First, I would like to wish you all a Very Happy, Healthy and Productive New Growing Year!
Why not make 2025 the year when you discover the joys of saving your own seed? It isn’t complicated to do and can give you some very useful food security. Think about it when you’re doing your seed orders, and perhaps try one or two open-pollinated, non-F1 hybrid varieties of your favourite vegetables this year, which you can save seed from later. Home-saved organically grown seeds are always fresher and retain their vigour far longer than any sold in packets, often germinating well for years! They are adapted to growing well in your environment, and best of all – they’re free!
I believe that sowing seeds is sowing hope – and that’s something we all really need right now. Whatever seeds we sow – whether it’s fast-growing healthy salad vegetables in case there are shortages in shops in a few weeks’ time, or flowers for bees and other beneficial insects, I know from experience that it can help make us feel so much more positive and hopeful whatever our problems – that has scientifically proven benefits for our mental health too.
It’s amazing how even just the smallest amount of increasing light makes us gardeners want to ‘earth’ ourselves by getting ‘plugged into the soil’ again! In early January, it’s barely a few days since the winter solstice but already there is a noticeable stretch on brighter days. It may be my imagination, but the birds seem to be singing just a bit more loudly and the plants in the polytunnel also seem just a little bit perkier! Or is it wishful thinking?
Very soon the mad spring rush of sowing and planting will be upon us again. For now, though – things move at a more leisurely pace – but there are still some plants you can sow, and other things do this month in preparation for the early spring sowing marathon. But if your gardening fingers are itching to get back into compost like mine are, and if you want to get ahead just a little bit, it’s surprising how many vegetables there are which can be sown now.
I always like to sow a few parsnips and some Early Nantes carrots in loo roll middles in January, so I have been saving loo roll middles for a few weeks. Most root vegetables don’t need much warmth and will not need light until they have germinated. I tend to keep them in the house in a cool spot, where I can keep an eye on them until they start to appear, when they will need good light, so then I put them out into the polytunnel on the propagating bench, where they’ll be quite happy without any heat unless we get a heavy frost – in which case they’ll be covered with fleece to protect them and given a little bottom warmth on a propagating mat, set at around 50degF/8-10degC. It doesn’t pay to push seedlings with too much warmth at the beginning, or they will be much more prone to ‘damping off’ diseases
General advice for seed sowing:
There are quite a few things you could sow now or towards the end of January in pots or modules for planting out later in a tunnel, greenhouse or sheltered cold frame. You won’t gain a huge amount in terms of growth by sowing too soon, but what you will gain is a bit of time, by getting some hardier veg like early parsnips and carrots sown while you are not under as much pressure as you may be in another month. Seedlings won’t be above the surface for another week or so, even in a cool room in the house, and another couple of weeks the light will be increasing, so they will be sturdier, will get a better start and you’ll use less energy.
Most seeds will germinate at normal comfortable house temperature, or even cooler – and as things take a week or so to appear anyway – you can sow some things inside the house and then put them out into good light in a greenhouse or frame as soon as the seedlings start to germinate. Seedlings like lettuce, spinach and hardier salad plants like mustards will be fine then, with just some protection from frost with a couple of layers of fleece. Light primarily governs their development – so you can save money and energy by not wasting any heat needed for another couple of weeks yet – no matter how keen you are. Don’t forget you can also do your seed sowing inside in comfort on the kitchen table – there’s really no need to go outside in the freezing cold unless you’re a masochist!
In my over 40 years’ experience, I’ve found that using a good organic peat-free seed compost is by far the best and most reliable choice for sowing everything – not just from a plant health point of view, but also for obvious environmental reasons. Any extra expense is well worth it in terms of valuable seeds and seedlings not lost. After sowing – put your seed trays or modules somewhere in your house at average room temperature – and most seedlings will be up within a few days or a week. I find seeds like lettuce take about 3 days at normal cool room temperature – they don’t need a lot of warmth.
Make sure to put them somewhere where you will remember to check on them at least twice a day, as seedlings like lettuce can become leggy very quickly if not given good light immediately after they have germinated. Once they have appeared, probably in a week or so for most things at this time of year, they will then need the very best light you can give them – which means either a tunnel, greenhouse or perhaps a cold frame against a south facing wall. They also need very good air circulation – so sowing in modules either individually or in 2’s or 3’s to thin later is the best option – as this avoids handling vulnerable seedlings while ‘pricking out’, which may result in damage and possible ‘damping-off’.
It’s far too wet, windy, and cold for tiny seedlings to be outside completely unprotected at this time of year, but if sheltered from the weather most are fine if no frost is forecast. If it is – then bring them into the house again on very frosty nights and put them out again first thing in the morning. This may seem a bit of a faff but it’s well worth it. Sowing too early on windowsills often means unhealthy, leggy and drawn spindly seedlings due to lack of light. If you don’t have a greenhouse, polytunnel or frame outside, I would wait another couple of weeks yet – even if like me you can’t wait to get started! Although some more tender heat lovers like tomatoes etc would need a warm propagator, I don’t waste heat by sowing tomatoes in a propagator yet, because even those sown in another month will catch up and probably be much healthier than any sown now! Having said that though – I may just chance an experimental sowing of a few Maskotka bush tomatoes indoors in the next week or so, as it’s always my earliest, most good-natured, and hardiest tomato. Luckily, it’s also one of the tastiest – and I’d love to see if I can get it to ripen even earlier than the first week in June, when it’s always reliably ripe!
