January Gardening Tips

January is a great time to take stock of your garden, make a list of improvements and get to work tending what’s left in the garden. After all, you may need a breather from the holidays and maintaining the garden now will make for less work in the spring. So grab your hot coffee, tea or cider and take a stroll. The bones of your garden are more visible at this time of year. Now, you can set some goals for 2012.
 
Here are a few gardening tips for January:

Prepare beds for spring by covering the soil with a 3- to 4-inch layer of compost. Mix soil and compost with a garden fork. Watch for moisture content, however. Soil that is too wet will not work easily — soil should break and mix readily.

Now's the time to order seeds for spring planting. Look through the pile of seed catalogs you've collected to order for spring - or check out these links.

Careful pruning will help trees bear better fruit. Summer pruning is an easy and convenient method of controlling the growth of backyard fruit trees. Some advocates of this kind of pruning recommend keeping fruit trees at a height of about 12 feet, which allows for ease of care and harvesting. Pruning of uncontrolled spring growth also allows light and air to reach lower branches. This improved air circulation may reduce disease, and additional light can help promote lower growing fruit.  Keeping trees at a smaller size makes available nutrients more likely to be used for fruit production rather than foliage.
 

The Rose Parade may be inviting, but planting a rose bush of your own is much more rewarding. January is just the month. Bare-root roses are available and ready to plant. Choose according to growth habit and your growing conditions. Along the coast, disease-resistant varieties thrive in cooler conditions.
 

Bare-root fruit trees are another option at this time of year. Select trees based on the chill hours required for each type of tree. Plant lowchill varieties in coastal areas.
 

Existing fruit trees and rose plants should be pruned at this time of year. Pruning should be done on a dry day. While you have your pruning tools at the ready, cut back bushy perennials such as Mexican sage, ornamental grasses, lavender, oregano, chrysanthemums, marguerites and yarrow. Cut just above bottom growth for a nice, healthy plant later.
 

Keep your spirits bright with winter color by planting winter-flowering shrubs. Acacia, breath of heaven, camellia, hibiscus, leptospermum and marmalade bush are worth considering.

That holiday Amaryllis may be  fading, but take heart. Plant this beauty now and you should be rewarded with more blooms later. Sink the bottom half of the bulb in the ground, leaving the top half above the ground.
 

For those with vegetable gardens, start seeds for cool-season vegetables indoors or in cold frames for late transplanting. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and celery are a few examples. Coastal gardeners can sow seeds for bulbing onions. Fall-planted brassicas, such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, may still be chugging away. Continue harvesting these to encourage more production.
 

Stake new trees to serve as ballast before spring winds blow in. Drive stakes one foot from opposite sides of the trunk and in line with prevailing wind. Tie the tree to each stake with plastic tree ties, allowing for movement of the trunk.
 

Don’t forget to repair and clean your gardening tools and equipment. Sharpen mower blades and tune up and oil tools.

Remember - Harvest Blend Compost builds healthy soil for a beautiful landscape!