The quiet month

The plot in January

Too cold and wet to do much on the soil. Plan, order seed and get the potatoes chitting.

Sow indoors

Cauliflowers
Onions
Sweet peas

Sow outdoors

Too cold or too late to sow outside.

Plant

Garlic
Raspberries
Blackcurrants
Gooseberries
Rhubarb

Pick

Cabbages
Kale
Purple sprouting
Brussels sprouts
Swedes
Parsnips
Leeks
Chard

Jobs on the plot

Order seeds and seed potatoes. The best varieties sell out. Order now and you can plan the beds round what you have.
Chit seed potatoes. Stand them in egg boxes, eyes up, in a light, cool, frost-free place.
Force rhubarb. Cover a crown with an upturned bucket or bin for pale, sweet stems in March.
Winter prune fruit. Prune apples, pears, currants and gooseberries while they are dormant, on a dry day.
Spread compost. Cover empty beds with 5cm of compost or well-rotted manure, and let the worms take it down.
Plan your rotation. Decide which bed each crop family moves to this year.

Times are for an average year in the English Midlands. Go two weeks earlier in the mild south, and two to three weeks later in the north and in Scotland.