Remember – the suggestions below are for things which you COULD sow now if you want to – NOT things you MUST!
For tunnel planting later: – in a temperature of around 50 deg.F/10 deg.C, you could sow now:
Early carrots in long modules like loo roll middles as in the pictures above. Sit the modules onto about 1/2-inch/1cm compost in something deep like a recycled plastic mushroom box to keep them upright and damp, (approx. 32 loo roll tubes will fit into a mushroom box). Fill them, and any gaps between them with seed compost. Then make a small depression about 1/2cm deep with the end of a pencil or similar, and sow a tiny pinch of seed into each, covering with vermiculite, then water them gently.
Make sure the cardboard rolls don’t stick up out of the compost too much or they will act like wicks – drawing out moisture and possibly drying out – which means they could then shrivel and kill tiny roots. These will be ready for planting out in the tunnel in clumps probably towards the end of next month when they have 2 ‘true’ leaves – each loo roll or clump spaced about 30 cm apart.
In modules or pots you could also sow:
Early broccoli (I grow ‘Green Magic’ a productive early variety), ‘Red Ruble’, ‘Ragged Jack’ & ‘Cavolo Nero’ kales for baby leaves, spring onions, lettuces, broad beans, early and mangetout or sugar peas, green and red ‘frills’ mustards, mizuna, oriental mixed greens, beetroot, Swiss chards, salad leaves, radishes, and rocket. I will also be sowing celery Tall Green Utah, as celery germinates very slowly – taking about 3 weeks to appear, and also grows very slowly at first – so they will not need pricking out for several weeks after germinating. I’m experimenting this year to see how early I can get a good polytunnel crop of this indispensable vegetable as I use it in virtually all salads, stews and pasta dishes.
At the end of the month, you could sow cordon or beefsteak tomatoes if you want an extra early crop – but bear in mind that they will not just need potting on at least once but will also need keeping gently warm for several weeks before they are eventually planted out in early to mid May.They must also be in very good light – or they will become drawn and ‘leggy’ – and therefore more vulnerable to disease. (*tip – a well-known correspondent with the Irish Times told me that he raises his early tomatoes in the warm under a Velux window in his office in his house which provides excellent top light – a genius tip – I so wish I had one!) I always grow the bush variety ‘Maskotka’ (tasty bush cherry type) which is always my earliest ripening tomato. Sown in mid-late February Maskotka first ripe fruits are reliably ready to pick on 1st June without fail. The variety ‘John Baer’ (delicious, very early, large fruited) – is also an excellent variety for sowing at the end of this month. You could also sow early aubergines – ‘Bonica’ F1 is without question the best variety ever for home gardeners to grow from seed – I’ve grown it for many years now and it is totally reliable. It came out tops in the RHS trials over 15 yrs. ago as being the best for UK and in my experience it’s by the best variety for Irish conditions too. In 2024, Bonica produced an average of a dozen fruits! Remember again, though, that both tomatoes and aubergines need a minimum temp. of about 70deg.F/21degC. for germination, reducing the heat afterwards to approx. 55 deg.F/15 deg.C, or just below, and maintaining that level until final planting out in tunnel beds or in pots eventually. You can achieve this bottom warmth quite economically with a roll-out heated mat.
For bees & beneficial insects – you could sow some single-flowered, nectar producing, hardy annuals in modules now. Flowers such as limnanthes (poached egg flower), calendulas etc. will come into flower early this way and then they’ll attract early hoverflies and ladybirds which will help to control aphids. Early flowers also attract overwintering bumblebee queens and early honeybees which help to pollinate early polytunnel crops like broad beans. Keep beneficial insects supplied with nectar and pollen then they’ll be happy and stay with you all year. If there’s no flowers for them to feed on – then they’ll go somewhere else! An ecologically balanced organic garden is not just about growing food for us!
For planting in the polytunnel or outside later:
You could sow alpine strawberries. ‘Reugen’ is a very productive, large-fruited variety which fruits from April to November. and will produce fruits from August and throughout the autumn if sown early enough. Also, bulb onions, shallots, very early leeks, early spring/summer & non-hearting leafy type cabbages (collards), summer cauliflowers and autumn red cabbages.
I now grow all my main-crop onions from seed sown in modules in early March – this avoids the possibility of importing onion white rot, which can be introduced on onion sets. The varieties I like are ‘Red Baron’ and ‘Golden Bear’ – which is supposed to have some resistance to onion white rot. Onion white rot is also encouraged by low soil temperatures and wet weather – so sowing seeds in modules means they’re warmer, have better growing conditions and can then be planted out to make a nice even bed or row with no gaps. Sowing direct in the open ground can waste a lot of expensive seed and small seedlings are far more vulnerable to attacks by slugs, and losses due to poor weather etc.
