Christmas Gardening – January Greenhouse Activities

This will be the coldest month of the year – in sustained terms - for most areas around the country, although February can actually have lower overnight temperatures for one night at a time. But January is also the optimum moment to start planting seeds for a spring/summer vegetable garden. By starting your seeds now, and planning your varieties carefully for early cropping, you can start harvesting salad greens and other swiftly-germinating plants within a couple of months.

Make sure you follow the directions on the seed packet for planting depth and days to germination, and organise the seedling trays in the greenhouse according to when the seeds will germinate, earliest at the front, later arrivals at the back, this means you can water and thin out the first germinators without risking drips or water or jogs and knocks to later germinators. If the planting medium begins to dry out in the back trays, spray generously with a fine mister.

Once they germinate, the seedlings will need plenty of direct light to prevent them getting leggy. So this may be the time to move trays of seedlings around.

Don’t forget to plant some marigolds when starting your seeds. Marigolds are an important companion plant in your garden and your greenhouse - outdoors they attract beneficial insects and repel some destructive ones – indoors they discourage aphids and other plant destroyers.

Christmas gardening seed trays photograph by benketaro, used under a creative commons attribution licence