• Where soil is free draining and the plot very sheltered, broad beans can be direct sown under cloches. Where the soil is heavier and naturally wetter and colder, sow under-cover, but do not give too much warmth or the young plants will quickly become drawn and leggy.
• Early cauliflowers can be sown undercover.
• Plant Jerusalem artichokes into well prepared soil.
• Lift remainder of last year’s parsnips, swede if not already done so.
• Sow a self-blanching celery under cover for an early crop
• Plant more early potatoes in pots in colder districts, in milder areas, the earliest planting can be made outside under cloches.
• Sow early tomatoes if good conditions can be provided to germinated seedlings.
• Keep overwintering onions, garlic and spring cabbage weeded.

Flowers

• If you wish to increase your stock of dahlias, the tubers can now be taken from storage and thoroughly checked over. Any damaged areas should be cut away with a sterile sharp knife. The tubers can then be stood up in large trays reasonably closely and compost then put over, leaving the top of the tuber exposed. Kept warm and humid, young shoots will soon appear, these can then be taken as softwood cuttings, which will soon root in a propagating frame.
• Pinch out sweet peas.
• Sow calendula, cornflower, Californian poppy and other hardy annuals outside in milder districts, or in a cool greenhouse in colder areas.

• Complete planting of new trees, bushes, canes etc.
• This is the last window for pruning autumn fruiting raspberries – all canes that fruited last year should be cut down to ground level. They can then be weeded, given a general purpose fertiliser then mulched.
• Where early fruiting strawberries are grown, some can now be covered with cloches to produce an earlier crop.

• Only the hardiest seeds should be sown in an unheated house. Many seeds will do better by waiting a month to six weeks before sowing. However, seeds of some hardy annuals for cut flowers can be sown.
• Continue venting as in January.