What to do in the garden in January?

Contrary to what one might think, January is not a month of inactivity in the garden! The days are getting longer, some sowing can be started at the end of January if you live in a mild climate and under a heated shelter. The main work this month will remain focused on protecting plants against the cold and preparing the year to come in the garden. January is the right time to: - clean, disinfect, sharpen and store tools; - take inventory of vegetable seeds and prepare your orders using the website or catalog; - maintain the paths - plan your plantings. The vegetable garden in January If it does not freeze: Enrich the soil with compost, and with a mown soil improver. Incorporate by working the soil superficially, and loosen the soil (using a broadfork for example), Prepare a new asparagus bed: prepare trenches for the asparagus, Hill up the beans, Force the endives, Divide the sorrel, the rhubarb, Protect the leeks with leaves or straw, Depending on where you live, you can start sprouting your potatoes at the end of January. Ventilate the frames, open the tunnels and lift the cloches during the day, in mild weather. Continue to monitor the frost protection and spread a cover of chopped straw or dead leaves over the vegetables still in place if the thermometer drops suddenly. What to do in the ornamental garden and the orchard in January? Start by removing dead branches and mummified fruit, If the weather is mild, spread compost at the base of rose bushes and shrubs, Outside of frost periods, prune fruit trees and shrubs for formation and fruiting, Pre-sow peach and cherry pits to soften the seed coat and encourage dormancy to break (stratification), Check for attachments, Burn cuts, Lightly dig at the base of trees and add compost if necessary. January sowing Start the first sowings at the end of the month under heated cover: carrots, radishes for forcing, spring lettuce and batavia), mint, sow in the ground in mild climates only and at the end of the month: watercress, comfrey, spinach, broad bean and parsley. Start sowing summer flowers (snapdragon, carnation, cleome, cosmos etc.). Ventilate during the day in mild, sunny weather. Plant in January Fruit trees as long as the ground is not frozen: apricot trees, cherry trees, quince trees, fig trees, nashi trees, medlar trees, peach trees, nectarines, pear trees, apple trees, plum trees. Small fruits: blackcurrants, redcurrants, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, honeysuckle. Bulbs and tubers: Plant garlic, shallots, and onions in light soil, preferably on a mound, and old tubers. Flower bulbs: Allium Oreophilum. Rose bushes. Harvest in January In January, you can harvest Jerusalem artichokes, Brussels sprouts, wild chicory, endives, cabbages, curly lettuce, lamb's lettuce, leeks, parsnips, salsify, black salsify, etc. Tip: harvest your Brussels sprouts and other cabbages after the first frosts, they will be even tastier.