I am a member of a number of Facebook Vegetable Growing Groups and the most asked question at the moment in December is ‘When can I start sowing seeds?’ And ‘What can I grow in January?’ The answer is somewhat mixed, some say yes you can start sowing some vegetables and others say no it’s a waste of time as they won’t start growing.

Based on this, I have decided to research Why you can’t sow seeds in January and my findings make for interesting reading.

Reduced Daylight Hours in January

The reason it is not recommend to start sowing seeds in January is due to the reduced day light hours.

In January, the amount of day light in hours are reduced, there are only 7-8 hours of day light in December and January in the UK, this is the lowest level of day light hours in the whole year.

The chart below with the section in dusky pink shows the daylight hours increasing from February = 9 hours daylight a day and March = 10 hours of daylight a day to the Peak of July = 16 hours of daylight a day.

Daylight Hours Resources

Find out how many hours of daylight you have in your country.

For UK – Time and Date UK. Choose a place on the UK list, under the word Daylight you will see the daylight hours for the current day. Scroll down to see daylight hours for other months of the year.

For USA daylight hours broken down into States, this resource is fantastic – Time and Date USA. Choose a State, click on Sunset and Sunrise and scroll down to see the month’s day/night length.

For Canada daylight hours – Time and Date Canada.

For other worldwide Countries daylight hours, use the search function to search for your country on – Time and Date website.

What happens if plants don’t have enough daylight to grow?

Plants need light to grow and photosynthesis which is produce energy from sunlight in a chemical reaction and turn it into plant growth. If there’s not enough light, photosynthesis cannot occur.

All plants can survive a short time like overnight without any light and some a maximum of 2 days in their energy reserves however plants cannot survive extensive periods with the lack of light.

5 ways of knowing your seedlings are not getting enough light

• The seedlings are spindly or have leggy growth,
• The seedlings are weak and fall over,
• The seedlings are leaning towards the light,
• The seedlings have stalled growth and become dormant,
• Seeds don’t germinate.

Ways of starting to sow seeds in January

Fluorescent or LED lights for growing indoors is the way to start sowing seeds early. You may also need a heat source like a heat mat.

There are kits now on the market and innovative products that allow you to grow seedlings indoors under grow lights.

For example the Sun Shelf and Indoor Garden by Gathera a UK company, find more about their products here.

Or Click and Grow’s Smart Indoor Garden systems.

Conclusion

Personally I don’t sow any seeds in January as I don’t have the light or heat source to start sowing. I utilise January as a vegetable garden planning and sorting and buying my seeds for the new year.

If you are still itching to get started try my Jobs for the Vegetable Garden in January.

I’d love to know if you start your vegetable sowings in January, please take part in my Poll here.