What to sow and plant in the vegetable garden in January?

By region

Northern tomato sowing is from Valle d'Aosta's Informatore Agricolo, the centre's from Umbria's sowing calendar (ARPA). The 18 °C is from the RHS. Northern potatoes are from the potato issue of the Informatore, chitting from the RHS, 1 March from the Patata rossa di Colfiorito proposal, and the southern cycles from the Campania and Sicily guides. Northern garlic and onions are from the bulb issue of the Informatore; Campania garlic runs to late February, and Sicilian garlic starts in the second ten days of December. Broad beans and peas follow the RHS, basil its RHS page, French beans ARPA Umbria's bean sheet, and strawberries the RHS bare-root guide. If the packet gives another window, the packet wins. December is in the December calendar, February in the February calendar, and the wider picture in the planting calendar.

Tomatoes and potatoes

Tomatoes, peppers and aubergines share the indoor start: in January only in the south, with heat and light, or in the centre if the weather is already mild. The north starts in February. The written planting-out date belongs to the tomato, and the 16 °C is from the RHS: peppers and aubergines have no transplant month of their own on these calendars. Tomato months are in when to plant tomatoes, and the method is in starting seeds indoors and the homemade seedbed.

Potatoes in January go in only in Campania, on the early crop, and only where frost is finished by early April. In the north, chit early varieties from late January in mild areas, for 4–6 weeks, and buy certified tubers in March. In Umbria, do not start before 1 March. In Sicily the early crop is October–November, the second crop August–September. Depth and seed are in when to plant potatoes.

Garlic and onions

Garlic needs cold to split into cloves. The RHS plants it between mid-autumn and early winter, with late-winter varieties if autumn was missed. In January, in Valle d'Aosta, the written fallback is still March, and only on soil that can be worked. In Campania the window is still open, through late February. Seed cloves and drainage are in the garlic guide.

Onions in the open ground have no written January date: Umbria lists November and December, and Valle d'Aosta puts sets in October and the seedbed in March. Indoors, the RHS sows from mid-winter. In the south, cold on seedlings that have just emerged sends them to flower, so an early start costs you. The windows are in when to plant onions.

What to delay

Outdoor broad beans start in March. Peas germinate once the soil reaches about 10 °C, and in Campania the next window is February–March. Depth and spacing are in peas and broad beans.

Sow basil from March, at about 20 °C, on the surface. Before March, and so in January, only in the south and only at that temperature with plenty of light. The page is when to plant basil. French beans do not go in the open ground: from December to March the Umbria sheet keeps them in a greenhouse or a tunnel. Why, and the germination threshold, are in when to plant French beans. Strawberries, in midwinter on wet, cold ground, wait: the bare-root season runs through to April, but that midwinter planting is skipped. Crown and spacing are in when to plant strawberries.

Jobs for the month

Clear spent plants. Keep diseased ones off the compost and out of the garden, as in pests and diseases. If the soil is neither frozen nor sodden, spread well-rotted compost or manure on beds for spring and cover bare soil. Don't dig frozen ground, or ground that sticks to the spade. Materials and depth are in mulching. In a pot the compost gets as cold as the air: see the container garden. The winter picture is in the winter vegetable garden.