GARDEN

JANUARY IN THE GARDEN

by Terry Kramer

While folks in colder parts of the country can only plan their spring gardens and flip through mail order catalogs, North Coast gardeners can actually plant, prune and groom this month. So grab your spade and pruning shears; there is much to do in a January garden.

• PLANT PLANT PLANT -- Bare root season is here, time to plant now and save money. Take advantage of bare root season this month and plant fruit trees. It is also a good time to plant raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries. Bare root season also offers a good selection of edible perennials like asparagus, artichokes and rhubarb. Ornamental gardeners should consider planting bare root perennials, vines, shrubs and roses. If your ground is too wet to dig, heel in bare root stock by potting it up in containers of moist sand or wood shavings.
• PRUNE -- Between rainstorms, grab your shears and gloves to do some pruning. All deciduous berries such as blueberry, raspberry, blackberry and gooseberry should be pruned now. January is also a good month to prune apple, pears, plums and cherries. Deciduous flowering shrubs and trees like flowering plum, cherry, quince, forsythia and lilac should be pruned after bloom. Remove faded blossoms from early flowering camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons. Prune roses.
• SPRAY -- Applying a dormant spray beginning this month can help deter pests and disease problems with fruit trees, berries and roses. Make a winter spray solution of dormant oil and lime sulfur. It will smother many over-wintering pest eggs and disease spores. Spraying apple and pear trees with sulfur spray after each rain will help keep scab in check.
• GROOM -- Avoid pest and disease problems next spring by grooming the garden now. Remove dead and decayed leaves and petals from around roses and deciduous shrubs. Don't allow those old withered apples (called mummies) to dangle from apple trees. Keeping vegetable and flower beds weeded and mulched deters slugs and snails. Clean up all old garden debris, flower pots and tall grasses.
• BEAUTIFY -- Shop the nurseries for cool-season annuals like calendulas, snapdragons, sweet alyssum, pansies, primroses and violas. Plant these from six packs now and you will have bright color by March. Pot up a few 4-inch blooming primroses this month to brighten gray days.
• MAINTAIN GARDEN TOOLS -- Spades, shears, saws should be kept sharp and clean. Fill a bucket with sand, add motor oil and then dip shovels and digging tools in it after cleaning and rinsing. Tune-up mowers, tillers and weed trimmers this month.

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