It’s January, and we find ourselves right in the middle of the summer season. It’s in this month and the next that we experience the hottest daytime and night temperatures of the year.
With the weather so hot at this time, it’s important to keep up with the watering, especially for plants in containers.
The heavy rains raise the humidity, and the warmth brings insects, so keep a lookout for any diseases or pests in the garden.
Cover fruit trees with bird-netting to protect the fruit, and support or prop up branches heavily laden with fruit if they look too heavy.
Not forgetting the vegetables, it’s now time to harvest early potatoes, garlic, shallots and globe artichokes.
Things to Do This Month:
- Continue tying growing vines to supports or wires.
- Propagation of semi-hardwood (semi-ripe) cuttings is done in mid-late summer, use rooting hormone, and plant in moist commercial propagation mix, or make your own with one-part coarse propagating sand (washed river sand) and one part peat or coconut coir.
- Cut and dry herbs for winter use.
- Harvest seed from perennial plants.
- Last chance to sow vegetable seeds for harvesting in autumn.
- Keep an eye on water gardens and ponds, water levels can get low due to evaporation. Aquatic plants, including oxygenators, can become overgrown and require thinning at this time of year.
Vegetables and Herbs to Grow in January (Tropical Climate)
| January Seeds to Sow and Seedlings to Plant (Tropical Climate Australia) | Sow/Plant | Harvest (weeks) |
| Basil | st | 10-12 |
| Mustard Greens | dst | 5-8 |
| Sweet Corn | dst | 11-14 |
| Sweet Potato (Kumara) | plant shoots or cuttings (slips) | 15-17 |
Key:
d = sow seeds directly into ground
s = sow seeds into seed tray
ds = sow seeds directly into ground or seed tray
t = transplant seedlings (small plants) into larger pots or plant into ground
*= frost tender
**= sow after frost
Download printable PDF version of Gardening Calendar (Australian Tropical Climate) – January
To help improve these garden calendars, feedback and additional information from readers is greatly appreciated! Australia’s climate varies considerably, and local knowledge of when particular things need to be done in the garden are most helpful to others living in those area, so please feel free to share.