the january garden chores

Margaret's garden clogs and trowel THE ANSWER IS NO: No, you probably shouldn’t start all your vegetable seed now, unless it’s for a cool-season crop and you live in a relatively warm zone (my handy calculator tool will confirm when’s the right time). And no, you probably can’t take a soil sample, either, in much of the nation (like here in Zone-5B-recently-turned-6A, though technically the ground may still be unfrozen some years).

But planning for these and other key activities that form the lead-up to another active garden season is what the January chores are all about. Planning—and some dreaming, too, in the pages of the catalogs, but seasoned with lots of patience.

It’s always good to pause on the cusp of the new year, and try to put some words to what will be the focus, or adjustments, in the garden ahead. Are there areas you just must finally get to rehabbing, or were there some weed or pest problems you need to investigate how to prevent a repeat of? Now’s the time.

What caught your attention in 2025?

Maybe the most important adjustments of recent years are around how we manage, and “clean up,” our gardens, and in 2025 results of a two-year study on the impact of leaf removal were published by two Maryland research scientists that really provided hard data about all our blowing and shredding and bagging and just how harmful it is. I’ve read it over carefully in hopes of being even more mindful about how to “leave the leaves,” and where and why, in 2026 and beyond.

Another resolution from a 2025 interview: to focus on choosing keystone plants, the real ecological powerhouses, when there is room in the garden for something new. Uli Lorimer at Native Plant Trust explained why and how to figure out the right keystone plants for your location.

I also look forward to finally learning the variety names of my more than century-old apple trees that have always been anonymous to me, by submitting leaf tissue samples for DNA analysis to a lab at Washington State University. I learned about this fairly recent technological possibility in an interview with Seed Savers Exchange’s orchard manager, who oversees their vast historic collection.

“Dig in.” That was the promise I made to myself one recent New Year, and my garden mandate, too. I’d sworn to finally tackle the long-neglected, oldest parts of the garden, some beds right in front of the house. But the forces of nature (life!) keep distracting me. The following year my motto was “Don’t stop now,” and frankly, I’m still at it, several years in, with progress beginning to show.

Onward! I remember that my garden resolutions for 2020, made with my friend Ken Druse, reflected that spirit, and the need to focus to avoid overwhelm. “One area at a time,” we agreed, which I think is a key mantra for every season, or else.

SOME EARLIER RESOLUTIONS are sort of forever ones: “Be thoughtful, keep weeding,” I’d said one year at this time, with the “thoughtful” part standing for “thoughtful organic gardening,” as in thinking carefully before any action is taken. A year earlier, I’d suggested, “More mulch, no spray,” another way to say: “Be kind!”

Another recent year’s reflections that still feel fresh: As 2023 came into view, I welcomed it with fellow longtime gardener Marc Hamer of the U.K., author of one of my favorite books of recent years, “How to Catch a Mole.” It was one of my favorite garden conversations ever, about everything from what the garden means to us, and how it sometimes frustrates us, and what are out intentions are in the year ahead.

So go ahead: Set an intention for this year’s garden. What’s yours? (In 2020 about 600 readers added their resolves to the comments on the resolutions story–making for good inspiration, I bet, for all of us, if you wish to dig through some of those.)

regional chores links

THE ORGANIC-GARDENING approach and the how-to tips I offer in the chores will apply most anywhere–pruning a rose or sowing a tomato seed is similar, wherever the rose or tomato may grow. But the when is not the same. To help adjust the timing: My garden is in Zone 6A, in the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA) area, where frost can persist well into May and return in October. You may need next month’s chores, or last month’s (the archive is here). For more Zone-specific advice, I’ve rounded up links to calendars and checklists from around the nation (and the U.K.). Again, I encourage you to read on first, because I’m betting there’s something here for you, wherever you may dig, weed, or prune.

TOPIC BY TOPIC, then, here are the month’s chores:

seeds

BUY ORGANIC, THINK REGIONAL: that’s my top seed-shopping rule. I’ve written about why I buy organic seed and focus on regionally appropriate varieties for “The New York Times,” for “Mother Earth News,” and also on this website, and my reasoning is all rounded up on this page.

TREAT YOURSELF to some new catalogs (or their online counterparts), and maybe a new garden notebook or journal, too. I have a list of resources (including a category for seed catalogs only).

READ UP ON the rest of the seed-shopping rules I live by (or watch the video version). The rules are my vegetable-garden mathematics, meant to help you resist buying every last sexy thing you see.

MY SEED SERIES—an ongoing event on the radio show, in podcasts and transcripts especially in winter at catalog time—has featured some standout sellers and breeders, with more to come in 2022. Some of the links so far (or browse the entire archive):

growing from seed: overall how-to’s

growing specific vegetables from seed

q&a’s with organic seed companies, breeders, farmers

INVENTORY LEFTOVER SEEDS, whether by checking my Seed Viability Chart and/or doing germination tests, to see what’s still viable. Viability (the ability to germinate) but also vigor (the ability to thrive after that) are at work in garden success or failure; more on that important topic here. Old seed that can technically sprout but loses steam after that is a frequent cause of failure.

STORE KEEPERS of your leftover seed in a cool, dry place. A friend stashes his in the fridge, first sealing in zipper bags with the air squeezed out, then placing the bags in a sealed plastic box—or refrigerated and with silica gel like expert Joseph Tychonievich does (his tip is far down in this other story).

