What’s January really about for gardeners?

So, you’ve hopefully scoffed the last of the Christmas chocolates, drunk every last drop of wine (within reasonable limits!) and unwrapped every remaining present, but what about your garden? If you were responsible, you should have adequately prepared your garden some time ago to face the worst that the winter can throw at it. You might think that there’s nothing else that you can possibly do relating to your garden at this time of year, except purchase a few more cheap seeds from Seeds By Post (http://www.seedsbypost.co.uk)...but you’d be wrong.

There are still a lot of things that you can do right now to prepare your garden for spring. For example, when you receive your vegetable seeds from us, you should have a cool, frost-free place ready in which to store them. Now is a good time to buy seed potatoes, which can be stood in old egg boxes for when they start ‘chitting’ next month. Your garden may not look too colourful at the moment, but remember to check your evergreen plants in containers to ensure that they are still getting adequate water amid all of the frost. By wrapping them in horticultural fleece, you can shield them against the worst of the winds.

You might have ambitions for fairly major alterations to the structure of your garden and not just the planting of a few more mail order seeds, and now is a great time to plan such changes, like a new border, before your garden starts to take on a whole different life in the spring. By the end of the month, you may spot the likes of early perennials and spring bulbs like Crocus, which are sure signs that spring is on its way. If you’re feeling short of inspiration for any major alterations, perhaps ask people at the local garden centre, pick up a few garden/lifestyle magazines... or look at past entries in this blog!

There are various structures in your garden that may also need some mid-winter attention. The glass on your greenhouse is likely to need cleaning, for example, while it’s also a good idea to sort out your garden shed on a dry day, keeping a record of any compost and fertilisers that you might require for the coming season. You can keep ice away from your paths with rock salt, but be careful in your use of it if you want to avoid scorching leaves and roots of plants. Ice doesn’t need to be cleared from ponds, but the extra oxygen can be good for your fish, so ensure that the pump is still running to avoid freezing.

This Seeds By Post (http://www.seedsbypost.co.uk) blog post is just too short to cover all of the things that your garden might benefit from this January. So keep researching both online and offline to keep yourself busy as a gardener – and don’t forget to buy seeds online from our continually updated range.

Editor’s Note: Seeds By Post (http://www.seedsbypost.co.uk) is represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Please direct all press queries to Louise Byrne. Email: louise@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.