Horticultural year is not limited only to spring and summer months. In January, you can start planting seedlings. This contributes to the fact that flowering in such plants occurs earlier than in the same culture, only sown later in the ground. Accordingly, the harvest will ripen more quickly. But not everything can be planted this month. Seeds of which plants should be planted in January, we will tell in this article.
What flowers do you plant for seedlings in January?
During this period, those flowers are planted, which have a very long growing season. Most often these are annual flowers, but there are also perennials. These include:
- Clove Shabo;
- lobelia;
- eustoma ;
- kobei;
- cyclamen;
- the Turkish carnation;
- primrose primrose;
- pansies;
- petunia;
- fuchsia;
- begonia, evergreen (tuberous);
- rhododendron.
These flowers, provided they are planted on seedlings in January, will bloom in May-June.
If you want to get bulbous flowers (crocuses, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths) by March 8, they should also be planted this month.
What vegetables are planted in January?
Vegetables that appeared before their usual time, are valued very well, so gardeners try to do everything to make the crop mature as early as possible. Including planting seedlings in winter. This applies to the following vegetable crops:
- onions - at this time it is recommended to plant such varieties as black and leek, by the end of the season it will be possible to collect large bulbs, and from the beginning of spring you will be provided with fresh herbs;
- parsley and dill;
- celery;
- pepper (if grown later in a greenhouse, it is necessary to choose early maturing varieties);
- tomatoes ;
- eggplant;
- cabbage - white and colored.
All these plants have a long vegetative period, so they can start growing earlier than others. In doing so, it will help provide you with fresh vegetables from the spring, which means that your food will be more saturated with vitamins.
Also in January, you can start growing strawberries from seeds or repair strawberries. It is best to use peat tablets. They plant their seedlings in the open ground in June, when there is no chance of frosts at night. The first berries on such bushes appear already in the first year.
Possible difficulties in landing in January
January is not a "classical" month of horticultural works, so those wishing to start them in such an early period will face the following difficulties:
- lack of sunlight throughout the day;
- sudden temperature fluctuations in the room, where boxes with plantings are located;
- increased activity of fungal diseases in the soil (for example: black rot).
This can all be corrected by carefully monitoring the air temperature and carrying out the calcination of the soil before planting. As for the lighting, since at that time the light gets less seedlings, when planted in the spring months, then in order for the shoots to not stretch, they need to organize daily illumination with LED lamps or daylight.
Whatever you plant in January, just before you sow the seeds, you should check them for germination and handle the growth stimulating drug. This will ensure the maximum amount of seedling obtained.
It is very important not only to choose the right plants, which should be planted in seedlings in January, but also provide them with the necessary conditions. They are no different from growing at another time.
Growing seedlings in January is a laborious and troublesome process, but at the same time it allows you to save on seedlings in the spring and earlier to realize the desire of inveterate vegetable growers-flower growers to plant something.