Welcome to Gardening with Ben, the podcast where we dig into the soil of
our gardens and the depths of our green funds. I'm your host, Ben,
here to guide you through the joys of gardening, from sowing seeds to
reaping bountiful harvests. Each episode will explore tips, tricks, and tales from
the garden and allotment, sharing insights from ourself and stories from our own back
garden adventures. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just getting your hands dirty for
the first time, there's something here for everyone, So grab your brew and
gardening gloves and let's get growing. With Gardening with Ben. Hello, and
welcome to the Gardening with Ben podcast, where we delve into the art and
joy of gardening in the garden and allotment. In this episode, we're focusing
on the perfect plants to start in January. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or
just starting out, this time of year offers unique opportunities for planting. We'll
explore which vegetables and flowers thrive in the cooler months, and how to prepare
your soil for early planting, and tips for indoor gardening to kickstart your spring
garden so grab your gloves and join us as we dig into the best planting
strategies for January. Let's get gardening. So one of my favorite episodes that
I do love to record from a podcast, which I have to admit I
did not do last year, but we are going to get them done this
year, so make sure you do hit that subscribe button. We're going to
be talking about what to plant in January and every month we'll record this episode
telling you each thing's what you can plant ready for your allotment and gardening.
And remember this is from the UK, so all the advice is for the
UK, but it also goes down to the weather and the temperature as well,
So sometimes take some stuff with a pinch of salt because it all depends
on the weather in your area. And sometimes with gardening and it being a
new year, everybody gets a little bit excited and gets too carried away and
starts stuff too early. Sometimes it's good to wait a couple of months until
it warms up and then gets starting all those seeds. So these are just
some ideas of the sort of things that you can be starting to sew in
each month. And in this episode we'll be talking about what vegetables plant,
what fruits plan, what hurbs to get growing, and what flowers to get
growing, because flowers are a vital part of an allotment, and without the
flowers, the bees won't appear and they won't help pollinate the other plants.
And more bees that you get to your plot, the more produce you will
get because they're helping. They're doing the work that needs to be done.
They're pollinating, which creates the fruit and the vegetables on your plant. So
make sure he gets growing some flowers on your allotment. And I went down
to my plot today and had a little luck and all the spring bulbs are
starting to pop through. So it's going to look absolutely fantastic. We'll talk
about that in another episode coming up. So, like I said, in
this episode, we're going to talk about what to plant each month, and
in this month, we're going to be talking about the month of January as
it is a new year and new month, and yeah, we're getting ready
to start sawing those seeds and getting excited and growing for the year. And
I always love this time of year because it's a new year, it's a
new start, it's time to try stuff again. If it's failed before,
give it a try again. You never know, you may have success this
year. So first off, we're going to talk about what vegetables plant in
January. And there's not many vegetables that you can plant in January because like
the weather is very cold at the moment and very wet. So it's a
case of just having a look and seeing what stuff we can be getting going
off with. So the first thing I need to say is make sure you've
got a little notebook or something where you can make a note of some of
these stuff what you can start growing, and let me know, let me
know if you're going to be starting And I'm always an Instagram message away.
If you follow me on Instagram, send me a message and let me know
what you're growing. So first off, the first thing that you can get
growing this time of month are broad beans. But when you're growing broad beans
at this time a month, there need to be winter hardy ones. There
need to be ones that can cope with the cold weather, the ones that
wouldn't get killed off with the frost. So make sure you check the variety
and make sure that it is a winter hard eight variety. When you're grow
in them, and the best thing to do it this time of year is
start them off in pots in the greenhouse. A. It'll be a bit
warmer in there, and B it will protect them from the birds and the
rats and the squibbles. Because there's not much food around at the moment.
The birds will come and pinch them, and the rats will mellow out and
they'll come and eat them and take them all. So the best thing to
do is start them off in a greenhouse or a polytunnel where it is a
bit warmer, get them growing to a decent high, and then plant them
out when they are ready, probably around late February beginning of March, so
it starts them off now and give them a try. Next up is celery.
Now I've never grown celerbay because I cannot stand the stuff, so I
am not an expert whatsoever on salarbay. But celerate needs to be started this
month if you are wanting to start it to grow, because it takes so
long to grow, you need to get started in January with it. And
the best thing to do is either start it off on a light window sill
or in a heated propagator. They won't germinate in a cold greenhouse. It
needs to be nice and warm and a warm environment. So if you're wanting
to start some salary, the best month is to start it off now.
