"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments"

Janet Kilburn Phillips

Are you ready for 2023?

Hi Everyone.

The days are getting longer and I don't know about you, but I'm itching to get sowing. What are you planning to grow this year?

So what have we got in store for you this month?

What to sow and grow in January.

Have you bought your potatoes yet?

Friend or foe?

Windowsill Sprouts and Micro greens, part 2

And lastly, Lottie news and members questions.

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What to sow and grow in January.

Now that we're past the winter equinox we'll be getting roughly 2 minutes of extra daylight every day. So by the end of the month we'll have about an hours more daylight than we have now. That's good news as our seedlings need lots of light once they've germinated.

If the weather allows it and you've not done it yet, you could still get some Garlics and Broad Beans in the ground. I've sown some Hardy Peas at this time of the year before and had very good results. Growing Peas for shoots can be done as well, you could start them off indoors and then pop them out once they have their true leaves.

For indoor sowing you could try Onions and Cauliflowers. Keep in mine though that Cauliflowers take up a lot of space with their large leaves so not so good if you don't have much growing area.

Unless you've invested in a heated propagator and some special grow lights it's not worth sowing anything else at this time as the seedlings will only get leggy and spindly and end up being weak and will have trouble catching up with later sowings.

Have you bought your Potatoes yet?

Are you planning to grow Potatoes this year? Potatoes are a nice easy crop and can be very successfully grown in containers on a patio or balcony. Even though I have an allotment I still prefer to grow mine in containers as I find I get a better harvest than if I was to grow them in the ground.

At this time of the year you can get some good bargains either online or in garden centres. You first have to decide whether you want to grow 1st earlies, 2nd earlies or main crop Potatoes. A one Kilo bag of 1st earlies could be enough for 2-3 large pots which would be planted in about 6 weeks and by the middle of June to July you could be eating your own, freshly dug up spuds, delicious!

You don't even have to plant them in pots if you don't have any. Empty compost bags will do the job just as well as long as you make sure there are drainage holes at the bottom.

Friend or Foe?

Bibble-Bugs, Tiggy-Hogs, Slaters and Pillbugs are just a few of the hundreds of names for these abundant little crustaceans. Woodlice are one of the commonest, or at least most easily seen, residents in the garden. They can live up to four years and there are 5,000 - 7,000 different species worldwide!

The humble Woodlouse can be found in dark damp places especially your compost heap. Woodlice are classified as primary decomposers, helping to break down decaying plant or animal matter into digestible pieces for the later stages of the decomposition cycle.

They may have a little nibble at your seedlings from time to time, but they are considered far more a friend than a foe in your veggie garden.

Windowsill Sprouts & Micro Greens Part 2

Last month I talked about sprouting seed and beans like Mung beans and Broccoli seeds, something I like to do round about this time of year. It's something that can be done on a kitchen top with not even a need for any direct sunlight. This month is a bit more involved, but just as rewarding.

So what's the difference between sprouts and micro greens?

Lottie News!

There's not much to report as far as the Lottie is concerned. We did finally get our first frost, rather late in arriving, but it made up for it by hanging around for several days. A few days respite and then we got the snow.

The only thing I did manage, on a relatively mild day after the snow had melted, was to finally clear a space for my Garlics that I had in pots in my greenhouse. The same day I cleared away all the frost damaged plants and composted them. I was then able to spread a few bags of compost on the beds which made everything look nice and tidy. I should have taken a before and after pic, but never mind.

I managed to do some repotting of some Kale I'd sown a couple of months ago and potted up some Onions that I had thinned out and brought back from the plot. While I was in the greenhouse I gave it a good tidy up ready for the spring rush. If you don't think that looks tidy you should have seen it before 🥴

Members Questions

Danielle asks whether her Garlic cloves are too far gone to be any good as they had been left over Christmas and have now sprouted.

My reply is to get them in the ground asap as they need a growing medium, some water and some proper daylight. I would suggest that it might be an idea to purchase a fresh Garlic from the supermarket and plant them as well just in case these sprouted ones give up the ghost. One of my favourite sayings is always, "When in doubt, just bung 'em in, what have you got to lose" Link

If you have a food gardening question you'd like to ask just pop me an email and I'll see how I can help. I don't proclaim to be an expert, but I will do my best to answer any of your questions.

In the meantime, if you know of anyone who might like to become a FG4A member do feel free to forward them this email and get them to visit the website and sign up, it's free!

Or you can always catch up with what I've been up to on Facebook or instagram.

Keep safe.

Christine x

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