Weather and the Gardener
Daytime temperatures in winter depend greatly on the direction of the wind; the warmth from the limited sunshine is too weak to make much difference. Northerly winds will always bring cold weather because the air has originated in arctic regions. Easterly winds can be even colder because they come from the winter 'pole' of low temperature in northern Siberia; even a souitherly wind which draws in wind from a continental source can be cold in winter and is often associated with some of the heaviest snowfalls.
Westerly winds are typical of the milder winters which are usually very wet with little or no snow except on the highest ground.
The drop in temperature from day to night will not be great in cloudy windy weather, and the hardest frosts will occur if the nigh sky is clear and the wind light.
Trees and Shrubs
Trees, shrubs and climbers which produce colour in the month of January include those with colourful bark, such as cornus (dogwoods); and certain plants which start flowering, such as Chimonanthus praecox (winter sweet), Erica carnea and E. x darleyensis (heaths and heathers) varieties, Garrya elliptica (silk tassel bush), Jasminum nudiflorum (winter jasmine), Lonicera frangrantissima (shrubby honeysuckle) and Viburnam x bodnantese varieties and V. tinus.
Pruning
The start of the new year is a good time to examine existing trees, shrubs ad climbers and to remove from them dead, diseased, damaged or unwated wood. Use sharp secateurs or a pruning saw and ensure the cuts are made cleanly and leave no snags.
Paint large cuts with a proprietary bitumen compound to prevent entry of disease. Discard pruned shoots and branches.
Flowers
Plan new borders and aim for a continuity of flower colour throughout the year. Intersperse flowering plants with those valued for their leaves e.g. veratrum, Salvia argentea macleaya and Stachys lanata.
Dig new sites deeply; ideally by double digging them. Work old manure into the bottom spit and remove any roots you find of perennial weeds such as bindweed, docks, thistles, nettles and couch grass.
Alpines
Remove accumulations of autumn-fallen leaves that have built up round the stems of rock plant, for continual dampness will rot fleshy stems.
Cover felty, wooly-eaved plants with panes of glass or Perspex supported on wires clipped to their edges. This keeps of winter moisture which can rot the foliage.
Bulbs
Spread slug pellets round winter-flowering bulbs such as Cyclamen coum, Iris histrioides and galanthus, where plants are growing in heavy soil populated by slugs.
Set fine string or cotton over patches of Crocus imperati and other winter flowering kinds, to keep birds from tearing the petals.
Look over stored gladiolus corms and reject any which are soft and diseased.
Vegetables
Sow mustard and cress in January. These are useful salad vegetables at any time of year. It is better to grow them separately because the cress takes three or four days longer than the mustard to reach maturity.
Obtain potato seeds as early in January as possible. Set them up in trays with the rose end upwards; this is the one which has the greater number of 'eyes'. Place in warm conditions and full light so that slow sprouting can take place. When the sprouts are well visible, reduce their number to two to improve the size of the earliest tubers.