January Gardening

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Baby it is cold out there! It may be winter and difficult to focus on gardening but there are a number of tasks that may need attention in your garden.

This month is a good time to assess pruning and planting of trees and shrubs. This is a good month to prune shade and fruit trees as the sap is at the lowest point of the year. However, do not prune flowering trees as they are already set for blooming in the spring.

January and February is the bare season for rose bushes. These are the months in which the plant is dormant and roses can be planted or transplanted during these months without damage. This is also a month that trees can be planted should you find a brief warn period when you can dig in the soil.

January can also be a good month to prune shrubs, except for flowering shrubs as if the flowering shrubs are pruned you are eliminating the flowering buds that are already set for spring.

If you are in a section of the country that receives storm damage, prune any damaged limbs as quickly as possible to prevent additional damage such as the tearing of the bark. If you have snowfall, knock the snow off the branches of evergreens and fine branched trees using an upward motion to keep the limbs from breaking. Even light snow can turn into ice over night and cause damage to the branches. If breakage occurs, prune the damaged branches.

Also, keep raking and remove any fallen leaves as they can cause damage and smother the grass. Please stay off any frozen grass as this causes damage to the grass.

Now that the Christmas season has ended, instead of hauling your old Christmas tree to the curb, put it to good use in your yard. The tree branches can be used to protect tender plant and perennials during the winter months. It can be used to form a wind or sun shield for shrubs such as azaleas, rhododendrons, holly and boxwoods. The tree can also be placed in the yard to provide shelter to the birds during the winter and protection for the birds from predators like cats.

Fall Gardening Tasks

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The fall provides an opportunity for gardeners to reflect on the successes of the season and assess garden maintenance. This period of the season brings new and different tasks to our gardens and prepares our gardens for the spring. Some tasks to consider in the fall include:

• Utilizing our compost to enrich our beds and garden spots.
• Cover our water gardens and ponds with netting to eliminate leaves from water that are falling.
• Eliminate any diseased perennials by cutting back.
• Clean all garden tools and store properly for the winter.
• Remove fall leaves from flowers and perennials from beds.
• Move indoor house flowers back into the house.
• Take any flower cuttings that you may want to keep for next season.
• Keep shrubs and trees watered as they can dry out during the fall without sufficient rain.
• Assess and add mulch to beds as necessary.
• Plant any new spring bulbs at this time (up until frost).
• Keep gutters clear of leaves and other falling debris.
• Removed fallen leaves from yard and flower beds.

Wild Geranium

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Wild GeraniumA perennial; green in color, weed is clusters of basal leaves and flowering stems with pink to lavender flowers in early to mid spring.  There are lower leaves that replicate upper lobed leaves that develop directly from the creeping rootstock. It appears in cool weather, sprouts sporadically throughout woodland shaded roadside areas with poor sunlight, but prefers moist soil. If uncontrolled, weed will spread and ruin the look of a uniform winter carpet in warm season lawns.

Persistent manual removal will help regain control of your lawn. Dig up entire root system and discard immediately. Apply postemergent herbicides before the flowering stage and either mulch or overseed bare areas to prevent new weed growth.

Chickweed

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ChickweedChickweed is a winter annual broadleaf plant that is very common in new lawns. It sprouts and grows in cool, wet weather and can overrun your lawn in an instant. Above ground, the chickweed has small, white petals (five) at the top of the stem and blossom in clusters or individually. The stems are branch-like and slender with fine hairs along the side. The leaves are oval with long petioles and connect with each stem. The stems stay close to the ground and can root at the nodes, thus, creating a thick mat suffocating your lawn.

To effectively control chickweed, there are a few steps to follow pre and post planting seeds. The seedlings are flat, circular in shape and reddish brown in color and germinate from late fall to early spring. Herbicides, such as, dacthal or simazine will help prepare your lawn BEFORE you see any signs of weed growth. After the fact, you may want to use dicama or dichlorpop. If you begin to see some seedlings, and do not want to use herbicides, immediately start pulling them by hand. Underneath the surface, the chickweed is fragile and weak resulting in easy removal. Then, aerate your soil to help break up the milky-white substance surrounding the infected area, which hinders grass growth. Follow up with a great fertilizer and sufficient water and you will see signs of grass revival within 4 – 8 weeks.

Dandelion

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DandelionA deep-rooted perennial, the Dandelion is a persistent weed as it appears in early spring and continues to thrive until your first frost date. It is green with oval, hairless leaves alternating along the stem. Yellow flower heads bloom atop single hollow stalks and produce seeds individually attached to a stem with white fluffy threads. These seeds will take flight and land in any soil to propagate. Below ground, taproots spread finger-like roots growing up to 10cm in length, securing their position.