But don't go sharing it with me because I will not eat it. Next
up are onions. Now. Are you wanting to grow some massive onions?
Now is the time to be started them off. And this is a month
to be starting your onions off if you're wanting to start them from seed,
because this will give them the chance to grow nice and big and huge ready
for those exhibitions. If you are wanting to put one show. I've never
put anything in any shows myself because I'm not an expert and I cannot get
them to grow massive. I've tried, but I cannot get huge onions to
grow. So if you're wanting to start some onions off from seed, now
is the time to be doing them. And again you'll need to start them
off on a wind still or in a heat of propagator to get them to
Germany and to get them growing. Now, potatoes, potatoes will start appearing
in all the shops. All the seed potatoes will start showing up around.
And there's a question. What I always ask is to chip potatoes or not
to chet. Chitting means putting them on a window sill and letting them start
sprouting. When you don't chit them, you just put them straight into the
soil and let them grow. But chitting them usually starts them off and gets
some stronger and gets the eyes growing, some shoots from them, and it
gets the ready and started early, so it can sometimes help produce more and
more crops. So I always start hitting them. So now is the time
to start hitting your potatoes to plant out ready in March April time around Easter
at time. So have a look around all the garden centers or the DIY
stores and have a lot to see and try and find some potatoes, get
them in, get them in some boxes with eyes facing upwards and put them
on a window sill and yeah, see if they start shooting, and then
get them ready to plant out in March April time. So that is all
the vegetables that you can start growing this month. Now, like I said,
there's not many that you can start this month as obviously it is very
cold. As the months go on, there will be loads and loads more
stuff what we can be planting. So these episodes will get longer and longer
as the bumps get closer to the warmer seasons. So next up are herbs.
Now, it's too cold to be starting any herbs in any greenhouse or
polytonal or planting any outside. It's too cold for them to be growing.
So if you're wanting to start some herbs off, the best advice is start
some off on a window salt in some pots if you're wanting to start them
off nice and early, or sometimes what people do is to buy the herbs
from the shops in the plant pots already because you can buy them nice and
cheap, they're not too expensive, and then they'll pot them on and then
plant them out later on. One's nice and big and the cold weather's gone
so it doesn't kill them often make them get frost and killed. So yeah,
not many herbs can be planted this time of you. So next up
after that is what fruit can be planted? Now. Now is the time
to be planting bear rooted fruit trees again. The reason why we plant the
fruit trees around now is because of the wet weather. The wet weather will
help the fruit trees take and if you're plant them in some of these struggle
to get the water that they need to get rooted and get growing and get
nice and healthy. So if you're wanting any fruit trees in your garden or
allotment, now is the time to be doing it. So have a look
around. There's some good bargains around. I've purchased some good ones from the
supermarkets in the past and they're doing fantastic on the plot. So have a
look around, have a look at some bargains and see what you can plant.
And remember, once you plant it, it's going to be there forever.
So make sure you choose the right spot to plant it in because I've
planted a few in the wrong places, which I should have done. But
yeah, remember there will be there forever. Next up are raspberries. Now
is the time to be planting your raspberry canes. You can give a buy
some fruit in raspberries or autumn fruit in raspberries. My personal choice, I
prefer the autumn raspberries to summer raspberries. They seem to produce bigger berries and
more crops. And with the autumn raspberries, you chop the cane down at
the end of the year and they'll grow on the new canes that grew up
the year after, whereas summer fruit in raspberries fruit on the canes that grew
the year before. So you look to be careful which ones you chop down.
You don't want to chop the wrong canes down or you won't get no
fruit. So yeah, now is the time to be planting raspberries. So
what varieties will you be planting? I have got summer fruiting ones, and
I've got autumn fruited ones on the plot. I'm looking at having some golden
raspberries on the plot as well, which are yellow, which very peculiarly looking
to the eye, but I'm sure they'll taste absolutely delicious rhubarb. Who doesn't
love rhubarb. I am certainly a big fan of food. If you've seen
photos from my plot, you know that I like rhubarb. I must have
about seventeen eighteen crowns on my plot of rhubarb. And you'll probably say why
if you got so much rhubarb, But I do give a lot of it
away to family and friends because it's so expensive to buy the shops, but
it's so easy to grow. So yeah, I've got lots of rhubarb.
