January Garden Ramblings

Well, holy moly, what crazy weather we have had to start off this brand new year. 

So much snow, so much cold... but they say that rain and normal temps are just around the corner. I am so looking forward to seeing the grass again and resuming walks about the property with the pups. Till then, I hibernate ; ) 

Roses in our mild January weather last year

With regards to gardening, I do not do a whole lot of any actual sowing or growing as of yet. This month is all about planning and ordering for me. (If you do want to do some sowing, the list of what to start is at the end of this post.) 

Ordering this time of year is for flower and vegetable seeds, bare root plants to plant up next month, as well pre-ordering the flowers for workshops in spring.  

This means my planning has to be in place, too, so I know what I need to order and exactly when I need it to be here. If you have any special requests for your baskets this year, this is the time to reach out to me. I am thinking of doing hot colour workshops one week and cool colours workshops another week. That means I can have more colours and more variety for your baskets. I would love to hear which colour scheme you are leaning towards, if you want to put it in the comments on either fb or here on the blog. 

Winter sown carrots. 

I noticed that Floret put out their favourite seed sources the other day so thought I would share that post with you all, plus some of my favourite seed sources, too.

Here is the list from Floret Flower Farm. 

Here are some of my favourite sources... 

My top pick is Heritage Harvest Seeds, a Canadian company that carries a tonne of really great heirloom and open pollinated vegetables and flowers. 

Another Canadian seed company for both flowers and vegetables is Stems Flower Farm. I love their carrot selection so much. If you want to try winter sowing carrots, check out some of their great varieties and order asap to sow as soon as the snow melts away. They also have some fantastic tomatoes. 

The seeds that I sell here at the greenhouse and have been personally buying and growing for nearly 3 decades now, are from Renee's Garden Seeds. I really love their array of flower colours, especially the great selection of zinnia hues. The veggie selection is bar none and their prices are really reasonable. They have always had the very best germination rate of all. 

I love the flower seed selection from Floret but you pretty much have to buy them within a couple of hours after they open them up for ordering, or they are sold out. Luckily, Stems that I mentioned above, has many of the same flowers and they are less pricey, too. However, if you want to get some ideas, check out the beautiful colours and flowers to get some ideas, here is the link to their seeds.   

A great source for annuals and biennials is Higgledy Garden. Check out Ben's blog for how-to's for great advice about everything from seed starting to timing to information about specific plants. Check out Ben and Flash on social media, too. They will bring laughter and light to your day.    

 

I also like a few small seed houses like Artisan Seeds (they carry the bumblebees plus the new seeds by our local Canadian breeder), and Yonder Hill Farm from Nova Scotia, TomatoFest for tomatoes of many sorts, the Seed Savers Exchange has a huge variety of fantastic heirlooms, and Victory Seeds. 

Two Canadian on-line shops that you can order both root plants and seeds from are Vesey's and T&T Seeds.   

Check out the amazing seed selection for everything at Stokes! They don't take amazing pictures but try to look beyond that as wow, their selection is truly amazing. Check out the Burpeeana Giant Mix (above). They have all sorts of seeds though... veggies, flowers, herbs, and growing accessories, too.  

There are likely a few more places that I pick up a bit of this or that from that I cannot think of right now, but these would be my main stops. I try to limit my purchases to as few sources as I can, as shipping is always a killer. Pick the source(s) that offers you most off of your wish list. 

Oh, and also, if you go through your seed stash before you order, you will know what you have and what you need. Save a ton of money by not relying on your memory ; )

I like to go through them while watching tv, hanging out by the warm fire. I then toss the old seeds and empty packets (does anyone else find empties in their stash?) into the fire. Boom, instantly organized and tidy. 

What might I do if I feel like doing some 'actual gardening' in January?  

If the weather turns mild by end month, I will start my pruning. I know it seems crazy to think about that right now with the yard covered in snow and ice, but with any luck at all, we will have a few lovely weeks this month or next so that we can get at it.   

 

Pruning time for most roses, trees, and shrubs is between January and March. My goal is to have everything pruned by end of February as life gets super busy in March, plus as soon as the weather turns warm, sap starts flowing which makes it too late to prune some trees and shrubs.  

What to prune in winter? Roses. Grapes. Fruit trees. Raspberries. Ornamental deciduous trees and shrubs. Wisteria.  

Roses - prune your shrub roses and climbing roses. This is one of my favourite ones to watch and inspire before I head out to prune my climbing roses.  Pruning And Training Your Climbing Rose - YouTube The David Austin roses webpage also has great how-to videos for both climbers and shrub roses.  

Grapevines - Grape vines grow like mad, get them done while they are dormant. Pick any nice, sunny day and give them a really hard prune. 

Fruit trees and shrubs - Apples, pears, figs, currants, blueberries, gooseberries.

Summer Fruiting Raspberries - produce from June through till August. These guys fruit on last year's growth so you want to take out all of the grey/brown canes that fruited for you last year. Then take out any really spindly new green shoots, leaving just nice, strong, green ones. Monty Don says to be ruthless and leave only 5 shoots per plant for the healthiest plants and the best berries. 

Autumn Fruiting Raspberries - are pruned right to the ground, just a couple of inches high. They will fruit on this year's new growth. 

Deciduous trees and shrubs - take out crisscrossed branches, broken or damaged ones, prune for shape, and to keep them from taking over pathways. Prune just above a bud, cutting at an angle so that rain runs off of the branch and away from the bud to prevent rot setting in.    

What seeds do I start this month? 

Nothing, truth be told. I start in February, when the days are a bit longer for faster, better results. 

I keep the greenhouse at about 5°C (40°F) in winter to keep down costs, as it it super pricey to heat. If I were to start seeds now, they would need the air to be warmer and brighter in a couple of weeks time in order to thrive when they get off the bottom heat. That means hiking the heat in the greenhouse to between 8°-10°C, which would make my heating costs skyrocket. 

But... if I wait till February to start things, it is March, or close to, by the time I need to hike the heat up a bit. Days are longer, brighter, and usually a bit warmer by then, so is less pricey to hike the heat at that time. Does that make sense? I prefer to work with mother nature and not pay extra for heating or lighting.  

Now, if starting seeds now brings you great joy, by all means, sow some seeds : ) 

You need bottom heat for good germination, followed by air temps between 10 and 15 when you take them off so that you do not get lanky seedlings. You also need light, lots of bright light. A window sill will not suffice, invest in some additional lighting for nice, sturdy seedlings. 

You also need to make sure you are starting the right seeds. Some things germinate and grow really quickly, are not worth sowing until closer to our last frost date. If in doubt, look at the back of the seed package to see how many weeks prior to last frost you should be starting. Here in the Nanaimo area, I use the April 28th date for last frost. 

Here are some ideas of what you can sow now... 

Artichokes

Peppers

Poppies

Leeks and onions

Lettuce and greens, if you have a covered bed to transfer them over to once they germinate. 

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Seed geraniums

Delphiniums

Petunias

Larkspur

Pansies and violas

Foxgloves

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Herbs - like parsley, chives, coriander, mint, sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender. 

  

Feed the birds! They are having a really hard time finding food right now with all this snow cover. Find the recipe for my bird seed wreaths here. 

Coneflowers can be started from seed now, too. 

Artichokes can be started in January or February. 

Oh, how I long for summer! 

Stay well, stay healthy, hibernate a little longer ; ) 

See you soon ~ Tanja