Garden Jobs for January

Here in the Pacific Northwest, January and February are generally the coldest months of the year. For a lot of people, January can feel like it takes forever. I once felt that way but I’m finding that I love it as I get older. I love leaning into the rest period and also planning my year including what I want to accomplish in the garden! This year I will be sharing a post every month with various gardening jobs you can do. I find things like this super helpful, especially in the colder months when I’m not sure what to do. So here are some garden jobs for January!

1. Create Your Seed Starting Plan

One of my favorite things to do in January is to create my plan for starting seeds for the upcoming growing season! I have a really helpful blog post all about how to create your seed starting plan that I posted last year! Use your planning time to think about crop rotation, where everything will go in each of your growing areas, look at your notes from last year on what worked and what didn’t, and decide what varieties to grow more and less of.

2. Order Seeds & Any New Seed Starting Supplies

After you’ve finished your seed starting plan and gone through your seed collection, it’s time to order whatever seeds you’ll need. One of my favorite seed sites is Botanical Interests. It’s not necessary to order your seeds online and at most garden centers they have seeds out at the beginning of January. I got a bunch from our local McLendon’s hardware store last year in January. I also take this time to look at my seed starting supplies and replace anything overworn or broken.

3. Check Your Gardening Tools

My garden tools go back into the garden shed in Fall and sometimes I don’t get a good look at them until I pull them out late Winter when I’m ready to start getting the garden ready. January is the perfect time to get in the shed and look at your tools. Take anything that needs to be sharpened in and replace anything that needs replacing.

4. Tidy Your Growing Areas

We get a lot of rain in January but when it’s not raining, I like to take the time to get some weeding done. Mostly in my growing areas, I save weeding the other areas for warmer temps when I can spend more time outside. So, I just go around to my raised beds and the bed that’s next to our retention wall in the middle of the yard. It doesn’t take long but helps make it easier to maintain going forward!

5. Feed The Birds

Our feathered friends need all the help they can get this time of year. I like to fill my existing feeders and also make some natural bird feeders to put out in the garden. One of my goals for the garden this year is to encourage more wildlife into the garden and I’ll be sharing the different ways I plan on doing that! Feeding the birds is a great way to encourage them to the yard and I love being able to help them during these cold Winter months.

6. Sow microgreens indoors

This time of year I crave freshness when it comes to my food. We just got done with the holidays when all the food is super rich and decadent that when January comes around, all I want is a bunch of veggies. One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to sow microgreens that I can grow in my kitchen window! Last year, I shared a post all about how to grow microgreens on your windowsill so check that out for my tips and tricks! I love adding microgreens to my avocado or mushrooms on toast, to salads, or as a garnish on meat dishes. They are versatile and so good for you!

7. Prune Dormant Fruit Trees, Berry Bushes, and Vines

The trick to keeping your fruit trees and berry bushes productive is pruning while they are dormant. January is the perfect time for this. I am no expert when it comes to pruning but a quick search on YouTube will get you the info you’ll need to prune properly.

Garden Jobs for January