Your vegetable garden in December 2011 and January 2012

Chickweed


A traditional rhubarb or
seakale forcing pot


Chicory augusta


Potatoes chitting

Things to do in the vegetable garden

• Watch out for chickweed, which can grow, flower and ripen seed all year round. It is not a weed to be ignored can soon overwhelm winter salads and other plants, particularly on rich soils. Hoe off seedlings, but pull up anything larger as the plants can root again in wet weather.
• You can start forcing rhubarb, seakale and chicory in January.
  Rhubarb is forced by placing an up-turned bucket/pot over the plant to exclude light. The warmer the environment the quicker it will grow; you can place manure or straw over the top to encourage growth of the pale, sweet shoots. Seakale is forced the same way, only there is no need for extra warmth.
• Chicory is treated differently. Dig up well grown chicory roots from the ground, pot up, and then cover with an upturned pot. Keep in a dark, warm place (10-14°C / 50-57°F). The sweet chicons (forced pale shoots) will be ready for late winter salads in about 4-6 weeks. Witloof is the traditional forcing chicory to produce white chicons, but other varieties can also be used, producing smaller and less regular chicons. If the compost is kept moist the roots may produce several more chicons after the first one has been snapped off to eat.
• Sow onions in January, as onions from seed need a long growing season. Raise in modules on a warm windowsill for planting out in March.
• Lift celery as required in December. Any plants left in the ground can be covered with a thick layer of straw to protect them from winter frost.
• Stake and earth up Brussels sprout plants that are at risk of blowing over in harsh weather. Loose soil around the roots leads to Brussels sprouts not hearting up properly.
• When you’ve got your seed potatoes, set them in a light, cool, frost-free spot and leave them to sprout. This is known as chitting. Egg boxes make good chitting trays so start saving them now. Make sure you put the tubers with the 'eye' end - where the sprouts will grow from - upwards.

• 
  Start collecting plastic bottles
  for cloches in the spring
  Get organised for the spring and start collecting plastic bottles for cloches. The sawn-off plastic bottles will protect individual young plants from slug damage. Be sure not to trap a slug inside.
• An extra compost box never goes amiss, particularly on an allotment or large garden. Dot them around so there is always one close by. If you don’t already have one or need more, now is a good time to build a new one. Use wood from old pallets to cut costs.

• Dig a compost trench to deal with Brussels sprout, kale and other tough brassica stems once cropping has finished. The trench should be about a spades depth, preferably where runner beans, or other peas and beans will grow next year. Lay brassica stems along the bottom of the trench, then chop them up a bit with a sharp spade. Other veg scraps can also be added. Replace soil dug out of the trench. Buried in a trench, any pests such as whitefly and aphids are out of harms way.
• 
  Allotments - If you need more space for growing vegetables, now is a good time to find an allotment. Lists of allotment sites should be available from a local library or the council – and an increasing number now have a web site.
• If you are planning your veg plot for next season  don’t forget to use a crop rotation. View our factsheet on crop rotation for more information.
Find out more about Garden Organic membership
• Before buying new seed, check through seed packets left over from last year to see what you can use to sow next season. Apart from parsnips, most seed will keep for at least a year; it will last a lot longer if the seed has been kept in a cool, dry spot.
• If you are unsure about a batch of seed, sprinkle a few on a piece of damp kitchen paper and see how well they germinate. 

• Mulch bare beds with last year’s leafmould. If you’ve only got leaves from this season they can be used as a mulch. Rake them back before sowing next year.
• Plant onion sets and garlic if the weather is still mild enough.
• Check stored crops regularly. Remove immediately anything showing signs of decay, to prevent rots from spreading. Some varieties of potato will begin to sprout sooner than others – so if one variety shows signs of sprouting, eat it up quickly.

Why not start a 'Hot Bed'?

