January 2020 Gardening

January is a month of planning, of looking ahead throughout the gardening year.  Not much is happening in the garden right now, as the winter crops have basically become dormant even under the row covers.  They are gathering strength and quietly biding their time.  And so should we.

Start by checking the Gardening Tasks page for January 
You can copy whole sections of that page here and check them off as they are completed

Feeding the Beds

• Make sure the beds are well mulched, if there is any leaf mulch to be removed from the lawns.  
• Check the soil to see if any watering is necessary; only a minimum to prevent fungus.
• Prune back any brush and clear the vines from the base of the fence line.
• Prune the fruit trees
• Turn the compost boxes

Harvesting

I will not start harvesting my cabbage until next month, but it is encouraging that it is still growing under a double layer of row tunnel plastic.


January Cabbage on January 29th:

Planning

This is the month where you set out your plans for the coming year.  You look over what worked, what grew well, what you ate all of, and what you didn't care for.  Now you have to decide what you will plant this year.

We need to note where we planted last year, from your garden layout, for example, and then see how crop rotation can help with the coming season. We have three beds, so its a simple matter of rotating all the crops to the next bed over.

Next, we make a note of where we want everything to go, using the garden layout to document our decisions.  This is the tool we will use and refer to throughout the year so we don't have to continually re-invent this particular wheel every time we need to harvest something and re-plant.  It also reminds us that the wheel is continually in motion, and we have not just one crop but a series of seasons where crops must be eaten to make room for new ones.  So we will need at least three garden layouts, to cover the three growing seasons of the year.

Once we decide what to plant, and what space we have to plant it, we can order our seeds.  When ordering, we should place the order for the entire year.  Now, at the beginning of the year, the seed companies and garden centers are fully stocked and will have whatever you order.  Later in the year, they may well be out.  Seeds can be kept sealed in a ziploc in the refrigerator until they are ready to be sown.  (I just started some swiss chard from 2009.)

From the Supplier

This is a major task for January.  As outlined:

1. Decide what to plant
2. Decide where to plant - what section of the garden
3. Decide when to plant - consult the plant page for when to sow indoors
4. Decide how many to plant - this will tell you how many seeds to buy and to start.

As I figure out the answers to these questions, I fill them in on the 2020 Garden Planner

When the Garden Planner is complete, Place the Orders for seed and supplies.
This could be from online seed companies, or from Amazon, or from the seed racks at the garden centers or even Walmart.

Along with the seeds, you also need seed starting supplies like the grow plugs/pellets, liquid nutrients

  I plan to keep seeds for three years so it is very likely that I won't need to buy all these seeds every year. And some of these I may just buy as live plants from the garden center, because I can spend $2.99 on a package of seeds or $3.50 for the one cherry tomato plant I need.  Just replace the seeds that you will use as they are about to expire.

But ordering seeds in anticipation of the coming spring is an honored tradition among gardeners.  It is one that should be upheld.  Opening the package and holding the seed packets is like a second Christmas

Sowing in the Propagator

It may be too early to start most of the seeds, but the exception is Lettuce.  Next month, we will begin the harvest of the winter crops, and as we bring in the cabbage, we will need to have lettuce to set out in its place.  For next month, we will need 6 lettuce plants to be started now.