hiya bucks in Bourne End, Flackwell Heath, Marlow, Wycombe, Wooburn January 2014 | Page 6

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January Gardening

by Stuart McCann of Gardening Angel

The date of writing this article is 9th December
and the weather has been quite pleasant recently,
the forecast is also good for the next week or so.
We have had a couple of windy days over the last
few weeks, but it has really been quite dry which
always makes for more pleasurable working
conditions. Overall, this year has been rather
kind to us in terms of the weather, we had a good
summer (long overdue), and so far we have only
had a few days of waking up to a morning frost.
One of the things I am looking forward
to in early 2014 is starting to see the early
flowering spring bulbs pop their heads out
of the ground. Snowdrops and Crocus’s are
the early rises followed by Daffs, Tulips,
Bluebells and more. There is such a great
selection of colours and varieties, and the
key is to plant your bulbs so you will always

Here are some more jobs for January:
1. Cut back your Wisteria to promote

new growth – prune back all the
sideshoots on your Wisteria down
to a couple of buds, which will
encourage more flowers to form over
summer.
2. Look after your garden tools – keep

secateurs and knives sharp and ready
for action by using a sharpening
stone and a little oil to remove dirt
and sharpen those edges.
3.  rotect your tender plants from
P
the frost by wrapping them up in
a fleece. Plants such as Palms and
Olives need some TLC.
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have a splash of colour
all the way through to
summer. They are cheap
and are guaranteed to
come back year after year. My favourites
are ‘Dwarf’ Tulips and Bluebells, but there is
such a great selection out there, even Daffs
have numerous different varieties.
Now is a good time to improve your soil, as
over the last few months we have had a lot
of rainfall and when this happens you lose a
lot of the nutrients from your soil. I would
go for Organic farmyard manure that has
well rotted down. These bags can be bought
from your local Garden Centre and are
ideal for breaking up the soil and putting
precious nutrients back into your tired
flower beds. Use a large garden fork and
work the manure into your border, making
sure to mix it in correctly with the existing
soil. You will need to be careful though not
to dislodge or dig up your spring bulbs, and
damage your summer perennials which will
be dotted around your beds!
If we have any snowfall in January (the odds
of that happening are pretty high after the
last few years), make sure to brush off the
snow from your conifers or hedges. This will
stop them losing their shape as the weight of
the snow will force them apart.
If you have a late summer-flowering
Clematis this can be pruned in January.
If you wish to keep your Clematis tall
then just shorten all flowered side shoots
to one leaf joint beyond the frame work
of the main stems. Alternatively, if you
want to rejuvenate an old Clematis or just
simply keep it small then the best thing
to do is to prune it hard to about a foot

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