Continue to plant cold-season crops such as beets, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, chives, celery, onions, parsley, parsnips, peas, radishes, spinach, lettuce, turnips, and chard. January is a good time to start planning which varieties of vegetables will be grown in the garden. Check your catalogs and find the vegetable seeds for your garden. Some flower varieties should start in January.
In a warmer environment, you can plant certain vegetables, but you need to be ready for frost. Indoor herbs are always great for growing on a sunny windowsill. Start with the seed indoors and transplant outdoors when it's cold, or buy transplants at your local garden center. If you have a small garden space, start thinking about how to create space for your fall garden by calculating which of your spring and summer crops will finish first; when summer crops are ready to take out, prepare with fall crops to replace them.
The days to maturity of a crop and the length of the growing season also influence whether you start sowing seeds early indoors or if you sow seeds directly in the ground outside. All you need is a seed tray, some seed compost or a damp kitchen roll, a windowsill, and a lid (clear plastic to-go trays will work just fine). Two of the most important aspects of gardening are knowing when to plant and what to plant in your vegetable or flower garden. Indoor seed starting (in seed trays or starting pots) gives your crops an edge in the growing season, which is especially important in regions with a short growing season.
For Almanac's fall and spring planting schedules, we've calculated the best time to start seeds indoors, when to transplant young plants outdoors, and when to direct seeds to the ground. August August is an ideal time to plant seeds for a second gardening season that can be just as productive as major early spring plantings.
