January

Plant

• ​​View the winter landscape for interest. Review your garden journal and pictures of last year's garden to plan needed and/or desired additions.​​
• Order seeds and shrubs for February and March planting.
  
• Order seeds for annuals and vegetables.
  
• Check catalogues and websites for perennials.
  

Light Pruning and Chores

• Clean up storm damage from January winter storms.
• January through February is an ideal time to prune abelia, privet, smoke tree, sumac and all evergreen trees and shrubs.
• Prune only for a good reason - to remove elongated growth, to remove broken branches, to remove dead and diseased wood and to encourage fullness and flowering. ​

Fertilize and Mulch

• Mulching beds improves soil texture and helps the bed retain moisture during dry spells and insulates during cold spells.  Applying 2 to 4 inches of mulch after the ground freezes is best.
• Pine needles, straw and ground leaves make excellent mulch. ​

Chores

• In the cold weather, turn off garden faucets and drain hoses.  
• Sharpen tools.
• If snow is not too heavy, remove snow from evergreens by tapping upward with a broom.

Tips: 

• Start the year off by keeping a garden journal. You can document and plan. Sketch out your ideas and take photographs of your garden all year long.
  
• Adding one or two young willow  branches to a container for rooting cuttings can speed the rooting process. Willow wood contains a natural hormone that speeds the process.
• A ripe apple placed in a closed container with green tomatoes will encourage the tomatoes to turn red.  
• Clean your tools when you finish with one plant and before you move to the next.  
• Wear gloves for all of your gardening and yard chores;  protect your skin from sun, dirt, bugs, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and other plant toxins.  ​

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Thanks to Suzanne Aiello who compiled these tips for the Dolley Madison Garden Club.