January

Planning
  • View winter landscape for interest. Review your garden journal and pictures of last year's garden to plan necessary and/or desirable additions.
  • Order trees and shrubs for February/March planting.
  • Order seeds for annuals and vegetables.
  • Check catalogues and website for perennials.

​Chores
  • Sharpen tools.
  • Do a soil test every 3 years. Acid loving plants (azalea, holly, juniper, pieris, pine, rhododendron, spruce, virburnum) need a soil pH of 4.5-5.5 to extract food from soil. Alkaline loving plants (boxwood, forsythia, lilac, rose, spirea, daphne, hawthorn) need a pH of 6-7. Adjust pH by adding iron sulfate to make soil more acidic, or pulverized limestone to make more alkaline. (it take 6 months for limestone to work.)
  • Remove snow from evergreens by tapping upward with a broom.

Prune
  • The following evergreens should be pruned in January or February: arborvitae, juniper, yew, cedar, false cedar (chamuaryaecyparis), holly, leyland cypress, magnolia, live oak.
  • January - March prune: Beautyberry, Bayberry, Camelia susanqua, clethra, crape myrtles, Rose of Sharon, St. Johnswort, nandina, potentilla, sumac.
  • Most deciduous trees can be pruned now except spring flowering trees, which should be pruned after blooming, and maples, and birches which should be pruned in August.
    TIP: prune crape myrtles for bigger blooms.
  • Prune wisteria: prune new growth shoots on main horizontal branches back to 5-6 buds.
  • REMEMBER prune only for a good reason: to remove elongated shoots that detract from the appearance; to remove dead and diseased wood; to encourage fullness on a leggy plant; and to encourage flowering.

Fertilize
  • ​Wood ashes will raise pH. Put them on roses, peonies, clematis, and daffodils. Apply at a rate of a 5 gallon pail/1000 square feet.

Tips
  • Start the year off right by keeping a garden journal recording:
    - what you did in the garden each day
    - what is blooming
    - amount of rain or snow
    - high and low temperatures
    - other personal notes
  • We all get calendars in the mail. Use one for recording when plants bloom and how long they stay blooming.
  • Try to keep a photo album. Pictures can help to remind you what your garden looks like at specific times of year. When it comes time to order bulbs or find a spot for a new perennials, you can "see" where to put them.​