JANUARY Garden Chores

• Enroll in classes! Read and study up on ideas you would like to achieve for this year
• Continue to plant spring flowering bulbs.
• Think water garden and have it ready for spring. There are numerous sources of information and construction materials for these type projects. Garden centers and mass merchandising garden stores are handling pool liners, pumps, and aquatic plants.
• Continue planting container grown ornamentals. Be sure to loosen the roots and the media before backfilling. For slightly pot bound roots: Cut on 3‑4 sides shake the roots and media to a loose condition and then plant.
• Plant Fruit Trees in the Landscape. The 2009 seed and nursery catalogs have already arrived and this will trigger "spring fever" for many gardeners. We have a handout on “Fruits for the Southeast” that would provide the best alternatives to those beautiful apples and pears on the cover of the gardening magazines. Yes, you can grow apples here but I would not encourage anyone to go into wholesale commercial apple production just yet.
• Add lime according to soil test recommendations. For best results in home landscapes, till the lime into the root zone area for whatever plant you intend to grow. Surface applied lime reacts very slowly, and not as completely as lime mixed into the soil. The sooner the lime is applied in the winter, the more ready you'll be for spring planting.
• Ornamental Grass tops should be cut back now. On old established clumps, prune back to 2' or so and with the younger plantings, simply tip them back to remove the brown foliage.
• If you have rose bushes, rake the fallen leaves and discard them as many disease organisms persist through the winter. Covering them up with new mulch will not solve your disease problems.
• Pansies are by far the most popular winter landscape annual. Deadhead periodically to ensure more blooms. During active growth in the spring fertilize them about once a month. A dilute liquid feed of 5:10:10 or 5:10:30 will keep them going and growing.
• Be prepared just on the chance there may actually be some more winter weather ahead of us. Don't let unseasonably mild temperatures dictate what you do in the landscape.
• Poinsettia's keeping quality depends on several factors. Many home gardeners have no problem keeping a poinsettia attractive through the winter, but bringing it into "flower" in subsequent years is a challenge for the best of gardeners. They are still considered actively growing and will need water, sunlight, and fertilizing through February.