January Tips

 

 

•Study seed catalogs or visit garden shops to buy flower, vegetable, and herb seeds for spring and summer.   Also buy summer flowering bulbs such as cannas, glads,  caladiums, and lilies.  Take care that the plants you purchase are suited to our climate, but  don’t be afraid to try new plants. Save a copy of your order in this notebook for reference next year.

 

•Check your indoor plants and give them some special attention.  The hot dry air in the house is hard on plants and encourages spider mite infestations.  Trim off dead leaves and give pots a good soak.  Then use the kitchen spray or bathroom shower to give plants a bath.  If spider mites are a persistent problem with plants such as ivy, a weekly shower will be beneficial.  Feed them with a water-soluble fertilizer such as AlgoFlash, available at The Everyday Gardener.  If you still have a poinsettia around, it’s time to send it to the compost pile.

 

•Feed the birds.  Sometimes in January the only color in the yard is that hungry cardinal on the windowsill.  If squirrels are a problem on your feeders, try a squirrel baffler.  They really do work if the feeder can be positioned so that squirrels can’t jump down onto the feeder from trees or the roof of the house.  Also available are squirrel-proof feeders that close when a squirrel stands on the perch or cage-like feeders that keep squirrels from reaching the seeds.

 

•Move established shrubs and trees.  Moving them while they are dormant will increase your chances of success.  Try to dig as much of the root ball as you can.  Prune by about a third and get them back into the ground quickly.  Water thoroughly and be sure they are watered if we have a dry period in the next several months.

 

•Don’t be too hasty in cutting back or digging up plants that appear to have freeze damage.  Wait until spring to accurately assess the damage.  Then cut off branches a couple of inches below the dead area.

 

•Plant cool-season vegetables directly into the ground, following the directions on the seed package as to depth of planting and spacing.  Vegetables to plant now include mustard greens, cauliflower, lettuces, broccoli, turnip greens, and carrots.

 

•If you got a blooming amaryllis or hyacinths for Christmas, don’t throw the bulbs away.  After they bloom, plant them in the garden.  If you want to force amaryllis to bloom in the house again next year, continue to water it as a houseplant until the danger of frost has passed.  Then place it in a shady part of your yard in the pot and keep watered until August.  Put it in the storage room and stop watering.  After a couple of months of rest, cut off dead leaves, bring it back into the house, and resume watering.  It will bloom again year after year.