The Garden in January: what to plant in your zone 9 garden

While I live in Central Florida, Zone 9b, and much of this post pertains to Florida gardening, you may find many of the tips and information in this post helpful if you live in other regions that are zone 9. While each region in a particular growing zone may have its own “climate” most of the gardening tasks and growing guides in this post are the same no matter which zone 9 you live in.

Here in my central Florida, zone 9b garden we are in the middle of winter and while it is still too cold to plant in most of the lower zones, it is a great time to start our spring gardens in zone 9 if you haven’t already done so. While January is typically our coldest month and there is still a chance for a frost or hard freeze, the daylight hours are gradually getting longer. The increased daylight hours will encourage the plants to wake up and start putting out new growth, and I have noticed that so many of my crops that lie dormant in the winter really start taking off this month. So if you have a winter garden and have noticed that your plants have not put out a lot of growth in the last month or two its likely due to the short day light hours. You should notice this month that your crops really begin to take off.

January is the last month where you can plant out cool-season crops that take longer to mature such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and cabbage. It is also the perfect time to get a head start on your start your long-season, heat loving crops like tomatoes and peppers. These can be started indoors this month so that they will be ready for transplant in the middle of February and beginning of March as the temperatures begin to warm up.

Currently this month, I am planting out the last of my cool-season cut flower crops like snapdragons, scabiosa, calendula and more as well as direct seeding a few more vegetable crops such as carrots, beets and peas.

Aside from starting seeds and planting new crops, January is also a great month to spruce up your garden while the temperatures are still cool like mulching, planting trees and shrubs and finishing garden projects.

In this post I will go over the garden tasks you should be doing in the month of January as well as provide a list of vegetable, herb and flower crops that you can plant now.

January Garden Tasks

Here is a list of garden tasks to do this month to get ready for the spring gardening season as well as tasks to help keep your landscape maintained.

• Prepare garden beds for spring crops

  • Remove any spent winter plants and replace them with more cool-season crops

  • Get your soil tested

  • Amend garden beds with necessary fertilizers

• Plan out your gardening season

• Buy seeds

• Start seeds and plant out transplants

• Continue harvesting winter fruit and vegetable crops

• Manage any pests and diseases

• Fertilize any flower or vegetable crops as needed

• Take advantage of the cool weather by planting trees and shrubs.

• Mulch garden beds and pathways

• Prune fruit trees and other deciduous trees and shrubs

• Protect plants during freezing temperatures

1. Prepping Your Garden Beds for Spring

If you do not currently have a garden or took a break from gardening in the winter then now is a great time to prepare your garden beds for the spring gardening season. To prep your beds you will want to remove any spent plants, top with compost and amend with the appropriate amendments.

If this is your first garden, be sure to read my previous post, A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Garden in 7 Simple Steps. This will help you get your new garden off to the best possible start no matter where you are located!

Before amending your beds, I highly recommend getting your soil tested if you haven’t done so already. Often times your soil can have an excess or depletion of certain nutrients therefore it is recommend that you test your soil once a year, usually in spring or fall, before amending your garden beds. An excess of nutrients can cause many of the same issues as under fertilizing but it can be a harder problem remediate. By testing your soil you will help prevent any nutrient issues in the future as well as save money on unnecessary fertilizers. If you didn’t test your soil in the fall, then now would be a great time to do that.

Amend your beds by adding 1-2 inches of compost and adding the necessary fertilizers based on your soil test. If you opted to not get your soil tested then I recommend amending your beds with an organic slow-release, all purpose fertilizer such as espoma plant-tone.

2. Plan out your garden and buy seeds

This month, take the time to plan out your garden and the crops that you plan on growing in the upcoming seasons. Once you have your plan, sort through your seed collection and buy any seeds that you may need.

If you’re not sure where to buy your seeds from then you may find this post helpful; 8 of The Best Places to Buy Garden Seeds.

3. Start Seeds

If you haven’t already, January is the time to start long-season, heat loving crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant indoors. You want these crops ready to be transplanted out in the garden by the middle of February or beginning of March so that you have enough time to get a harvest before the extreme heat of summer arrives.

January is the last month that you can plant out long-season cool weather crops such as Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, etc. I recommend that you plant transplants of these crops as it is usually too late to start them from seed. You can still direct seed or start fast growing crops indoors this month such as carrots, beets, peas and lettuce since they will mature in time before the warmer months of spring arrive.