To manually remove dandelions, water the infected area, penetrate into the soil along the taproot itself and pull everything (you will see milky, white substance when split). If any taproot is left behind, it will regenerate. Pre-emergent herbicides work best when applied 2 to 3 days before you mow. Wait a couple days afterward before mowing. Apply post-emergent herbicides after the summer season and it will reach the root stunting growth. It could be likely that your lawn is in poor health lacking nutrients if Dandelions appear. Cover all bare areas with grass clippings, dark plastic cover or landscape fabric to suffocate weed growth and rethink your soil and fertilizer options.

Clover

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CloverThis three-leafed perennial indicates poor soil when it appears in your lawn. It thrives in cooler temperatures because of its hard seed coat and thick trifoliate leaves which block heat from its seedling. White clover is dark green in color with white or pink markings on its leaves and small pea-shaped flowers also pink or white. They germinate through seed and stem growth by creeping along the roots and nodes.

Ways to control or prevent weed growth includes, mulch, cultivation and great fertilizer. Test your soil’s pH levels to see what’s lacking. Clovers survive off of phosphorous, so reduce those levels and raise the nitrogen level, per your test results. Adding weight forces the clover to suffocate so mulch and a thick grass will aide in slowing clover production. Herbicides containing Isoxaben will help control the weed growth, but for only so long. After the clovers grow to 4 inches in height, you’ll be damaging surrounding plants more than controlling your weeds. This will be an ongoing process before total domination occurs.

Crabgrass

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Crabgrass is a warm annual weed that thrives from sun exposure. The seeds sprout in spring and summer, can thrive from hot/dry conditions and die after the first fall frost. This yellowish green grass has finger-like stems with light purple markings and a white strip down the center. Crabgrass grows close to the ground at a rapid pace in weak areas of your lawn. Over watering will help the weed grow, as well as, an overall unhealthy lawn.

Crabgrass can be a year round problem as the seed can over winter and germinate until spring. If ground temperatures reach above 55 degrees, the seedlings will begin its process. A healthy lawn is the number 1 solution for controlling Crabgrass, so choose a fertilizer that bests suits your lawn and deep water to aid in drowning the weed, but don’t over do it. Irrigate if necessary and apply a pre-emergent herbicide before temperatures rise and before the seed germinates. Do not apply any herbicide around healthy grass and plant a thick, coarse grass to eliminate weed growth. Once the seed has germinated, manual removal and a post-emergent herbicide should slow down and growth.

Beneficial Insects for Your Garden Spiders

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Beneficial insects for your garden spidersAs gardeners we are often focused on bugs, insects and pests that can and do cause harm to our plants.  We do spend time and resources eliminating the pests from our vegetable, flower gardens, shrubs and trees with the use of products we purchase from our local garden centers.

But not all bugs are harmful to our gardens and some can be very beneficial to our flowers and plants.

With up to 40,000 different species it comes with know surprise spiders can be found worldwide. Their two-part bodies, the cephalothorax (head) and abdomen, contain eight eyes and eight matching legs. Size can range from miniscule up to a large tarantula with a 10 inch leg span. Color schemes vary including color patterns and hair.

Benefits: There are two types of spiders; hunters and weavers. Hunters have acute hearing and attack their prey while weavers spin webs to catch their food. Whatever the tactic, spiders are king of pest control. They feast on EVERYTHING and never get full. Most are shy and harmless and tend to live in moist (mulch) hiding places along the garden.

Beneficial Insects for Your Garden Beetle

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As gardeners we are often focused on bugs, insects and pests that can and do cause harm to our plants.We do spend time and resources eliminating the pests from our vegetable, flower gardens, shrubs and trees with the use of products we purchase from our local garden centers.

Beneficial insects for your garden beetleBut not all bugs are harmful to our gardens and some can be very beneficial to our flowers and plants.One of these beneficial bugs is the ground beetle.

Ground Beetles have been identified world wide, except in Polar Regions, and 2,500 species can be found in North America. No more than an inch long, these nocturnal insects don’t vary in many colors (black, brown, and green) and have a shiny, hard, shied-like forewing. They have two sets of back legs and one set for the front with long antennas emerging from between its eyes and jaw.

At night, while hunting prey, ground beetles hide underneath fallen leaves or pebbles and surprise attack their prey. While these insects will not win any beauty contest most eat caterpillars, cutworms, slugs, snails and maggots. They are a natural eliminator of many of our garden pests. Add low growing plants (amaranth) to your garden in order to attract ground beetles.

Beneficial Insects for Your Garden Hover Fly

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Beneficial insects for your garden hover flyHover flies can be found everywhere except for Antarctica and grow no more than a half-inch in length. They are also known as drone flies or flower flies. Both hover flies and bees have different and similar characteristics. Hover flies foster only two wings whereas bees have four, but both harbor black and yellow horizontal stripes along its body. Hover flies have excellent flying skills and are able to stand still and fly backwards while feeding from flowers.

Benefits: Even though hover flies eat immense amounts of aphids it’s the larvae that eat up to 60 aphids a day, they also eat caterpillars, mealybugs and thrips and are usually found in ponds and streams. To attract hover flies into your garden, plant alyssum, buckwheat and parsley throughout your garden.