January, ah the holiday season, the time of year when you kick back and enjoy the summer sun, as it's often too hot to toil in anyway, I love the long day light hours and the socialising with good company, particularly after all the rain we had this Christmas. 

Unfortunately I haven't spent much time in my garden this month, as I went camping at Pukehina for the first couple of weeks of January.  .

When I did get back I couldn't believe how much the garden had grown, and spent the first couple of days, trimming, weeding, clearing out, tying up and planting new seedlings and I'm still not finished.

At the moment we have bumper crops of apple and telegraph cucumbers and something I saw on the TV the other day was to cut off just half or a third of a cucumber if that is all you need and the cucumber will grow over the cut and it will continue to grow, so you can always have fresh cucumber, you don't have to remove the whole thing - nifty idea.

Another boomer crop are tomatoes, so I'll be making tomato sauce very shortly to keep us going throughout the year.  You don't have to eat all your tomatoes straight away you can put the tomatoes straight into the freezer for stews, minces, nachos and casseroles over winter.  Just remember to keep removing laterals and tying up tall varieties, and remove the bottom leaves to allow air to circulate.

Some of my onions didn't grow to a great size this year, so instead of wasting them, I have made jars of pickled onions.  I'm not a big fan of pickled onions, I enjoy the odd one, but I know others who love them.  I couldn't get over how easy the recipe was, so if you have some small onions in your garden give this recipe a go, there is very little work involved; Pickled Onions Recipe.

As for the herbs such as sage and capsicums they have now turned into trees despite the lack of attention I have shown them.

January is a big month for reaping the rewards of earlier efforts. 

• Sweetcorn, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, garlic,  onions, new potatoes, peas, beans and lettuces all  come ready for harvest.
• Pick sweetcorn when the tassels have begun to dry.
  Pick cucumbers and courgettes as they come ready (every day) to encourage continuous fruiting.
• Thin carrots. Use the finger sized thinnings in salads.
• Plant more lettuce seedlings as you harvest to keep  the Summer salad supply going.
• As you harvest tomatoes, keep removing laterals and tying up tall varieties.
• Remove bottom leaves to help air circulation.
• Spray tomatoes, potatoes and courgettes with Champ to prevent fungus diseases.
• Sow seeds of beans, beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cress, capsicums. courgette, lettuce, leeks, radish, silverbeet, spring onion and swedes.
• Plant seedlings of cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, leeks, silverbeet and spinach.
• Use Derris Dust to control caterpillars on cabbages and cauliflowers.
• Dead head perennials and flowering annuals as flowers finish.
• Stake tall perennials.
• Sow seeds of ageratum, alyssum, polyanthus, cineraria, cyclamen, forget-me-not, marigold, poppies, sunflowers, primula, stock, sweet pea, pansy, viola and verbena.
• Plant out Summer annuals in the garden and containers: petunia, phlox, cosmos, marigolds, begonias, nasturtium, lobelia, portulaca, godetia, hollyhock, chrysanthemums, snapdragons and verbena. Water well.
• Plan and prepare the garden for spring flowering bulbs. The first of the anemone and ranunculus bulbs become available later this month.
• Water regularly vegetable and ornamental gardens, pots, and houseplants, including cacti.
• WEEDING, weeding, weeding!
• MULCH to conserve moisture and reduce weed growth.
• WEAR A HAT, slap on the sunblock, the new saying is "slip, slop, slap and wrap"
  
  
  
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