Make sure that any seedlings germinated indoors or in a propagator are protected with fleece on cold nights after putting out into the tunnel -and if very cold weather is forecast also make sure to protect heated propagators with extra bubble wrap or fleece over the top at nights to preserve heat and save energy. I save every scrap of Christmas bubble wrap for this and for tucking into odd small corners in the propagator to save heat loss! Also make sure that the compost is never too wet – if you think it may be, then draw some of it out by standing the modules on kitchen paper and newspaper for a while. Over-watering seedlings at this time of year will kill them faster than anything else!
An alternative way to provide early warmth for anyone aiming for micro self-sufficiency!
If you have enough room, you could use my trick of rearing some day-old chicks under an infra-red heat lamp beneath the greenhouse or polytunnel staging!This is something I used to do every year when rearing organic broiler chickens and laying hens commercially! Chicks for egg or meat production need about 6 weeks of warmth, with it gradually decreasing until they have enough feathers to go outside on free range, so that they are weather-proof! The small amount of residual rising heat keeps the greenhouse bench just warm enough to keep out frost if arranged properly – which means you don’t need a heated propagator. Killing two birds with one stone in a manner of speaking – or rather not killing – but raising them!!
Don’t try this unless you’re already fairly experienced with poultry though, because you can lose small chicks very quickly if they get either too hot or too cold. You also need to keep rats away – they’re as bad as foxes! I find that if I get day-old chicks in mid-March – then they will reliably start to lay at the beginning of August, and will then lay continuously throughout the following winter without needing any additional light. I used to rear hundreds of chicks for laying, as well as broiler chickens for eating, this way when I was a commercial organic poultry producer, and it works very well.
There’s still plenty of time to plant garlic cloves outside for a crop of big bulbs this year
Most autumn planting varieties need cold weather for good root development – so, in my experience at this time of year, it is best to plant those varieties suitable for spring planting – as the seasons can be so unreliable now. We may get an extra mild spell in Jan. which would stop the autumn/winter planting varieties from developing their roots properly.
If the ground is too wet and sticky – you can plant them in small pots or modules of peat-free potting compost and plant them out in a few weeks’ time. The only garlic I’ve ever grown successfully from a spring planting is ‘Christo’ – which I’ve always found very reliable. Choose firm, plump and healthy outside cloves from last year’s crop, or buy certified virus-free ones from garden centres.
Do NOT plant cloves from supermarket-bought garlic bulbs – even organic ones! These will most likely be unsuitable for our climate and can bring in serious diseases like onion white rot. This can survive in the soil for up to 20 years and it can also be spread around the garden on your boots!
For the same reason I never use onion or shallot sets in the garden. If you want some extra early onions – then grow some sets in pots or containers – starting them off under cover in their containers and then putting them outside later. This way they’ll be even earlier than they would be if grown in the ground, because their roots are much warmer – and if you’re unlucky enough to bring in any diseases with them – you can just throw the compost away into the food/green waste recycling bin rather than spreading it round the garden – which you otherwise would if you put the used compost onto your compost heap!
Remember – organic growing is all about understanding your plant’s needs and providing the very best growing conditions for them, to minimise the risk of pest or disease attack as far as possible. This is the same whether they are vegetables or ornamental plants.
On the kitchen windowsill you can sprout seeds, and sow ‘micro-green’ salads:
Things like mustard and cress, radish, broccoli, kale etc. are easy to grow in jars or trays. Sprouting seeds are highly nutritious and can be a valuable addition to winter salads – young seedlings are naturally higher in health-promoting phytonutrients than older plants. Broccoli and other brassica sprouts are particularly rich in these. Make sure you rinse them well and very regularly though if they’re in jars – at least 2/3 times a day, with filtered water, to avoid bacteria or disease building up. I prefer growing them in trays on kitchen paper or compost, much in the same way that school children grow mustard and cress. They will often need watering twice a day even at this time of year in a warm kitchen, particularly as they get a bit bigger.
As I’ve already said – there really isn’t a great deal to be gained from sowing things too early – there’s also a greater risk of losses from disease etc. It’s far better to wait until the end of the month when the light is a lot better and as a result any seedlings will be far sturdier. Unless you’re in a desperate hurry to get ahead if you are busy, anything sown in another 3 or 4 weeks will catch up and often overtake any seeds sown now.
In the meantime – it’s better to get all our compost and seed sowing kit ready to go, and do some of the other jobs mentioned in the Vegetable Garden and Polytunnel sections of the diary – many of these will save you time later in the spring when you will be busy preparing ground etc. What a lovely thought – I can’t wait!
It’s very important to use organic seeds for doing this – as these will not have been treated with potentially harmful pre-emergence fungicides. All such treatments are completely forbidden under organic standards.