-sets and shallots are available from January. Choose from our extensive range of top quality Scottish grown seed potatoes and store them in a frost free, cool place in readiness for chitting (shooting) in February/March and planting out in March/April
You can start forcing rhubarb now for the earliest sweetest stems. The traditional way is to exclude light by using an ornamental terracotta forcer, lined with straw for extra warmth, but equally a black bucket inverted over the crown will result in elongated tender sweet growth