• January is not a great time for a gardener to be slow of the mark but it is probably better then than in other months.  For my part I have been soaked and saturated by the heavy down pours so far this year that I have been late setting out my gardeners tips plans for the year.

Rhododendron buds

Before I launch onto my major project of the year ‘Trees‘ I will have a quick recap on my January activity so far.

• In line with my resolution to improve all round plant health I have cleaned up all the indoor plants, trimmed off old brown leaves, given orchid leaves  a wipe down to remove dust and moved as many plants as possible into better light. I also used some Christmas present garden tokens to stock up on granulated fertiliser and spread some epsom salts on the raspberry canes.
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• Wanting to grow several ‘golden’ flowers for autumn I have been researching Dahlia, Chrysanthemums and begonias to buy in the near future.
• I have cleared up the greenhouse after the late chrysanthemum plants were taken out of them soil. I plan to grow in pots next year leaving the greenhouse beds for more salad crops.
• I audited the seed stock and augmented it with new mixes of lettuce, mizuna and poppies.
• I moved to a frost shelter and renovated some of the many ornamental and standard pots around the house.
• Lastly I am looking despondently at scaffolding all around the house and impinging on the garden for a reroofing exercise that should start tomorrow.

An unusual shade of bract on a Christmas poinsettia, The traditional red variety lasted until september 2019 but my effort to put it in the dark for this year was thwarted and the compost found a new resident.

An old favorite in its 4th year we still get colour on the heart shaped display.