By Calvin R. Finch, PhD, SAWS Water Resources Director,
and Horticulturist
Week of
“January Gardening Calendar”
January is usually the coldest month in
In the vegetable
garden, plant your onion transplants.
The 1015’s are the most popular selection, but
The onions will
be ready for harvest in May. The tops
fall over when they are ready. Onions
require considerable nitrogen to produce nice five inch bulbs. Spread one cup of fertilizer per eight feet
of row at or before planting and then side dress with a cup every month. Slow release or winterizer lawn fertilizer
works well.
Thrips are
usually the only insect pest that bothers onions. They are the insect that causes the onion
leaves to turn milky looking. Thrips are
sucking insects. At first sight of any
color change in your onion leaves you can apply a Spinosad product.
Keep the broccoli harvested. The plants will produce side shoots after the
central head as removed. Cauliflower
curd will turn yellow if you do not shade the head. The easiest way to do it is to use spring
mechanism clothes pins to pin up the leaves over the head.
Harvest spinach and other greens as you need them. Only remove one-third of any plants foliage
at one time and the plants should produce until the end of April. Bt and/or Spinosad products are the controls
of choice for caterpillars on greens and cole crops. Use slug and snail bait to control slugs,
snails and pill bugs.
The lawn does not need much attention in January. Irrigate once if it is warm and we do not
have rain. Mow once to keep winter weeds
in check. A product – Weed Free Zone
works in the winter as a contact herbicide to control broadleaf weeds. Do not fertilize the lawn until late Spring
(May 1). The nutrients are wasted if the
lawn grass is not growing.
Keep the winter
annuals watered. Snapdragons, pansies, cyclamen,
dianthus, primulas, and calendulas can tolerate considerable cold weather if
they are not dried out. Water when the
soil is dry to .5 inch. If your snapdragons
are regularly attacked by stem borers, consider spraying every week with
Spinosad.
Wildflowers and
larkspur should have germinated by now.
There isn’t anything you need to do with the wildflowers, but the
naturalized larkspurs produce showier blooms if they are thinned to 18 inches
between plants. The nurseries quite
often have larkspur and bluebonnet transplants available in January. Plant them in full sun.
Fruit trees also
arrive at the nursery this month. Visit www.plantanswers.com to find
which varieties are recommended. The
recommended varieties can cope with our weather, our soils, and the diseases
and insects that are prevalent.
Plant trees, shrubs, perennials, and fruits in January to
take advantage of cool weather for root development before the summer heat
arrives.
The American goldfinches usually arrive for their winter
vacation this month. Observe their
acrobatic feeding techniques by using thistle seed in tubular feeders with the
roosts above the feeder holes. Cardinals
are attracted to sunflower seeds or safflower seeds.
Make yourself some gardening resolutions for 2008. Consider resolutions concerning reduced water
use, recycling garden waste, introducing youngsters to gardening, planting a
tree, and more careful use of pesticides.