Leading greenhouse company Vitavia is looking forward to 2022 and a year of strong growth as gardeners spend more time and money on their plots.

Here’s what the company has to say:

Firstly, Happy New Year to you all! How an earth are we nearing the end of January 2022 already?!

With restrictions easing we’re hoping you’ve managed to stay safe and well up until now. So many of you have said that your gardens have provided a delicious escape from the ongoing pandemic challenges, so hopefully our greenhouses have played a part in that too.

Alfresco dining was taken to a whole new level last year. We suddenly found ourselves wrapping up and embracing all weathers just so we could see loved ones for a well-deserved bevvie or some delicious pub grub, that we’d missed for so many months! It was fabulous to see so many greenhouses lit up with fairy lights, a bistro set inside, all ready to welcome guests for their long awaited catch up. We saw some restaurants ordering multiple greenhouses for guests to dine in and lots of our lovely customers were spicing up their ‘stay at home’ week with an evening outing to the greenhouse. It’s amazing how warm a greenhouse can feel with a little heater, and a blanket… and possibly a glass of something to warm you up from the inside!

So whether you’re a ‘New Year, New Me’ kind of person, a stickler for a New Year’s resolution, or none of the above, it’s always good to start as you mean to go on isn’t it? So let’s take a moment to think about what jobs can be done in your garden to hopefully hold you in good stead for some successful growing this year.

Pruning

• Prune your wisteria by cutting back summer growth, leaving only a couple of buds.
• Prune your rose brushes, cutting branches back to just above a bud.
• Prune your apple and pear trees back by 10-20% each year, taking good care and not going to vicariously.

Tidying and cleaning

• Although this is an obvious task the benefits of growing plants in a clean environment are invaluable.
• Clean pots, patios, decking, glass

Seeding and planting

• Pot up rooted seedlings, such as Pelargonium
• Sow some bedding plants in heated propagator, ie Lobelia, Verbena and Carnations
• Plant Early Potatoes for cropping in May
• Order seeds and compost ready for spring
• Feed spring flowering bulbs ie. Hyacinth, Crocus and Narcissus
• Store Polyanthus and container-grown Roses inside
• Take Chrysanthemum cuttings

Greenhouse care

• Maintain temperature above 45ºF
• Keep plants well-lit but cover if possibility of frost
• Water plants according to their individual needs
• Try and keep areas as dry as possible to avoid diseases
• Check for slugs and pests

If after all of that, you’re still functioning, you most certainly deserve a delicious hot chocolate whilst you sit back in your greenhouse and admire all your hard work!