Vegetable and Fruit Growing January

[wendy]

Vegetable & Fruit growing January

If you have propagator or sunny windowsill you can sow now for early crops, they will need protection from frosts parsley, spinach, leeks, onions, salad leaves,  celeriac, peas, spring cabbage, chillies, aubergines  & ,koyl rabi,

Parsley sow seeds in a small pot with multi- purpose compost,  soak the seeds overnight to encourage germination before you sow

Salad leaves Mizuna, Radish, Winter Lettuce like Little Gem & winter Density are quite hardy but slow in growth

Broad Beans they will need to have more root room i.e. 3” pot or the deep root trainer type pot in  heated propagator 15c (60f) once germinated stand in as much light as possible so they don’t grow leggy.

Peas, round seeded varieties are more winter hardy like Meteor or Kelverdon Wonder.

Chillies & Aubergines need extra time to establish , only sow the hot chillies as these need time to reach peak to get super nuclear grow the habeneros, Nagas, and bonnets leave the milder chilli sowing till Feb/Mar

Comfrey for liquid feed  Blocking 14 is the best, this is sterile, so cant self seed , you can buy root cuttings from organiccatalogue.com give it a year to establish plant somewhere it won’t need to be moved . Cut the leaves three times a year to make comfrey tea ideal for plant food especially tomatoes, harvest the lush growth, steep in water for a few weeks for a rich nutrient feed, smells terrible but plants love it. Can just cut leaves and use as a mulch around fruit bushes.

Fruit apple and pear trees can be pruned now to help maintain shape opening up the tree this help the fruit to size and colour up better later on.

Good time to take hardwood cuttings select strong shoots trim them down cutting straight across below a growth bud and at a slant away above a bud at the top as the case of gooseberries take about 23cm (9”) the bottom 15cm (6”) strip the thorns and the buds to encourage a bare stem and no sucker below ground , these can then be pushed into the soil or make a slit with a spade a little sharp sand in the slit will aid rooting. Redcurrants, Whitecurrants and Jostaberries can be done this way. With Blackcurrants leave all the bus on the stem because you want them to produce growth below ground, leave in the ground till next year when you will have some new plants.Plant new beds of Strawberries and Raspberries.

Window boxes and hanging baskets make ideal homes for vegetable, herbs and fruit, so start now, not just for overwintering pansies

How to Compost with Norfolk Master Composters  Thursday 9th January Demo area County Hall. Norwich 12.30-1.30pm,  so come along

[maureenho]

go90

I might have a go at taking Blackcurrant cuttings, never tried it before.

[annie]

go90

[chenrezig]

go90

[Misspears]

tha22222

[chenrezig]

[wendy]

[maureenho]