On my plot. It's no hardship growing rhubarb. You can get some great
crops from it, and obviously you can get some delicious fruit crumbles, fruit
pies and also in drinks and stuff like that, or pop it in your
gin as all the people seem to be doing nowadays. So yeah, now
is the time to be planting your rubob crowns while the dormant. But remember,
do not pick your rhubarb in the first year. Once you've planted it,
you need to let it settle in the ground for the first year.
Don't be tempted to pull it and use it. Just let it grow and
let it take shape. The year after you will get a massive crop from
it, so make sure you don't pick it in its first year. So
that is all the through what can be planted this month. So next up
are the flowers. Now I'm going to be starting some flowers off, so
make sure you're stay tuned for what I'm growing on the plot. And the
first thing is snap dragons. Now again, if you wanted to be starting
your snap dragons off, you need to be starting them off on a heated
window sill or in a propagator so that they'll germinate and get growing. Next
up are sweet peas. Now. I bought these a couple of months ago
and I was meaning to start them off, So you need to get them
growing now. We do need to start the mass sweet peas off. Sweet
Peas are an important part to my plot. Last year I didn't get any
growing on my plot, but this year we want to have a nice display
as. The thing is with sweet peas is that the more you pick,
the mark will flower and they'll keep flowering throughout the summer and autumn. And
yeah, if you don't pick them, they'll just start going to seed and
then they'll think that they've come to the end of the time and they'll stop
growing. So you do need to keep cutting them and picking them. So
sweet peas are a good time to be starting off now. If you start
them off now, it makes them stronger and you can expect a bigger crop
from your sweet pea plant. Now. I'll be talking about sweet peas in
another episode, so make sure he's stay tuned for that, and I'll be
sharing my tips on how I get them to Germany and how I get them
to grow. So I won't talk too much about sweetpeas. I found a
good tip on getting sweet peas to grow and Germany. Some people struggle to
get them to Germany, but I have like literally one hundred percent success rate
with growing sweet peas from seed. Next up libilia again, if you're wanting
to be starting some libilia off. Libilia is obviously good in pots and hanging
baskets. You see it hanging down and in flower So if you wanted to
start some libilia off, now is the time to be starting them off again
in a heaated greenhouse or window. So I think I can remember the seeds
from these They're absolutely minuscule, so make sure you do sprinkle them out nice
and either right, and if you're wanting to be starting some of those off,
so yeah, now is the time to be starting your libilia off.
So that is everything what can be started in January down at the allotment.
And in my up and coming episode, we'll be talking about all the jobs
which needs doing in the garden in January, and I usually like to use
that as a little tick list so that I can tick them off and make
sure that I've done all these jobs, that I'm up to date and keeping
up to date with everything on the plot. And getting it all ready for
the months ahead, because the months ahead are going to be exciting months.
It's good when you start getting into the summer and getting into all the harvesting
and stuff like that, so it's good to be prepared, get stuff done
and out of the way pretty early. So I hope you've enjoyed this episode,
and I hope that you've enjoyed listening to all the stuff what we can
start sawing this month, and I'm going to be talking in a couple of
episodes about what seeds I'm going to be growing this year and thinking about the
new stuff what I might try down at the plot this year. So I'm
going to be looking into all that, so make sure you stay tuned for
that episode as well. And I'm enjoying getting back into doing these podcasts and
the response that I've been getting back from them has been phenomenal, and lots
of people seem to be listening to them again. It'll take a while to
get the numbers back up to what people were listening to before, but hopefully
people start to see that podcast our back and they'll tune in and listen to
them are So again, make sure you click that subscribe button a notification button.
If you've not left a review on this podcast, please do. If
you're listening on Spotify or Apple, you can leave a review and it does
help push my podcast out even more. And we've got loads of five star
reviews, so thank you for those that have left a review. So until
next time, everyone, remember, keep smiling, keep shining, and keep
gardening with Ben. Everybody, thank you for listening, and that wraps up
another episode of Gardening with Ben. Thank you for joining me in this journey.
Remember, every seed planted is a step towards a greener world, and
every day is a chance to grow something beautiful. Keep nurturing your gardens and
your souls. Until next time, I'm Gardening with Ben reminding you to let
your garden be your sanctra. Happy gardening, and see you in the next
episode. Remember, keep smiling, keep shining, and keep Gardening with Ben.