Manure based hot beds were very popular in Victorian times. A hot bed provides bottom heat, using manure rather than electricity as the heat source, thus speeding up plant growth of seedlings and tender plants. Once set up, they can be used to grow salad crops on in winter, as a natural heat source to give a head-start on seed sowing in the spring (by up to a month), and for growing melons and any of the Cucurbitaceae family in the summer.
A hot bed consists of two main layers:

• The heat source: Fresh strawy manure, in a layer 60-90cm deep (after compaction). As the manure breaks down, it generates heat. Tread it down well to compact it, ensuring a more even release of heat.
• The growing medium: A mixture of topsoil and garden compost (ratio of 1:1) - this is placed on top of the manure in a layer 20cm-30cm thick.

The modern equivalent uses electric soil warming cables. Our activity sheet Building a heated propagator gives step-by-step instructions on constructing a heated bed.

Sowing and Planting

Keep on sowing

• 
  Garlic drying
  
  
  Greenhouse tomatoes

• Garlic

  The variety ‘Flavour’ can be planted from now until March.  It is available from The Organic Gardening Catalogue

Sowing indoors

• If you have suitable space, make some early sowings in trays in January. Try lettuce, summer cabbage and cauliflowers, plus round varieties of carrots, spinach, salad onions and turnips. Germination temperatures of around 13 °C are adequate so a windowsill is fine to get these seeds going.  You will need a bright, cool location to keep them safe until they can be planted out under cloches or in cold frames in February.
• Sow Greenhouse tomatoes, for growing on in a heated greenhouse, as early as January. Tomato cultivars are available specifically for growing under cover, for example, Shirley F1 (medium size) and F1 Aromata (large).
• Heated propagator - If you are wondering what to buy a keen gardener for Christmas, or need ideas for spending your Christmas money, then a heated propagator could be just the answer. A little ‘bottom’ heat is just what is needed to give seeds a start, and help avoid damping off and other seedling diseases. A range of lidded propagators is available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. An alternative is a horticultural electric blanket, which you can roll out when required. Or make your own heated bed with soil warming cables.

What you could be eating now

• 
  Red Choi
  Fresh from the ground or from 'natural' storage
  
  

  Artichoke, Jerusalem Beetroot Brussels sprouts Cabbage - winter Carrots Celeriac Celery Chard Chicory Claytonia/ Winter purslane Corn salad/ Lambs lettuce Garlic Endive Kale Kohl rabi

  Leek Lettuce Onions Oriental greens, such as Mizuna Parsley Parsnip Potatoes Pumpkin Rocket Salsify Spinach Sprouting broccoli Turnip - main crop Swede

Pest and disease watch

• The best treatment for any remaining bare soil at this time of year is a mulch of autumn leaves or straw. However, if your leeks, onions or other alliums were attacked by leek moth or allium leaf miner it is advisable to dig over those plots so the birds can feed on any overwintering pests in the soil.

• Do not add any plant material infected with soil borne diseases to your compost heap when doing the final clean up. This will put a stop to the spread of disease through your compost the following year. If you are not sure which diseases are soil borne, Garden Organic members can contact the advisory service via the Members' Area.
• Keep an eye on vegetables in store. Regularly inspect and remove any diseased or damaged individuals before problems can spread. Use mouse controls if the little devils are a problem.

• 
  Whitefly on brassica
  underleaf
• Keep an eye out for whitefly and aphids on Brussels sprouts and other winter brassicas.
  See our Organic factsheets Cabbage Whitefly and Cabbage Aphids for more information on prevention and control of these pests.
• Ensure brassicas and any other vulnerable crops are protected from pigeons by using fleece. Build a frame over the crop and line it with fleece to keep them off.

back to - What to do in your garden now

Bookmark this page on:

StumbleUpon | Delicious | Reddit | Digg | Facebook

Top of page | Home | Privacy | Contact | Advertise | Support us

All content © Garden Organic  |  Registered Charity No 298104

Garden Organic is the working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA).
We are not responsible for the content of external web sites.

Supported by