Jobs for January include occasional weeding, and keeping your food plants tidy while harvesting, as with the Brussels below. I am picking a few every two or three days and they are wonderfully productive, Brilliant F1 from Premier Seeds Direct.

These seeds are in my May pack since I sow them 10th to 15th May. Plus you can buy my most recommended vegetables in individual packets from their website.

Chit means sprout, it’s what potatoes do at this time. For seed potatoes it's better in daylight, compared to a sack where the shoots grow long, thin and fragile.

For seed potato we want them short and strong so keeping them in light like this is a guarantee of that result, while the potatoes go green or even black themselves which is fine.

Often it’s said that in case of virus, you should not use your own harvest for growing potatoes the following year. I've never found this to be an issue and generally I reckon you get better value and stronger growth from home saved seed potato. If ever your potatoes grow in a stunted way with some bright yellow leaves, that is virus: I would eat the good ones, compost the rest and not use them for next year’s planting

We're spoiling you this winter and spring with a new video every week, from seed to harvest. That's also the name of my third online course.

They give you an idea of what to expect at harvest time, and how to achieve that.

If you have green vegetables and herbs which you anticipate picking in the spring, now is a good time to cover them. It works best if the cover sits right on top, to hold warmth and be less likely to blow away. The cover below is based on plant matter which is beautifully soft and light.

The coriander was sown direct in early September. It has stood three frosts of -8°C and I'm loving having these green leaves in January, outside. This cover is more expensive than plastic ones, but for these results I feel it is very worthwhile.

It's wonderful what you can plan, then not so easy to manifest! However, plan high and enjoy the excitement. I sell a garden planner which has been helping many and there was this comment to it on a YouTube video:

“I’m really pleased I’ve discovered your garden planner. I’m currently on day 4 of your 7 day free trial and I’m really enjoying working with it. My (quite complicated) allotment layout is already drawn out in the planner, most of my perennial plants are in my plan too and I’m now starting my planning for next growing season. I’m actually that happy with the planner, that I will be showing it in my latest allotment vlog I’m currently preparing.And I’m totally going to subscribe for a paid version

It’s a great and very intuitive and user friendly tool for every gardener.”

You can use compost or even old woodchip as a mulch, or surface cover to protect ground below from frost. The levels of cold we have here are not too severe and I find that globe artichokes (see new video), plus dahlias with their tubers, can survive winter in this way. It's easier than digging up roots and tubers, which ironically often exposes them to frost damage.

All plantings in my garden have their roots in soil whose fertility is maintained with a 2 to 3 cm compost mulch. That includes beds growing what are sometimes are called “light feeding vegetables” such as carrots.

And for the broccoli above, already we have spread compost underneath those plants so the bed is quickly made ready for next year’s plants.

Strong growth happens when you sow just before full moon, and that's what we did with the celeriac above. Also with broad beans in the photo below, sown on 1st and 3rd November, before the full moon of 5th November.

Looking ahead, it's full moon Sunday 18th January and there is nothing to sow at the moment - which is fine. Then after full moon on 1st February, there is a good waxing energy and I plan to multisow spring onions and turnips. They are hardy for planting early.

Everything else can wait! There is a lovely saying that spring sowings catch up, see my Calendar of Sowing Dates 2026.

I like anticipating a few events at this time of year. Next Saturday I am giving a day course in No Dig at West Dean College, near Chichester and it has sold out. On 17th February I'm in London for the garden press event and enjoy catching up with some of you there. The first courses at Homeacres are in May and that's also when I'm spending a few days in Sweden, giving workshops.