The first month of the year can be seen as a cool down from the festive month that is December. However, I find there is always a lot to look forward to in the month of January.

There’s New Year’s Day to start with, a clean slate and a fresh start. On the 5th there’s twelfth night, followed by Three Kings’ Day on the 6th (along with Little Christmas, Epiphany, Woman’s Christmas, Nollaig na mBan and Orthodox Christmas Eve. The 7th sees Orthodox Christmas Day and Lidat which is a Rastafarian holiday.

Then on the 9th we have Plough Monday, 13th Lohri which is a Punjabi winter festival, Old Twelfth Night on the 17th. Chinese New Year on the 22nd which rings in the year of the Black Water Rabbit, Spring Festival and Lunar New Year. Burns Night is on the 25th as well as Vasant Panchami (Hindu Spring Festival). Then my birthday on the 27th where I’ll enter my last year in my thirties 😳

January closes with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch held on the 28th & 29th. Who says January can’t be fun?

The night skies have various planets in view for us. It’s a good time to spot Mars as it dims towards March. Jupiter, Venus and Saturn are all visible early in the month. And we reach the full moon on the 6th – January’s full moon is called ‘The Wolf Moon’ or ‘Stay at Home Moon’ – a time for rest for sure. We can also see an increase in daylight, about an hour all together towards the end of the month since the Winter Solstice, I think.

No rest for the wicked as I’ve got a lot of plans for the garden in January, I’m hoping to finally break ground on digging my pond, put a fence in with an edible hedge, have a general tidy up (getting rid of the sludgy chard and many other things that did’t survive the frost we had in December. I also need to plant out a shopping bag full of Crocosmia that I got from my in-laws. Clean the greenhouse so that it’s all sparkly and clean for when I have my Winter birthday cocktail party in there – very much looking forward to that!

This month it is truly time to start with this ginormous mess that is the top section of the garden. It is the furthest away from the house, in semi shade thanks to the two big mature trees I’ve got there. Currently a mess of unruly couch grass and weeds, some randomly growing bushes I’ve no idea of what they are and a chunk of mess from last summer tidy. The plan is to clear this whole area and put the fence in first. Followed by the hedging plants over the course of the next few months – I’m so excited for those! Rewilding this area is top of my list and I. Can. Not. Wait!! You can read more about the border/fence/hedge plan here. This area is what I lovingly call ‘the Wild Perennial Garden’. As the name suggests it will will house a plethora of edible perennials that will bring various wildlife back into the garden. As part of this plan I will also start digging and building a big pond. I’m planning on lining it with puddling clay rather than using plastic lining or concrete. This means a lot of research and finding the right supplier for the clay but as it stands now, there’s no hole in the ground yet 😆 I will write more about the pond plans in a separate post as it’s too much to cover all in here for now.

I will however delve a bit more into what type of plants I’m planning to have here, starting with various hostas, ferns, clover, thyme & chamomile. As well as the hedge plants, pond plants (still to be decided), maybe a rhubarb & asparagus and strawberries. I will also be claiming my prize from winning the September ‘My Month on the Plot’ prompt list, and I will most likely use it on wild garlic and some other wonderful goodies from @fromanjeesgarden

All this will be delayed by an unexpected trip back to my home country where I’ll attend my uncle’s funeral. It still feels all so surreal.

For now here are some images of a little wander in the garden on New Year’s Day. It was a rainy day, grey skies and a little cold. However, a lot of life, colour and joy can still be found in the general winter mess that is the garden at the moment. Happy January all ✨