My little garden in Japan January 2011

And with the start of the month, here is how my little garden in Japan is doing.

New year and new layout

Winter is finally coming to us. The temperature will start to go lower, and the plants sure are noticing it. I will have to build some sort of protection for them eventually. But on the bright side, the dark days are leaving. Every day now the sun rises sooner and leave us later. I think is a fair trade off.

My new rack is all full

Because I didn't have much space on the garden, I had to buy a small metal rack. Now most of the plants are stored in it. But I know that I will have to rearrange everything once again when spring comes. Hopefully I will be in a new house with a bit more space by then.

I will have to move everything back in spring

They are not that many highlights for this month, just the geraniums that are developing new blooms and the rosemary with a lot of new growth. This month will be of preparation I think. Preparing for the cold, and storing away seeds and bulbs.

Winter blooms of pansies

I made a list for keeping track of how all the plants change every month thought the year. Hopefully it will work as a baseline and a reference for future seasons. And maybe somebody else find it useful

I had no idea I had so many plants until I made this list. Some of them I have repeated, like the mints or the veggies, In total there must be around 60 plants in the garden. I have no idea how they all fit there.

Plant	January	For us this is the start of winter.
Temperature	9 °C //1 °C	The temperature will start to lower considerably, but we dont expect snow yet.
Fruit
Strawberry	Growing	Seems to be holding to winter, and it's slowly growing
Grapevine	Sleep	It already enter it's dormant stage, I will have to wait until next spring
Blueberry	Fall leaves	Still have the fall colors. I guess it will drop the leafs this month.
Herbs
Dill	Growing	Growing nicely but slowly. A bit damaged by the cold tho
Cilantro	Seedling	A lot of seedlings, I hope they make it in the cold.
Oregano	Growing	Growing nicely but slowly
Rosemary	Growing	It has a lot of new growth. I hope it will do fine.
Mints	Growing	Growing crazily as ever. It doesn't matter the cold, nothing stops them
Maguey	Growing	Some new leafs. It seems to be used to the new country.
Aloe	Growing	A bit damaged, but seems to be finally growing new leafs.
Lemon Thyme	Growing	Growing nicely but slowly
Lavender	Growing	Growing nicely but slowly
Lemon balm	Growing	Growing nicely but slowly
Thyme	Growing	Growing nicely but slowly
Chive	Seedling	Growing nicely. Even the ones I put on the strawberries
Vegetables
Lettuce	Seedling	It is past their season, but they seem to be growing regardless.
Bekana	Seedling	Funny looking little seedlings seem to be fine
Spinach	Seedling	Seems to be growing fine
Komatsuna	Seedling	Growing slowly, but nicely. I have to protect it from the cold tho.
Flowers
Tulips	Bulb	Besides from the little grow sprout last month, everything seems to be normal
Geranium	Blooming	The red is amazingly developing new blooms, but the white is starting to get the white leafs. (link)
Pansy	Blooming	With a lot of beautiful flowers.
Alyssum	Blooming	It is starting its second bloom sprout. I think it will last all winter
Red Rose	Fall	With the coming cold it started to lose some leafs. I hope it will hold the winter well.
Stock	Seeding	On its last blooms, with a lot of seed capsules
Mint Marigold	Blooming	Still blooming strong
Winter Cosmos	Blooming	A bit bald from the wind, but still blooming nicely.
Nochebuena	Sleep	Because if the cold and the lack of care when I was away, It lost most of its leaves. Poinsettias are such delicate plants.
Calla lily	Bulbs	I just dug the bulbs, and getting them ready to storage for winter.
Mini rose	Fall	Start to grow less, I think it will start to go dormant soon
Other flowers	Blooming	The other flowers are still blooming,  I think at least until next month
Trees		Only have one tree now, my momiji
Maple	Fall	A lot of dried leaves. It is entering its dormant stage

Oh, and remember, the Carnival will be this January 17th!

Be ready with a post about what do you plan on doing at your garden this next year, maybe about one particular plant you want to have, a renovation you will do, a special patch you will grow, a new gardening technique you will give a try, or any other project you have prepared for this new year.