Alexandra Oakley 
January always feels like a month of two halves in the garden. There are days when everything looks cold, soggy and slightly hopeless, and then there are the days when a few small jobs make spring feel much closer again.
This week I have started sowing a few of the seeds I like to get going early: larkspur, ammi majus, cerinthe, strawflowers and snapdragons. Sweet peas are already done, of course, and I have also started another batch of ranunculus. There is never a huge list in January unless you have lots of space and grow lights, but I do like getting a head start where I can.
I always tell myself I will be sensible with seed sowing and then somehow end up with trays everywhere anyway. It is the same every year 😄 But I would still rather have too many seedlings than realise in May that I should have sown more.
I also found myself outside in the freezing cold planting the bargain bags of daffodils and muscari I picked up after Christmas. At the time it felt faintly ridiculous, but future me will be very grateful when they are in flower. Those inexpensive little jobs often end up giving so much back.
The new border is very much on my mind as well. I gave myself a bit more planting space over Christmas with the new edging, and I am already mentally filling it with alliums, roses, foxgloves and the usual collection of things I cannot resist. January may not look dramatic in the garden, but it is a very good month for plotting.
So that is where I am in mid January: sowing a few hopeful trays, squeezing in bulbs whenever I can, and trying to remember that this is how the season starts. Quietly, a bit muddily, but full of promise 💚
