First of all, happy new year and merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and didn’t over indulge in delicious goodies 
Now that 2010 is here, we’re finally at that point of the year when we can start filling up our windowsills with this year’s crops.
New Beginnings
Personally, I’m in the mood for a little change and I hope you are too, new year = new start, right? Rather than my usual tomatoes, fast growing herbs (like mint) and root vegetables, I’ve started off the “growing season” with a few pine seeds. I’m not expecting an instant pine fortress, but in a few years I’m sure this day will pay off. Other than that, I want to try a cross-polinated berry corner. I like strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, surely they’d be delicious together as some sort of super berry. The worst that could come of it is that I have three seperate bushes and a whole load of wasps after my sweet nectar and the best is millions of pounds and the Nobel prize in chemistry (hey, it could happen).
Getting Ready To Start The Season
Other than that, I’ve been slaving away trying to get things ready for March when mostly everything will go outside. Because of the extreme cold in the UK which has lead to heavy snow and hailstones a little earlier than usual, getting the ground warm might take longer than usual because it has been allowed extra time to cool down from the sweltering summer. Rather than investing in expensive plastic sheets from places like B&Q, spreading ordinary plastic bin bags held down with rocks will do plenty to heat the soil up. be sure to cut them open first to maximise the area they can cover and even the biggest gardens will take very few to cover completely.
If you’ve kept any fruits/vegatables behind for the seeds/bulbs, now is a good time to check them and throw out any rotten ones. Speaking of food, birds will have a pretty hard time finding sufficient amounts of food for the next couple of months, so if you have a feeder, be sure to keep it stocked or just throw some nuts and seeds on to a plate or plate shaped rock. You’ll be glad you did it when they’re gobbling up the mice for you later on in the year.
A Few Other Minor Things
Try to avoid feeding your plants with fertiliser often at this point in the year since it’s their dormant period so it will probably just build up in the soil and burn the roots. Once every few weeks (unless you see major problems) should be just fine, especially considering a lot of what you have right now will be seedlings. If you don’t mind the cold, giving your leaves a good wipe down towards the end of the month will clear the stomata – leaf pores – in preparation for the ever brighter days ahead.
Although it may seem a little early, it’s also a good idea to get your fruits in pots right now to give them the best possible start. With tomatoes, I’ve found (and I’m sure a lot of you could collude with this) that if you plant it in a small amount of soil and let it grow, then fill it up again to the bottom of the highest leaves. Once you’ve reached the top you’ll have a very robust plant ready to the outdoors with a great root system. Works with plants like strawberries too, anything that puts out roots from anything that touches the ground will be fine.
I’m really excited for this month and can’t wait to get back in my garden as soon as possible
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