Get your garden into shape now. Yes, it’s a fabulous new year with so much to look forward to, especially in your garden.

To get your health on track for the year, Life is a Garden tells you what veggies you can sow now. January is always a good time to plant up areas with colourful seedling annuals – read more to get some ideas.  Strange at it may sound, you’ll also need to be giving your roses a gentle prune to keep them flowering longer in the season.

Sow

What better way to get your garden and health back on track and into shape then by sowing delicious leafy greens for those summer day salads. The following greens can be sown now:

• Lettuce will always be a firm favourite.
• Rocket is a trendy addition to salads and many other hot meals too. Its peppery taste is delicious and mild in the young leaves.
• The baby leaves of both Spinach and Swiss Chard are increasingly being used in salads.
• Baby beetroot leaves are a chic new addition to contemporary salads and cooking. They are just as yummy as they look on the plate.
• Kale is a prized ingredient in many healthy smoothie recipes.

Leafy greens are very easy to grow and will reward you best if you pick the leaves regularly and pinch out flower buds later in the season. Be on the lookout for cutworm, snail & slug damage to plants. Aphids love the hot summer months as much as we do. While you are shopping for “table greens” grab a few “tiny leafy greens” like Mint, Basil and Parsley plants to complement the other leafy greens.

Did you know that Basil and Tomatoes are great companion plants? This means that when planted next to one another, they both improve each other’s flavour. We also know that they are great companions in food too.

Plant

The “heat is on” so what better way to brighten up the garden and get it into shape than by planting these sun-worshippers. Some great choices to beat the heat will be:

• Salvias will flower throughout the summer and autumn months. Their upward-pointing sword-like flowers range from fire engine red for an eye-catching display, through to purple and deep blue to a powdery blue and more. They are waterwise and easy to grow in pots too.
• With their botox-looking pouty lips, from which the Snapdragons get their name, Snapdragons have become fashionable again. Striking colours and multiple blooms that seemingly stand to attention are simply charming. Dwarf varieties are great as pot or hanging basket fillers too. Keep moist while young. Snaps can reward you by continuing to flower into winter.
• Petunias are one of those plants that you may pass over in the nursery since they are sometimes sold with only a flower or two on the seeding plants. However, without special treatment and not too much water, they will flower more and more as they grow and put on a spectacular show of colour when mature. Tip: Petunias love the mild winter months too and will carry on growing in winter.

Pruning & Rose Care

A light summer pruning is recommended for roses in January. We know that it feels difficult to prune a plant that may still be flowering but it will help to extend quality flowering into winter. Cut back stems by up to one-third of their length.

Continue using a cocktail rose spray i.e. a combination of a fungicide and insecticide every two weeks to avoid leaf drop. Fertilise monthly and add mulch or top up the existing mulch. Now all that is left to do is to continue good, deep watering … and you will be so happy with your “blooming success” over the coming months.

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