Potato planning is my priority
I'm also thinking about good soil preparation and sowing beans, too
It may only be the middle of January, but it’s never too early to think about potatoes. You may even have already ordered and received your seed potatoes but there’s still time to order online or pop to the garden centre and select your favourite variety if you haven't.
Consider what type of potatoes you use the most, be it for salads, mash, chips or boiled, as this will help you select which to buy.
I tried ‘Jazzy’ last year; it’s a second early that produces small, tasty salad potatoes and I’ll definitely be growing it again. I’m going to leave them to chit (start to sprout) on the windowsill in a frost-free shed, but will also keep a few to plant at the beginning of February in large containers in the greenhouse. I cover these with a double layer of horticultural fleece and wrap the pots in bubble wrap if it’s forecast to be very cold. By selecting a first early variety I should be harvesting extra early spuds in late spring.
January’s very much about planning for the growing season ahead, be it deciding what to grow or how to grow your favourite veg. With this in mind
I like to warm beds which are going to have the first seeds or plants in them. Whether it's a first sowing of beetroot or even lettuce, make sure the soil is as warm and dry as possible. There are a few ways to do this, from black polythene or cardboard, to glass cloches and plastic tunnels. If you’re like me and opting for cloches (as they’re easy to use on my raised beds), make sure the glass or plastic is free from any algae or overwintering slugs/ snails – the last thing you want to do is introduce them into the area you’re warming and about to sow seeds into. If you don’t have individual glass cloches, clear polythene tunnel cloches work well for warming and drying out longer patches of soil; just try and put something on the ends to help keep the heat in a little and the rain out.
While deciding where to warm the soil, also decide where you’re going to grow your runner beans, as these are hungry crops and will benefit from a little preparation to the soil before you start sowing later in spring.
Traditionally on allotments you’d create a bean trench. This is a trench around one spade deep that you fill with kitchen waste for a few months, then you sow your runner beans into it, providing extra food for the plants as the waste composts down. I don’t grow in long lines, I prefer to
grow up obelisks or bean towers which are normally round, that’s why I dig a bean pit. This uses the same principles as the trench, it’s a hole I keep filling with kitchen waste until its full, then backfill with soil to form a mound. As the peelings and other waste composts down, the soil will gradually level itself out and be the perfect environment to sow hungry beans into, just remember to make the pit wide enough for your structure.
It's also worth moving a few strawberry plants into the greenhouse in containers to force them on for early berries before the outside plants start to flower.