January Tasks

January Garden Tasks

January garden tasks don't have to be done only in January. We can spread them throughout the entire winter period and work in the garden when weather conditions are favorable. We can perform:

• Pruning fruit trees - this can be done throughout the winter. Pruning should be completed before budding begins. Depending on what we want to achieve, we distinguish three types of pruning: formative pruning - pruning young trees, maintenance pruning - pruning trees in full production, and rejuvenation pruning - pruning trees that have stopped growing and need encouragement. In January, we do maintenance pruning, called thinning. Do not prune if the temperature drops below -8°C.

So-called thinning - through thinning, we create an airy and healthy crown. We remove double branches, branches that crowd the crown, water sprouts, and diseased or damaged branches. Thinning doesn't need to be done annually for healthy growing trees. However, it's recommended to do it every other year. Attention - with more radical thinning, we lose a large portion of one year's harvest. We do winter thinning for pome and small fruits. Leave stone fruits until early spring. Cover larger cuts with grafting wax; if it's hardened, use oil paint. Smooth larger saw cuts with a sharp knife before applying the coating.

• After pruning comes mechanical protection. Spread paper under the tree or around the trunk and use a steel brush or special scraper to scrape off the bark (old bark), lichens, mosses, and cut off all cobwebs and monilial fruits (fruits damaged by rot). Burn the scraped bark as it contains many overwintering stages of diseases and pests.
• Remove overgrown fruit trees and shrubs - often we keep these trees and shrubs in the garden simply because we feel sorry to get rid of them. By removing them, we also eliminate the risk of diseases and pests. Think economically too - instead of an unsightly dried-up tree, you can have a healthy, fruit-bearing one.

• Chemical protection - during dormancy, spray trees and shrubs against overwintering pest stages - scale insects, mealybugs, aphid eggs, apple sucker, geometrid moths, caterpillars of bud moths, leafminers, etc. Use products like Optikombi, also suitable for eliminating overwintering spider mite eggs. Attention - all products suitable for winter spraying damage green parts of trees. Therefore, use them only in winter, not in early spring!
  

In January, you'll find spider mites especially on plum and apple trees. You can recognize them by colonies of yellow or red eggs visible on the tree bark. Use products against spider mites. Fighting their overpopulation later becomes very difficult. Target spider mites specifically, as even just a few preserved eggs are enough for them to multiply again during favorable dry and warm summer weather.

• Gnawing damage by hares or rabbits - treat trees immediately after wildlife damage. Damaged trees dry out quickly. Smooth gnawed wounds with a sharp knife and coat with grafting wax. Remove heavily gnawed branches. Replace heavily gnawed young trees with new ones.
• Frost accumulation - if frost on fruit trees is thicker than 10mm, it can break shoots. Horizontally growing branches break most often. The best protection is the same as during heavy crop - support the branches. Careless shaking of frost from branches can break fruit-bearing wood.
• Check stored fruit - remove all fruits on which rot is spreading.

Vegetables in January

In January, empty beds rest in the garden. If it's not freezing, you can finish digging unturned beds. Cover beds where you're letting spinach, leeks or black salsify mature with conifer branches. If severe frosts threaten, dig up the black salsify. It can then be stored in the cellar in peat. If you leave leeks in the garden, they taste better. Also cover rhubarb with a layer of peat so it sprouts early in spring.

Check your autumn-sown vegetables to ensure they haven't been damaged by mice. Inspect root vegetables stored in the cellar. Remove any rotten pieces.

Divide the clumps of dug-up chives and plant them in pots. Move them to a warm room, ideally in the kitchen on the windowsill.

Gradually bring small onion bulbs, parsley, and chives indoors for forcing. Harvest chicory shoots in the cellar.

Sowing Vegetables in Trays

In January, we sow vegetables in trays or seed boxes. In the second half of January, we can sow seeds of early cabbage, early headed cabbage, and early cauliflower. January is also the perfect time to decide which types of vegetables to grow and in what quantities, and to create a crop rotation plan accordingly. A crop rotation plan helps you organize your beds optimally and make the best use of them for growing your selected vegetables.

Crop Rotation Plan - choose the types and quantities of vegetables to grow based on your individual needs. When creating your crop rotation plan, consider:

• the nutritional requirements of individual vegetable types
• which rotation group the selected vegetables belong to, to economically organize bed sowing (Heavy-feeding vegetables should be grown in the first year after organic fertilizer application - the first rotation includes cabbage, lettuce, leeks, tomatoes, cucumbers. In the second year after fertilization, in the so-called second rotation, grow carrots, radishes, onions, beetroot, corn salad, and red beets. In the third rotation, sow beans, peas, and garlic.)

Garden Planning

In January, it's also a good time to think about the overall layout of your garden. What kind of garden you want to have in the future, what you would like it to look like, and what characteristics it should have. Take a good look at the trees and shrubs in your area that thrive in the local environment. Plant the same species or their cultivated varieties.

Cottage garden - plant perennials and small bulbs. Garden roses, ornamental grasses, and several ornamental or fruit trees. We recommend a large area of healthy green lawn. Don't fragment this area with groups of shrubs or flowers. Place these along the fence. Remember that a well-maintained lawn is the pride of every garden.

Family home garden - allocate 1/3 of the area to a so-called living garden, where you create an intimate corner for sitting.

Allotment garden - always follow the allotment regulations. Vegetable beds, soft fruit, or a flower garden.

Have you already created your crop rotation plan? Share inspiration with friends on Facebook!

Author: Hana Michalíková