Some seeds do better started indoors while others can be directly sown into the garden beds, if you are new to seed starting you can check out my Seed Starting 101 (Part 1): Direct Sow Vs Transplant post to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

I will also give a list of which vegetable, flower and herb crops to plant in January and the best methods of planting them later in this post.

4. Planting

Aside from planting vegetable, herb and flower crops, now is a great time to plant any frost hardy trees, shrubs and perennials so that they can have time to establish before spring. Take advantage of our cool weather and plant those fruit trees or shrubs that you’ve been wanting to plant.

You can also continue planting out cool-season annuals to fill your containers and garden beds. Flowers like petunias, calendula, alyssum, pansies, violas and snapdragons do great this time of year and will add a pop of color to your landscape. These plants are frost hardy so you don’t have to worry about a freeze taking them out.

Winter is typically our dry season here in Florida so just make sure to keep an eye on the amount of rainfall that you are getting so that your new plants get enough water until they have established. If you don’t get adequate rainfall, make sure to water your new plants daily for the first couple of weeks then 2-3x a week for another month or so until they establish. You will want to water container plants a few times a week depending on their moisture levels.

5. Fertilizing

Unless you notice any nutrient deficiencies, hold off on fertilizing any of your trees, shrubs or perennials until next month, you don’t want to encourage tender plants to put on new growth that may be damaged in a late season freeze.

Continue fertilizing your annual vegetable and flower crops as needed, though I find that if you amended your beds and containers properly with a slow release fertilizer, then you shouldn’t have to fertilize again until you harvest and replace spent crops. You can give a foliar spray of a fast-release liquid fertilizer such as kelp or fish emulsion this month to give your plants a boost but I wouldn’t add any slow release fertilizers unless needed.

6. Pruning

As tempting as it can be, especially if you have sad looking plants from any hard freezes that we may have had already, hold off on pruning frost-tender shrubs, trees or perennials until next month. You want these plants to have as much plant mass as possible to protect them from potential freezing temperatures. You also want to avoid pruning plants that bloom once in the spring like azaleas, camellias and gardenias until after they bloom. If you prune them now you may cut off the buds preventing the plant from blooming in the spring.

Plants that benefit from a hard prune this time of year include deciduous trees and shrubs especially fruit trees like peaches and plums. These plants tend to put on new growth as soon as temperatures begin to warm so pruning now before they put on new growth is ideal. You can also give your shrub roses and hybrid teas a hard prune this month as well. Hold off on pruning climbing roses as to not disturb their annual bloom cycle.

7. Watering

Winter is typically the driest season in Florida and it may be the driest season for you as well depending on where you live. Plants tend to grow slower and use less water in the winter so it is important to regularly check the moisture levels before you water your garden. It is easy to over water and too much water can be detrimental to your plants by causing root rot and fungal diseases. Make sure that you’re regularly checking your plants and water as needed.

8. Protect Frost-Sensitive Plants

Another plant maintenance task to make sure you do this month is to protect any frost sensitive plants during a potential freeze by covering them with frost blankets or sheets and bringing in any frost sensitive container plants during freezing temperatures of 32 degrees F and lower.

9. Pest Management

In the month of January you should have very little disease or pest issues due to the colder temperatures but never the less, inspect your plants often to ensure that no potential pests or diseases get out of control. You may find pests such as caterpillars, aphids and white flies this time of year.

The best practice to keeping pests and diseases in check is to inspect your plants often to remove any pests or eggs and treat any diseases that you find before they get out of control.

I personally do not like to spray anything, organic or not, unless absolutely necessary but if you need to resort to spraying make sure to use an organic option. Keeping a healthy, balanced ecosystem in your garden and avoiding herbicides and insecticides as much as possible is the ideal way to keep pests in check.

10. Harvesting

This month, continue harvesting your winter crops and begin removing any spent winter crops that you may have. Once you have removed a spent crop, amend the soil if necessary and replace with another crop.

January is also the peak of citrus harvesting so keep up with harvesting your citrus fruit this month.

11. Garden Maintenance

Another task that you can do this month is replenish the mulch your garden beds and pathways if necessary to discourage weeds and retain moisture.

