Start your 2026 garden the right way! 🌱 In this January gardening guide, we show you exactly what to sow now to get a head start. Warning: Step away from the tomato seeds! ⛔
We reveal the 5 best vegetables to start now, plus the ones you must avoid to prevent leggy, weak plants. Whether you are a beginner looking for gardening tips or an expert looking for the best varieties like Globo onions, we cover it all.
🌱 IN THIS VIDEO:
0:00 – Don’t make this mistake! (Tomatoes & Cucumbers)
0:42 – Your “Redemption Crop” for 2026?
1:13 – The #1 Crop to Sow Now: Onions (Globo & Red Baron)
2:34 – Onion Sowing Tips: Light vs Heat
3:28 – Why we use 40-cell Module Trays
4:00 – The “Maybe Sows” (Warning for heat lovers)
5:00 – Aubergines: The “Money Maker” returns
5:30 – Peppers: Bendigo & Beauty Bell
6:20 – Chillies: Trinidad Perfume & Jalapenos
8:45 – Winter Salad: Wild Rocket ‘Trisha’
9:20 – Planting Bare Root Soft Fruit (Raspberries)
11:00 – January Flowers: Sweet Peas & Delphiniums
12:00 – Get our 2026 Sowing Calendar
🔗 MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO:
2026 Vegetable Sowing Calendar: 👉 https://nodignorfolkgardener.co.uk/
Our Shop (Trays, Heat Mats & Lights):
👉https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/nodignorfolkgardener
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Watch Next: How to Grow Onions from Seed to Table:
Watch Here 👉 https://youtu.be/PAKlhoxBatw
#JanuaryGardening #VegetableGardening #AllotmentUK #NoDig #GardenPlanning2026 #seedstarting
📅 OUR 2026 UK SOWING CALENDAR – PERFECT FOR VEG GARDENERS OF
ALL LEVELS👉 Get your calendar: https://nodignorfolkgardener.co.uk/
Month-by-month sowing dates for 50+ vegetables (including everything in this video!), succession sowing guide, space for notes, beautiful photos from our Norfolk garden.
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37 Comments
🍅 STOP! Put the tomato seeds down! (For now 😉)
We all had that one disaster crop last year. The one the slugs ate, or the weather destroyed…
QUESTION: What is your 'Redemption Crop' for 2026? What is the one vegetable you struggled with in 2025 that you are determined to MASTER this year? 🏆
Drop your answer below! 👇
my carrorts didn't do well i think its the soil its almost like clay
Happy new year!! I have just purchased your sowing calendar for 2026 … I'm a bit late buying it but better late than never.
Looking forward to following you and the calendar this year and growing lots of veg. Thanks guys 😀
Pomegarnite seeds x5 all failed to seed have another 5 to try this year!
Happy new year to you both🍺🍻🏆🍸
I really struggled this year with onions and cabbages, only due to a lot of caterpillars. I did really well with peas, carrots and parsnips though.
This year is my first proper year with a polytunnel though so I'll be growing everything I can 🎉
My lettuces turned bitter when still young, so this year I'm mainly going to grow lettuces, haha. I've chosen other varieties, and will water them much more. Small plants have been growing outside since October. I want to see if they survive winter. So far, so good (coldest night: -5). It's fun to experiment. Happy New Year!
Hi both, Happy New Year.
Butternut Squash failed miserably, i grew them in a large pot in the greenhouse but they didn't get bigger than about 3 inches. Any advice would be appreciated.
Looking forward to using your Calendar to help me this year, I'm in zone 8 so a couple of weeks behind.
All the best, Mike.
Carrots have been my failure but i am not giving up, just trying in raised bed so no wet feet and out of harms way of any possible pests. my second year of growing in the northern hemisphere i had success with brussels sprouts, yay.
Happy New Year to you both, and thank you for another very informative video. I've just bought the little lighted trays, so I'm looking forward to using them. Last year was an unusually good year for me: aubergines, chillies, cucumbers and tomatoes all thrived outside. I have an ongoing problem with slugs and snails, partly because much of my growing space is damp and shady, so lettuce and other soft greens like spinach are hard for me to grow. I use nematodes and beer traps but it's a constant battle. Potatoes suffered last year because it was so dry, and unusually, French and runner beans did not do very well. So redemption crop? Salad leaves. Fingers crossed for another good growing year!
Happy new year Barrie and Mrs W hoping to grow a little more this year. We have garlic elephant garlic onion sets B-road beans and some brassicas.
Merci pour ses excellents conseils.
