Gardening Tips for January
 

 

With everything in hibernation, what should a gardener do?

Well, think of the glory of spring time.

 

● Plan to attend flower shows.

● Place your order for flower, vegetable seeds. Ponder on how you are going to change your gardening plans for mistakes make last growing season.

● What do you do with the Christmas tree, now that the beautiful ornaments have been put away. The big thing is recycle. You can put the tree out to the curb and the city recycling will grind it up to a mulch. Or, you can place the tree in a location where it is not quite visible, let the needles drop (which will acidify the soil- great for azaleas and rhodies). or use it as a support for climbing beans.

● If your poinsettias are looking bad, and if you want to save it, cut it back, to encourage branching out. Water sparingly and let it summer outside when the weather warms up.

● Check your seed inventory and the date. Some seeds do not stay viable for long. Do a germination test. Get a paper towel, moisten it and place about 10  seeds on it, keep it in a warm place in a plastic bag. Count the number of seeds that has germinated. If over half of them had germinated, you can still use these seeds.  Toss out the rest of your seeds that you did not use and either start collecting your own seeds all over again; or make new purchases.

● If it not too cold, some trees and shrubs can be pruned to shape them up and remove all the crossing branches. Those shrubs that set flowering buds the year before, and set to bloom in spring should not be pruned, otherwise you will be pruning out all the flower buds. This category includes lilacs, azaleas and rhododendrons.

           

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