What to do in January for newbie gardners

Pint_of_Gem

Another tip for getting pallets - try your local storage place (big yellow, keepsafe, etc) as they definitely have to pay for pallets to be removed, that are often left around by their clients.

I know this as I am a client that keeps getting moaned at about leaving pallets around! Take a saw, hammer and possibly crowbar in the back of your car to break them down quickly as you won't fit many in otherwise!

Nelmer

Hi all, another newbie gardner here. Been lurking on this thread for a while but DH and I took the plunge from all the tips and actually started something today!

Thank you to you all on this thread, as a result of your comments we have managed:
- built 3 6ft long x 4ft wide (i think) trough's for veg (our garden is small and mainly patio) and 2 5ft x 2ft trough's to plant herbs in, all for nothing! I spoke to the purchasing dept of the company where I work and they have told us we can take away any pallets that are stacked in the car park at work. Excellent!!:rotfl:
- local garden centre have sale so bought plastic 4ft greenhouse for £10
- bought 1 gooseberry and 1 raspberry bush from Lidl (1.98!) and planted them in the small front garden we have
- bought parsley, mint, basil and chives which are starting on the windowsill in the kitchen to then be transplanted to the trough's later
- next on the list are carrot, cabbage, lettuce, parsnips and potato!!!

Sorry, bit long winded but really wanted to show you all how fantastic you are with the tips/advice

jungliemac

Wilkinsons are brilliant at this time of year for well priced gardening stuff.....planted half my onions and shallots today (£1 per bag) and will be putting in my potatoes next week (sending my Dh to dig the ground over first for me) These were £3 for each big bag of potato seeds...maris piper and king edwards. Had been buying them from local garden centre previously by the kg (what a rip off!). Also seeds on special offer 3 for the price of 2. I love wilkinsons!! Garlic doing brilliantly. I really like this time of year when it starts to dry up a bit and the sun comes out for a while. Flask of sugary tea down the allotment!

Nutty_Tart

Wow, have been quite busy - just sat down - boy am I gonna ache tomorrow :rotfl: I have put up the greenhouse (bought last week/end) and put the stawberry pot in the bottom to (1) protect them from the frost and (2) stop the greenhouse blowing away (plastic greenhouse, strawberry pot one of those old cast iron bbq's). I have raked over the veggie patch, planted the apple tree I've been waiting for for ages, planted the rasberry bush and rhubarb in pots, sown tomato, lettuce, rocket and chinese leaf seeds in trays and are on the windowsill - oh and DD's cress. Dug out 3 barrowfulls of compost from my friends compost bins (she has 3 currently, and is not going to use the compost this year) - who needs a gym! Is there anything I have forgotten? (apart from hoovering, ironing etc etc :rotfl: ).

How did everyone else get on this week-end?

NT x

susieb

Had a great day today, planted my poundland raspberry canes, and 3 shrubs from focus diy, also last years ceonothus cuttings which are now large enough to plant out. Planted some rhubard from wilkinsons and covered it with a tub to force it - I hope. Dug a new border and underplanted the raspberry canes with some summer bulbs, lilies etc.

Keiss_21

Hya folks

Glad to see everyone is making the most of the great gardening weather we've had the past few days.

Unfortunately my back has been really painful the last two weeks so I am banned from digging/weeding/pruning/shredding...in fact anything physical in the garden! :mad:

I have, however, been sorting out my planting plan, and putting my seeds in file pockets in order of sowing...per month and putting them into a ring-binder. Anne Swithinbank mentioned this is what she did with her seeds on Gardeners' Question Time on Sunday (Radio 4 @ 2pm....NEVER miss it!).
I have always had a list of all my seeds and when they should be sown and planted, but arranging them into the months to be sown is a great idea...so when I can get back out into the garden, I will be ready! Then I shouldn't miss sowing anything this year!:T

Happy Gardening

M

Lemon_Tree

this weekend i found a mini cold frame which is flat pack for just over £6 it's really good and two will fit over most of my veggie plot to give things a better start. I've put one over last years onions already to help them out a bit. I've also found a fab planter so i can have a herb patch on my top patio step. Oh and the self confession water butt queen has managed to get another one for the front garden which was a real bargain and looks very good and smart. (something you have to think about when it's in the front garden.
I put garlic in pots and some rhubarb, read a mag which told me what went wrong with mine last year so here's hoping i get it right this time.
So far my cabbage, leek and onion seeds have germinated though not many out of the second two. I'm thinkiing that my tomato seeds have given up the ghost cos it's too cold, i've never had them fail before but then i've not planted them this early before.
sorry for the novel, this weekend was so good, and i sooooooo want an allotment!

Mudbath

Hiya
I'm determined to get on top of our garden this year. Last year we concentrated on our allotment so the garden was neglected. We spent a couple of hours doing things from the list on this thread yesterday and i'm aiming to do at least five minutes a day. Chances are it'll be more than five minutes but i'm just aiming for bite size pieces. I'll be reading this thread with interest.

annie123

really pleased this thread has been well used and very interesting to see what everyone is up to.

I will post a february thread to get us started tomorrow evening.

happy gardening

savingpennies

So good to see everyone else is keen and in the garden. DD2 and I were out there on Sunday. I turned the compost heap whilst DD (aged 13 and keen as mustard) planned and cut out our new veg patch. Last year we managed potatoes in pots, runner beans and tomatoes (tho' we hardly had any with the wet weather and blight). We really fancied an allotment but don't really have the time so we are converting about 1/3 or our back garden into a veg/furit area. DH bought us a lovely wooden greenhouse in the sale as a Christmas present. I was almost in tears when it arrived!
Weekend before last DD planted broad beans in pots and toms and some red cabbage and they have all germinated and now I'm worried we have started a bit early! Lovely to read what everyone else is doing.