The month of January has gone fast. We had plenty of grey days, a couple of storms and yet our gardens are slowly developing towards spring. In small urban gardens, maintenance certainly diminishes drastically during winter. It does not mean, however, that nothing has been going on! 

From selecting annuals and vegetable seeds to planning on filling the gaps in the borders and checking on structures and climber supports; this month is all about planning.

Also, if you have a London Garden or live in the South of England, and planted spring bulbs last autumn, you may well be seeing their first leaves appear. In my own garden, this prompts me to start cutting down the deciduous ornamental grasses.

Last weekend, I cut down the Hakonechloas, which have started disintegrating anyway and will give way to the early Narcissus ‘Tête-à-tête’ and then Narcissus ‘Thalia’. The white narcissus seem to come later than the yellow, so it is a good sequencing which will take us to the time the grasses recommence growth. 

The Calamagrostis and the Miscanthus can wait another couple of weeks, after all, in a small London Garden we also need to manage the amount of garden waste and its collection via the council.

I also removed the mushy leaves from the Brunnera macrophylla ‘Alexanders Great’ and pruned my two roses, the little climber ‘Blush Noisette’ and the shrub ‘Gertrude Jekyll’. I simply cut them down to around 30-40cm, removing the 3 Ds - ‘Dead-Damaged-Diseased’, any crossing stems and all the leaves. 

At this time of the year, I also bring forward the tulips containers I kept from last year. As they ended flowering last summer, I moved them to the back of the cabin, so the leaves could die naturally. They now have some growth popping out, so it is time to make sure they are watered to guarantee good flowering. 

I have a couple of perennials, I would like to add to the borders where I had to drastically reduce a Trachelospermum in the front garden, which gave me more room for planting. The plan is to get the new plants in the ground in early spring to allow for good plant development in time for summer. The joy of perennial plants is that they settle well and develop in the first season. 

That’s called ‘window of opportunity’. The best times during the year to add new plants to your garden, early autumn and early spring. My favourite being early autumn, when the perennials will have enough time for root development while the soil is still warm, thus being ready for vegetative development in spring. Failing that, if planted in spring, the perennials will need to catch up on root development and hopefully be on a good path for the summer season. See the rationale? 

A good trick for the first season is to plan for annuals to fill any gaps. Since we don’t have a greenhouse, I usually sow my annual seeds outdoors around Easter time, as soon as the frosts have passed and then move the plants to the borders in early summer, this ensures we have plenty of blooms until late autumn. 

Hope you enjoyed this month and are getting ready for the warmer and sunnier days!

Alex