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Joyce Russell

Under cover

A new year and a new start. Your greenhouse may be empty, or your polytunnel full of rows of cabbages that you’ll never manage to eat, but there’s always plenty of possibilities for the year ahead. Use the month wisely and January can be the turning point for a successful year of under cover growing

Top jobs undercover:

• Plan the year ahead
• Sort seeds
• Improve soil fertility
• Let the soil breathe
• Check doors and windows
• Wash pots

Plant and sow:
• Peas
• Broad beans
• Aubergines
• Beetroot
• Lettuce
• Mizuna
• Early carrots

Bring in the harvest:
• Spinach
• Chard
• Oriental leaves
• Kohl rabi
• Fennel
• Salad leaves
• Turnip


Planning the year

Sit down and draw up a plan now showing what you will grow, and where you will grow it, in your space under cover. Always rotate crops if possible so tomatoes aren’t sitting in the same bed year after year. Rotation is one of the simplest methods of reducing disease problems. Space is valuable. Decide which crops you really value most and make space for them.
Don’t bother with the things nobody likes and grow fewer plants of the crops that you were giving away last year, to all and sundry (or burying in the middle of the compost heap). Plan for the whole year and bear in mind that winter crops can always be started in large pots outdoors until the summer crops clear

Sorting seed

Get out the pile of old seed packets from the biscuit tin. Check through and look what seeds are still viable and which should have been thrown out at the end of the year. Some seed is fine for several years, others are only viable for the one season eg. parsnips. Write on the outside of packets how much seed remains and when it should be sown by (this saves hunting for the tiny print on the back).

Then compile the list of what you still need to buy. Organise those little packets of seed now to get you up to speed for the year ahead. I use pieces of card to separate packets by the months of the year. There are lots of packs in the February, March and April sections and fewer in January, but there are always some seeds that can be sown. If there are no packets in the sections from July onwards, then get out the catalogues again and think about what you need for autumn and winter sowings. Buying now means you don’t have to think about it later on when supplies are more limited.

For more advice, see this month's issue, available to buy online!