What to Sow in January
The quiet beginning — plan, dream, and start the earliest seeds under cover.
January is the gardener’s season of rest and preparation. Outdoors the soil is cold and often frozen, so almost all sowing happens indoors on a warm, bright windowsill or under grow lights. Use these short days to plan your beds, order seed, and get the very earliest, slow-growing crops started.
Dates assume a temperate Central European climate. Warmer regions can sow a little earlier; colder or higher areas a little later. Ask a coach if you’d like advice for your own climate zone.
Start indoors / under cover
Onions & leeks (from seed)
VegetablesSow thinly 1 cm deep in trays at 15-18°C. They need a long season, so an early start pays off. Keep in the brightest spot you have.
Chillies & sweet peppers
VegetablesSow 0.5 cm deep in a heated propagator at 22-27°C. These are slow to germinate and need the longest possible season to ripen fruit.
Broad beans (indoors/cold frame)
VegetablesStart in deep pots or root trainers, 4-5 cm deep, in an unheated but frost-free space for planting out in early spring.
Sweet peas
FlowersSow 2 cm deep in root trainers in a cold frame. Pinch out tips at 4 true leaves for bushy, floriferous plants.
Sow direct outdoors
(Little to sow outdoors)
VegetablesIn most of Central Europe the ground is too cold and wet to sow directly. Focus on planning, tool care, and warming a bed under cloches or fleece for next month.
Tips for January
- Order your seed early while varieties are still in stock, and check the sow-by dates on older packets.
- Warm a seedbed with cloches or black fabric now so you can sow a few weeks earlier outdoors.
- Give indoor seedlings the brightest light possible — a sunny south window or a simple grow light prevents weak, leggy growth.
Harvesting now
Leeks, kale, parsnips, and stored roots from last season; forced rhubarb indoors.