With the weather being so ghastly at the moment, nothing is so urgent that it can’t wait until March, but if you do have itchy feet then there are a few things you can do.
1. Make a start pruning your roses but don’t get too hung up about the technicalities, it often doesn’t make too much difference to the number of flowers you get. With bush roses, reduce them down by about a third, just above an outward facing bud, cutting out any dead bits or crossing stems.
Whilst you’ve got your secateurs out, don’t be tempted to get too trigger happy. If you can’t remember what a plant is, it’s probably best not to cut it back as you might be cutting off this year’s flowers. As a general rule if a shrub flowers before the end of June cut it back after it has flowered (such as forsythia, lilac, mahonia, viburnum bodnantense etc.) but if it flowers after the end of June cut it back in the autumn (such as spireas, potentillas and hypericums).
2. Tidy up any dead herbaceous perennials, if not already done so, and dig-in any well rotted garden compost that you made last year.
3. It’s also the ideal time to prune your wisterias to give you maximum flowers in the spring. You can be quite harsh, cutting those whippy stems right back to two buds away from the main stem and cut away any dead wood.
4. As it is quiet in the garden right now, take the opportunity to give your greenhouse a thorough good clean (if it is empty). Scrub the frame and glass to get rid of any fungal spores or any over-wintering pests and clean and disinfect any seed trays and pots to give your seedlings a clean and healthy start.
5. If you have been storing bulbs or any other types of tubers, now’s a good time to check them over to ensure that no rots have set in.
6. Remember to get your gardening equipment serviced early. Take it out of the shed now to make sure it all still works. Don’t’ wait until March or April to take your mower in for a service; we know from experience that if you leave it too late to take your mower in, you might have to wait weeks to get it back, just at the time when you need it the most. Everyone else leaves it to the last minute.
7. Get ahead of yourself now by digging over any bare soil and breaking-up any clods to give you a fine crumbly seed bed in preparation for sowing. It’s still too early to sow most things outside but you could have a go at planting a few radishes, leeks or parsnips if you are really keen. Inside, you can start sowing a few tomatoes on your window sills to get an early start.
8. One last thing I would recommend to do this month is to try to find a snowdrop walk and enjoy them before they go over. It will really lift your spirits and get you in the mood for gardening when it does warm up. Anglesey Abbey, near Cambridge, has a great winter walk that goes on until the last week in February.