I am determined that this will be the best gardening year yet. After many failures, I have finally learned that if you want to save money, have beautiful plants, and keep a manageable garden, you have to plan ahead. Planning the garden in January will give you extra time to prepare so that you can start the year off right.
Fall can be a very busy time for gardeners. The vegetable garden can produce right until the first frost, keeping you busy picking and processing. With flower gardens, there is pruning and planting to do. In the rush to get everything done, less urgent tasks can be forgotten. The winter months are a great time to catch up. Hopefully, you took pictures of your garden to look back on. This will help remind you of what worked well and what didn’t in the garden.
Garden in January Checklist
- Clean and sharpen your gardening tools
- Wash and organize your pots and seed trays
- Stock up on potting soil and seed starting mix. Make or buy tags for seed starting trays
- If your soil is workable, now would be a good time for a soil test.
- Make a gardening plan. Decide what plants you would like to grow. If growing from seed, find out when you should start. It’s often sooner than you think.
- Place your order for seeds
- Start a garden journal. You will be happy that you did. Keep your garden plan and a copy of your seed order in the journal.
- Write down planting dates on your calendar. When life gets a little hectic it can be easy to miss a planting date window.
- Use this time to learn. Borrow some gardening books from the library or watch gardening videos online.
By starting early, you will find yourself really looking forward to the upcoming gardening season. The simple pleasure of sitting with a seed catalogue is pure joy. Seeing all those beautiful flowers and deciding what goes well in your garden will just brighten your day. The catalogue will also list which varieties are easier to grow. That is especially helpful when you are just starting out. It is available online, but I do find it more helpful to have a booklet that I can look over and circle things.
Planning your garden in January will get you prepared but more importantly, hopeful. New beginnings in the garden refresh our spirits. They are a much needed reminder of the beauty that exists in this world.