Love your Christmas display behind you Barry.we didn’t grow loads last year as I am still caring for my daughter and stanley my hubby did what he could at the plot but what failed that we always have was parsnips and some of our beans. Didn’t have the time to keep an eye like I should have. But hoping this new growing year will be a little better. Our fruit was magnificent. I made chutneys jams and gin so I was very pleased. Not enough toms for sauce to store but made sauce for the few months we had them in particular our costaluto were better than we have ever done. We always grow the same ones. Anyway I have no grow pads and lights so will do what I always do. But will still be following you Barry. 🖐️
Mine was leeks, grew about 50 and they look fabulous and then all at once drooped..on examination they had a little black miner beetle ..fully infected had to throw them all away and I can’t grow alliums in the beds for a few years 😢
My failed veg was my first time aubergine in the greenhouse. Not a lot of pollenation and those that did rotted on the vine before maturing. Best crop was, Onion and garlic in my no dig bed. My Kale was taken by the catterpillars. Building a net frame for next year.
Hi Mr & Mrs W I’m back at it, sowed my onions today (Elista / Redlander / Isobel Rose) plus some Zebrune. Not done onions from seed before. I do use heat mats & lights but would love to see how they work for you. Mrs W 😊
Hello Mr and Mrs W🙂 "Happy New Year to you both" So Much Looking forward to all your No Dig Gardening adventures in 2026
My sprouts didn't do so well last season, (Didn't allow enough room!) so hopefully going to try and improve this years crop.
Good Luck and here's to a productive 2026 in Our No Dig Gardens😊😉
Great as always!
Beetroots. For the life of me can't grow them, I've tried several times w/ no success. I just get leaves. Whilst everything around in the raised bed grows beautifully!
HI there, I would love to hear more about your propogation set up.
Thanks for the videos!
Runner beans 😢
Happy new year. My failure crops last year were cucumbers (something ate their roots) pears (absolutely nothing) strawberries (small, tasteless and very few) and peas ( green fly) My successful crops were apples in abundance, potatoes and beetroot. I have a very windy garden but I’m lucky enough to have a polycrub. Very excited for the year ahead.
Happy new year. The failure we had in 2025 was the cauliflowers, the white butterflies ruined them. On the other hand, we were very lucky with Thor peppers, marrows, runners beans, cucumbers and peas.
Happy New Year.
For some reason the sugar snap peas and mangetout didn't do well. It was my first time planting them. They germinated but failed when I transplanted them in the allotment.
My great success was San Marzano tomatoes. I have always grown everything in containers and it was the one tomato variety that always had blossom end rot no matter how I watered them and how much crushed eggshells I used etc. This year I took on a small allotment plot and planted them in-ground. And they were very prolific and free of blossom end rot.
Don't mean to be rude but your polytunnel needs a good clean. You're losing a lot of light which will impact growth. Love the channel and happy new year to you both.
If you can sow Onions seeds now can you sow Leek seeds ?
Can't wait to see the video on the new grow system after purchasing one myself
Hi Barry. I always sow my onions in March they are ready to plant out end of May, they are always ready September, I'm growing Walla Walla again, have you grown them ? take care Steve
I don’t have heat mats but I do have grow lights on my fish tank that has 900l of heated water 😅 so I’m trying to grow my chilli’s in the fish tank hood . Fingers crossed it works.
Happy new year to you both. I'm really ready for the new growing year having taken a break since October. My redemption crop this year is Cabbage. Our Allotment was plagued one weekend with cabbage white fly which wiped out our plants – and those of most of the other plot holders. I'm prepping a solid netting set up for this year.
Caulis lost the lot pests eat them
Broccoli, Cauliflower & Dwarf Beans were a disaster
Another such informative video 😊 My biggest failure is me! I always start the year with such enthusiasm, that then soon turns into overwhelm…(watering, hosepipe bans in the south east etc) So I guess I’d be interested if you ever feel that and how to manage it…
I am also in Norfolk. I run a no dig community allotment that produce food for local residents for free.
I had a big problem with aphids last year on my various brassica plants.
I have been looking at organic ways to help with this.
Do you have any suggestions for me. Thanks ❤
Had a nightmare with squirrels stealing all my sweetcorn! Any tips for keeping them off ?
Hi I would definitely be interested in the heat mats and growing lights.
Hi Mr and Mrs W.
I said in my previous comment that my globo onions never germinated and in fact <2% came up. I sowed again last week and they all came up! I checked the first packet ( bought from brand new) to find they were 3 years out of date! I must say very unusual for the seed company! I wont mention them as it's not right. The packet must have been sent by mistake.