Food Gardening - Jobs for January

A gardening job for January is to begin to force the rhubarb.

January is the month when you can cover up rhubarb crowns to begin the forcing process which will results in tasty rhubarb stems early in the season. It is worth forcing some of the rhubarb plants into early growth because you benefit from the process in several ways -

• A supply of rhubarb for desserts when other home grown 'fruits' are in short supply.
• Tasty tender stems of rhubarb are produced by the forcing of the crown into early growth.
• You save money as you will be amazed at how much the forced rhubarb sells for in the shops when it is available.  

To force rhubarb you need to cover it with something suitable, years ago this was a terracotta rhubarb forcing pot. If  a terracotta forcing pot is not available you can use a deep bucket, or old dustbin. Maybe using these will not  not as pretty but works in the same way, by creating a warmer environment and excluding the light from the plant. If you are using lightweight plastic buckets you may need to weight them down on the top with a brick as the windy winter weather can sweep them off across the vegetable plot.


You can prune your existing blackcurrant bushes in January.

Keep tidying the plot on days when the weather is right for working outside.

Give your compost a mix if you think it will benefit from some turning and mixing.

Some people start digging out the trench where they will grow their beans next year, this is so they can start piling in the compostable  materials that will make the trench area retain moisture better when the beans need it.