January Gardening In Soperton

Written By Soperton's "Gardening Guru"

Although it may be cold outside, there are many pleasant hours ahead for the avid gardener. Remember those gardening books and magazines about which we wrote last month? This is the perfect time to go through them. Also, gardening catalogs are beginning to make their appearance in mailboxes. Why not start a garden journal...a notebook in which you record the behavior of flowers and shrubs you have grown in previous years, as well as observations of varieties that appeal to you as you see them growing in other gardens? So pull up that comfortable chair in front of the windows, grab a cup of hot coffee, and plan, plan, plan.

Now is a good time to undertake the gardening projects you haven't had for earlier in the year, such as installing edging for beds or walkways. If arbors and fences need repair, do this while the growth of vines and other covers is at a standstill.

Apply manure or compost to your garden soil and turn it under now to get the soil in good shape for spring planting. If you haven't had a soil test made, this would be a good time to do it so you will receive the results in time to prepare the ground before spring planting.

All types of ornamental trees and shrubs can be planted during January. These plants can be purchased in containers or as balled-and-burlapped or bare-root stock. Trees and shrubs can also be transplanted now and throughout the winter months. If you have a plant to move and it is too heavy to lift and place into a wheelbarrow or cart, set the root ball on an old sheet or bedspread and pull the plant to its new location.

Nandinas can be kept full by pruning them anytime between now and early spring. Cut out one-third of the canes (choose the oldest ones) completely each year. This will encourage new canes to sprout at the base.

In our area, there are few plants that perform as well as nandinas. If you haven't tried these hardy and beautiful plants, you have missed their changing display throughout the year.

Bulbs such as daffodils and tulips still can be planted if you do so before the end of January.

I am not giving up on my rose garden yet! Maybe this coming year will be the year the deer raid another garden other than mine. With the bare root roses making their entrance onto the shelves of retailers and nurseries, my mouth absolutely waters; and as much as I love this cold weather, I yearn for spring and the first bloom of roses. When buying roses, look on the label for disease-resistant varieties.

Finish pruning grape vines, if this has not already been done, and attend to the pruning of other fruit trees well in advance of the beginning of new growth.

Dormant spraying of fruit trees and ornamental trees and shrubs infested with scale insects--or other pests controlled by this kind of spraying--should be done before new growth begins, and at a time when the temperature at night is not expected to go lower than 35 degrees.

As weather permits, sowings of some annuals may now be made in the garden. Kinds suitable for seeding now include Sweet Alyssum, Calendula, Candytuft, Clarkia, Cornflower, Coreopsis, Gaillardia, Larkspur, Nicotiana, Phlox, Poppy, Scabious, Sweet Pea, and Verbena.

As I write this article, I am surrounded with the heavenly smell of narcissus. These bulbs were given to me as a Christmas gift, planted in a dish of cranberries and water. They grew rapidly and are now blooming. They fill the air with their perfume. This is a good thing to note in my garden journal for next year.

Now where did I put those earmuffs...

See you outside.