Get a Head Start on Your Spring Garden – 7 Jobs to Do This Month that Will Set You Up for a Strong Season

January is a great month to get your garden prepped for spring. It might seem quiet, but it's the perfect opportunity for some solid planning and preparation, with lots of key tasks to help get your space in shape.

This month has always been a key time for prep. As a year-round horticulturist, I always found it the ideal time to assess, plan, and build any new infrastructure to boost the garden going forward. Taking a head start early in the year means big wins once the season gets going.

Some jobs will be dependent on your climate and the weather conditions, but there is a strong mix of big and small tasks, as well as outdoor and indoor jobs, here to add to your late winter gardening checklist. These tasks have always been on my to-do list, and there will be something on here for every gardener to do this January.

January Gardening Jobs: 7 Jobs to Prep Your Space Like a Pro

No matter the size of your garden, there will be something on this list you can do this month. Even if you have a courtyard or container garden, you'll benefit from some of these January gardening jobs.

As a professional gardener, I advise keeping a garden diary and logbook (like this gardening logbook available at Amazon) to track your progress and jot down important notes. It can serve as a helpful reference to look back on and an inspiration for future ideas.

1. Test your soil

January is an ideal time to think about soil health. Having healthy soil ensures plants perform at their absolute best, and the best first step to take in January is to test your soil. A soil test will tell you vital information about the soil in your garden, including the soil type, the pH of your soil, and the levels of essential plant nutrients.

Finding out these important facts early in the year gives you ample time to make any necessary amendments before spring arrives. It provides a window to help you improve soil quality and boost soil nutrients, so you go into the new season with confidence.

A simple way to test the soil is with a quality home kit that provides laboratory results. For example, this soil test kit from Amazon gives a professional analysis of 13 nutrient levels in the soil.

2. Add Organic Matter

A perfect way to boost your soil so all plants benefit is to add quality organic matter, which you can either dig into the ground or put on the surface as mulch. Provided your soil is not frozen or waterlogged, you can spread or incorporate compost or well-rotted manure to improve soil structure, retain more moisture, and add nutrients to the soil.

Compost and manure are the best materials for the job, while leaf mold is also a good alternative if you have been busy collecting leaves. The compost would ideally be homemade, but you can use shop-bought bags of compost (such as this premium organic compost at Amazon).

Any manure must be well-rotted, as fresh manure contains high levels of nitrogen that can burn plants. If you don’t have access to manure, bags of chicken manure pellets are a great alternative to improve the soil, like this bag of organic chicken manure at Amazon.

You can either dig or turn the soil and incorporate organic matter, or opt for the mulching method. Compost, manure, or leaf mold are all great types of mulch to use, but there is also the option of using bark chippings or straw as mulch.

Add a 2-4 inch layer of mulch in winter, and it will smother weeds, protect the roots of plants against frost, and provide nutrients as it breaks down and is incorporated into the soil by worms.

3. Plan Your Crop Rotation

A healthy vegetable garden relies on the simple premise of crop rotation. It is the process of moving vegetables around the plot, and not growing them in the same position year after year. Rotating vegetables is a key part of healthy soil, strong yields, and fewer problems with pests and diseases.

Best practice is always to have your rotation decided ahead of the season, so take a bit of time to plan what is going where.

You can take it a little further and draw out a planting plan, or mark out the plot in advance so you know what goes where come planting time, saving time and potential confusion.

When you sit down and plan, remember that not everything has to fit into a rotation. For example, perennial vegetables and fruits can remain in their spot for many seasons.

The most important families of vegetables to rotate are brassicas, legumes, alliums, roots, and potatoes. Some annual crops are not included in a rotation, such as zucchini, pumpkin and squash, lettuce, and corn. Plant these wherever you have space, but not in the same spot for several seasons.

4. Get Tools Ready for Action

Good, well-looked-after garden tools will be much more effective come spring and summer. Giving your digging, weeding, and pruning tools some TLC at this quieter time of year will make them easier to use and kinder on your plants.

Sharp pruning shears cut cleanly compared to blunt ones, for example, and rusty pruning shears will make jagged cuts that are difficult to heal, making your trees or shrubs more susceptible to disease. Avoid this happening by cleaning tools, sharpening blades, and removing any rust on metal tools with a wire brush or steel wool.

A simple way to sharpen the blades of any pruners is to have a handy garden tool blade sharpener like this one at Amazon.

As part of preparing garden tools for spring, taking the time to lubricate pivot points with WD40 and oiling wooden handles will also protect them when they are not in use and help to extend their lifespan.

5. Avoid Time-Wasting by Checking Seeds

Gardeners love buying seeds, and it is completely understandable. The thrill of browsing catalogs and picking new, exciting varieties or cultivars to try. But, in reality, it can often result in a surplus of old, unused seeds sitting in containers, tins, or drawers.

The best practice, and one I always try to adhere to, is to use these open seed packets up, but there is only a certain amount of time you can store seeds for before they become unviable. It is hard to know how long you’ve got before they become inefficient to sow, as the length varies depending on the type of seed and how it is stored.

No one wants to waste precious time at the start of the sowing season by planting seeds that won’t successfully germinate. It’ll waste compost, water, and time, as you find yourself staring at bare seed trays waiting for signs of life.

Luckily, there is a simple way to test seed viability and avoid that scenario come spring. It is as easy as sprinkling a handful of the seeds over a damp paper towel and putting it in a plastic container.

Keep the container somewhere warm, spray the paper towel to keep it moist, and monitor it for signs of germination. If less than 50% of the seeds germinate, it may be better to order new seeds for the season rather than risk a poor germination rate.

6. Add a Rainwater Harvesting System

Natural rainwater is the best water to use on your plants, as it is softer than tap water, doesn't contain chemicals, minerals, or salts, and also has a lower pH. These aspects are all beneficial to plants, while harvesting rainwater also saves you money and helps you have an environmentally-friendly garden.

Therefore, it makes sense to harvest this natural bounty as much as possible. You are likely spending a lot of time watering plants during the season, so why not install a collection system so your plants get the best water they can? And you can do so by installing a rain chain or putting in a rain barrel to collect the water when it falls.

Many gardeners use a downspout from a home, shed, or other building to attach their chain or barrel to, but there are ways to harvest rainwater without a gutter. These include taking advantage of drip points or using a tarp to divert rainwater, while you can also divert the runoff to create a rain garden where moisture-loving plants can grow.

You can see a range of attractive rain barrels at Wayfair

7. Start Making Homemade Compost

If you haven’t got one already, winter or early spring is the best time to start a compost heap.

Having a backyard compost heap offers a perfect way to turn garden waste, kitchen scraps, and other household items into rich, fertile compost to use around the garden. It is easy, eco-friendly, and the reward will be homemade compost that is perfect for your plants.

You can either purchase yourself a purpose-built compost bin, kit, or compost tumbler (such as this 43-gallon dual chamber compost tumbler at Wayfair), or build your own DIY compost bin out of repurposed wooden pallets.

If you have the desire, you can make composting stylish by staining or painting the wood, adding embellishments, or hiding it with planting or screening.

An honorable mention must go to building raised beds as an addition to this list of January gardening jobs that will make a difference to the upcoming season. Raised beds offer a great way to grow flowers and vegetables, and they can be integrated into gardens of any size.

Whether you opt for ones made of wood or metal, fill your raised garden beds with a mix of quality compost and topsoil, and you can start planting straight into them come spring.