PLAN NOW TO PREVENT STRETCHED, leggy seedlings later by reading this. (And please, don’t sow too soon! My “when to start what” seed calculator offers the proper dates geared to your precise location.)

WHAT SEED-STARTING GEAR and lights will you use? You’ve got time, but best to get the equipment in order—or built or bought. Don’t skimp on light; this year I am swapping the fluorescent tubes in my T5 HO hoods out for “greener” LED bulbs.

DO YOU HAVE seed-starting medium (not potting soil–that’s too coarse for seeds) and flats, trays, pots, or a soil-blocker? If not, order them (here are the supplies I use).

review 2025, revise for 2026

TOP PRIORITY: Take a mental spin through your 2025 garden, or review notes or photos. If you didn’t make/take any, resolve to keep records in 2026. List anything you want to do more or less or just plain differently, to keep in mind before catalog-induced temptation (and then spring fever) take hold.

RESOLUTION-TYPE THINKING: Do you want to mow differently (as I started doing more than five years ago to good result, making more semi-wild spots for insects and birds to enjoy), or otherwise invite more birds to the landscape (here’s how to make a garden for the birds, and a little archive of advice from habitat-garden experts)?

SPEAKING OF WILDLIFE MAGNETS: Will this be the year you add water to the backyard picture, whether in-ground or simply an easy, seasonal trough like this? Or let a dead or dying tree stand, with some adjustments for safety’s sake, to become a wildlife-sustaining snag?

WHAT ABOUT ADDING MORE NATIVES? All my interviews with leading native plant experts might be a good place to browse first. Here’s one expert’s take on how to choose the right ones.

DOES YOUR GARDEN SUFFER from the polkadot effect—you know, lots of “onesies” (a single plant of each kind, instead of a group or drift of the same variety to punch up the visual volume)? I forced myself to harvest divisions of plants I’ve had a long time, and repeat them in sweeps elsewhere–rather than bring home so many new one-off’s from the garden center. That work will continue. Additional DIY garden-design advice.

MORE KEY QUESTIONS: Does one season (perhaps winter?) need some added visual excitement? Or in the edible garden, was there a crop you wish you’d enjoyed over a longer span, not just a momentary harvest? (Examples: Do you need a more heat-tolerant spinach for later plantings, or just the discipline to actually sow a short row of lettuce every two weeks?) Smarter shopping is part of helping to rectify things.

houseplants

KEEP AN EYE OUT for spider mites, mealybugs and scale insects. If tackled before they get out of hand, nonchemical methods are usually successful: a simple shower, insecticidal soap spray or horticultural oil (as directed on labels) or with the most tenacious (like mealybugs) sometimes an alcohol swab and Q-tip. Overwatering is the biggest risk to houseplants in winter, so go easy.

I DON’T FEED in the low-light months, but by late January or early February, as plants begin to notice the accumulation of “extra” minutes of daylight, I resume by feeding them weekly and weakly (half-strength dilute organic liquid every week or so). I just started watering my Clivia again; I keep them dry and cool from fall until the New Year or thereabouts. Here’s how to care for Clivia like a pro.

ORCHIDS, ANYONE? Some of the easiest to grow, and how.

trees & shrubs

IF THE PERFECT COMBINATION OF not-too-deep snow but still-frozen or at least not-muddy soil occurs on a sunny day, get out and prune. Fruit trees, like my old apples, benefit from a late-winter cleanup; here’s how. First: Are all your cutting tools sharp, blades cleaned, moving parts oiled? I’ll wait a bit longer to cut back twig willows and dogwoods because I’m so enjoying the show. Maybe March with those, or even April. My Pruning FAQ page will help, and an interview with Melissa Finley who curates the woody plants at New York Botanical Garden about the history of arboriculture and why we do what we do (and how the practices evolved) was fascinating.

BUT DON’T RUSH: Keep feet on mulch, stone or gravel paths—off the lawns and out of beds—if January thaws prove warm enough to soften the ground. Mucking around in mud wrecks the soil.

ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. This is especially important in winter, with its harsher, windy weather, where weaknesses left in place invite bark tearing and unnecessary extra damage.

SPEAKING OF DEAD WOOD: The recommendation above doesn’t mean cutting down non-hazardous dead and dying trees that can instead be turned into “snags,” or wildlife trees. And the conventional wisdom about “thinning” woodlots and forests to “manage” them? Think again.

CONIFER RESEARCH: Take note in your local travels (or in books), of conifers that look good to you, and think about adding a few to the garden come spring. Some of my favorite colorful conifers.

DID YOU CLEAR TURF OR WEEDS from the area right around the trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals to reduce winter damage by rodents and rabbits? Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round as well.

VOLE AND MOUSE PATROL CONTINUES, in perpetuity: I am still setting out mousetraps under my special homemade boxes in the gardens where I see any activity. No mothballs, ever, please.

pantry, cellar, shed

BE SURE TO CHECK stored vegetables (“one bad apple…” and all that, you know). My garlic doesn’t make it all the way through the year in the cellar so about now I freeze some, as whole cloves. Like this. Ditto with onions if needed to keep them fresh, not sprouting. Remember the ideal storage conditions for each crop?

TENDER ORNAMENTAL PLANTS in the cellar, garage, shed need a check, too–and perhaps water in some cases, or culling of any bulbs that have started to soften and may taint the rest. How and where I stash everything non-hardy. The rosemary’s handled this way; the fig is over here. Potted citrus goes like this.