Finally, take advantage of the cooler weather and get those garden projects that you’ve been putting off done. Now is a great time to build those raised beds, create a new garden bed or build a compost bin! I know that have a few projects of my own such as adding a small pond to my rose garden bed this month while the weather is cooler!

Crops to plant in January

Below are a list of vegetable, herb and flower crops that you can plant this month.

Below are the recommend planting methods that you will see next to each crop. Most crops can be grown from seed whether you start them indoors or direct sow them into the garden.

You can also choose to buy your transplants from your local nursery or start you seeds indoors and transplant them into your garden once they’ve reached transplant size.

D = Direct Sow T = Use Transplants

Vegetables

Direct Seed/Transplant Outdoors

• Carrots (D)

• Beets (D)

• Radishes (D)

• Lettuce (D/T)

• Bok Choy (D/T)

• Tatsoi (D/T)

• Broccoli (T)

• Cabbage (T)

• Cauliflower (T)

• Brussel Sprouts (T)

• Kale (D/T)

• Collards (D/T)

• Endive (D/T)

• Kohlrabi (D/T)

• Mustard (D/T)

• Peas (D)

• Swiss Chard (D/T)

• Turnip (D)

Start indoors

• Peppers

• Tomatoes

• Tomatillos

• Cucumber

• Melons

• Eggplant

• Corn

• Celery

Herbs

October-May is the best time to plant herbs in Florida when the weather isn’t as hot and humid. While you can start many of your herbs from seed it is usually easier to buy certain ones like thyme, rosemary, oregano and mint as transplants.

Start Indoors

• Basil

Direct Seed/Transplant Outdoors

• Anise (T)

• Borage (D/T)

• Chamomile (D/T)

• Chives (D/T)

• Dill (D/T)

• Fennel (D/T)

• Lemon Balm (T)

• Parsley (D/T)

• Sage (T)

• Stevia (T)

• Bay Laurel (T)

• Mint (T)

• Oregano (T)

• Rosemary (T)

• Tarragon (T)

• Thyme (T)

• Dill (D/T)

• Cilantro (D)

• Nasturtium (D/T)

Flowers

Direct Sow/Transplant Outdoors

• Agrostemma (D/T)

• Alyssum (T)

• Baby’s Breath (D/T)

• Bachelor Button (D/T)

• Borage (D/T)

• Calendula (D/T)

• Clary Sage (D/T)

• Delphinium (T)

• Dianthus (D/T)

• Didiscus/Laceflower (D)

• Dusty Miller (T)

• Echinacea (T)

• Euphorbia (D/T)

• Forget-me-Nots (D/T)

• Foxglove (T)

• Gazania (T)

• Geranium (T)

• Honeywort/Cerinthe (D)

• Lisianthus (T)

• Lobelia (T)

• Nasturtium (D/T)

• Orlaya (D/T)

• Pansy (T)

• Petunia (T)

• Poppy (D/T)

• Scabiosa (D/T)

• Snapdragon (T)

• Statice (T)

• Stock (D/T)

• Strawflower (T)

• Sweet Pea (D)

• Verbena (T)

• Yarrow (T)

Start Indoors

• Ageratum

• Amaranthus

• Celosia

• Cosmos

• Dahlia (seeds/tubers)

• Echinacea

• Gomphrena

• Marigold

• Nicotiana

• Rudbeckia

• Salvia

• Sunflower

• Yarrow

• Zinnia

January Garden Tips

• Use a frost cloth to help protect plants during freezing temperatures.

• Regularly check plants to see if they need more or less water. Crops tend to use less water this time of year so it is easy to overwater.

• Know your hardiness zone and check your local planting guide to find out what and when the best time to plant for your zone and climate is. I often refer to UF’s Florida Growing Calendar for Florida growing guides.

• If you live in other zone 9 regions be sure to get familiar with your particular climate as growing conditions can vary slightly by location. I go a little more in depth on this is my previous post A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Garden in 7 Simple Steps.

Happy Planting!

There you have it, a list of garden tasks that you should complete in the month of January as well as a list of vegetable, herb and flowers that you can plant now! I hope that this post inspired you and if you found this information valuable please share the love by sharing or pinning this post! Also, feel free to leave any questions or suggestions in the comments below! Happy planting!

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