Topical Tips for January

Cover Rhubarb crowns with straw and a forcer to grow early stems. (This cannot be done every year as it weakens the plant.

dig over the veg patch on dry sunny days, and add manure only if not growing root crops.

Ensure that tools are clean, oiled and ready for the next season.

Book machinery in for a service early in the new year.

Keep clearing up fallen leaves from lawns, paths and borders.  They will provide a useful, free mulch if stored in black sacks or large heaps for the next 18 months or so.

Those seed and young plant catalogues have started to drop through the letterbox.  An hour spent with a plant catalogue, a cup of tea, a notebook and a pencil is time well spent.