January
Gardening Calendar
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Start
planning for Spring. January is the perfect
month to start planning your garden for the current year. As a refresher for
last year’s thoughts, ideas or plants you were thinking about purchasing, dust
off your gardening journal to see what changes or additions you wanted to make
this year. A garden is always evolving.
Start
looking at seed and garden catalogs. January
is a good time to start planning this year’s design features and plants. Seeds
and new introduction plants sell out quickly. Don’t miss out and wait, try to
order your seeds or reserve your plants soon. Reserving your plant purchase
guarantees the plant will ship at the proper time for planting in your USDA
zone.
Seed
starting Kits. Growers recommend
starting the seeds indoors in a bright location to get a jump start to spring.
There are seed starting kits which are advertised as
seed starter germination kit or seed starter
greenhouse kit. The kits usually feature a tray, growing media disks, and a
cover for the tray. The kits are an excellent choice to start growing your
seeds before spring. Some kits even include a warming matt to get a faster
germination rate.
Bare Root
Roses will be arriving soon at local garden centers. Prepare
planting beds by digging an area 3 feet wide by 12 inches deep for each rose.
Soak bare root roses in a mixture of SuperThrive and water for 24 to 48 hours
before planting. Local nurseries will also have available roses in peat pots.
These pots are biodegradable and can be planted. Don’t take the plant out of
the peat pot. Before planting cut the pot halfway down and around the pot four
times. This action helps the peat pot degrade faster. For more information on Rose Care Click Here.
Poinsettias
water
only when the soil is dry to the touch. Start fertilizing in March. Poinsettias
need bright light and cool temperatures even indoors.
Deciduous
Trees and Shrubs the structure of the trees and shrubs can be
easily seen this time of year. Prune all branches that rub or cross each other.
Trees and shrubs can be planted now. Plan to plant on a warm day when the
ground is not frozen. When the weather warms for a week or longer, and then the
temperatures drop into the twenties, cover Camellias and Gardenias nightly
until the temperatures are above freezing. The last week in January prune Pear
and Apple trees, and Grape vines.
Vegetable
Garden till the soil, if the ground is dry. This preventative
measure helps to eliminate weeds, insects, and nematodes. Don’t have room for a
vegetable garden, but would like to grow your own vegetables? All vegetables
can be grown in large planters. The recommended size for vegetables is 16
inches or larger. In fact, that is how I grow my vegetables each season. For
more information on Spring Vegetable
Gardening Click Here.
Prune Pampas
Grass and all other ornamental grasses down to about 12 inches. Prune Lantana
and Cannas to about 2 to 3 inches. Shape Crepe Myrtles and Altheas and remove
old seed heads.
Annuals water
winter annuals like pansies, violas, ornamental cabbage and kale, after a hard
freeze. This helps to rehydrate the annuals faster. Water outside container
plants before a hard freeze, too.
Houseplants
check
for insects. Insects like mealy bugs, scale, spider mites are more likely to
infest your plants during the winter months. Spray with a horticultural oil or
insecticidal soap, and make sure you spray underneath the leaves. Turn your
houseplants a quarter to half turn once a week. This prevents leaning of your
houseplants. I turn mine once a week when I water my houseplants.
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