January 2018

It's January and a new gardening year is upon us! We can sit back and enjoy the last of the leek and swede (if we didn't harvest all of them yet), in a tasty stew. I planted my endives quite late last season, so could actually enjoy a fresh salad this month, as well.

Leeks January harvest

We are all probably iching to plant something towards the end of this month, but do hold off for another couple of weeks until the daylight is at least 10 hours a day in the northern hemisphere. If you can't wait, there are always grow lights, but for me that is just more work.

I spent January planning my garden year and cleaning and organising the shed. I finally got around to buying a heater for the my potting shed, so that don't have to do all the potting in my dining room, and deal with the mess.

I purchased all of my potting soil and container soil this month. It was cheaper than expected, at least here in southern Germany, at this time of year. I also purchased two new covered growing trays, as the two I had were rather small and were no longer coping with all the plants I was pre-culturing.

New seed trays from Baywa

potting soil Plantflor

container soil Kleeschutte

I lost one of my large clay pots this winter, due to frost in the shed. I carelessly left it by door on the inside, instead of putting it at the back with the rest. C'est la vie, I broke it down for drainage in the pots.

Next month I am expecting snow and the major frost period here. Depressing as that is, there is still lots of preparation to do before it arrives. Inside my now heated shed!

Happy prepping and planning!