Happy New Year! I hope you've had a nice long holiday with friends and family. You didn't fall off the roof getting the lights down, did you? Because there are chores to do in the garden! I often wonder what it's like to live in a place where the winters are really long. Here, we hardly have a minute between fall and spring. In my garden, that last really cold weather finally forced some of the fall leaves off the maple tree, only to reveal the first flower buds of spring. Now, with the winter solstice passed and the days lengthening ever so slowly, there's not a minute to waste. Spring is rapidly approaching!  | | Spring! |
Just as a reminder, all the newsletter content is archived on the website. Click on the tab for Newsletters, which will take you to a page listing the dates and topics. The more recent articles (mainly 2013) are also on the website itself , which makes them easier to search for. Look down at the bottom of the page on the right side for the search box. That's the main reason I started writing the articles for the website and then linking to them from the newsletter. If the info resides on my own website, it's searchable and findable far more easily than it would be if it were completely contained in the email. I'm looking forward to a busy gardening spring - and would love to hear what you're up to in the garden. Hope to see you soon, somewhere out there in the green world.
Thanks again and garden on! |
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January Chores
There are a few things you ought to take care of this month in the garden, and perhaps more importantly, a few things you ought not to do!
First, as usual, there are seeds that can be planted even in January. Our spring veggie gardening season has two distinct segments: the cool season and the warm season. It's too early for warm season veggies like cucumbers and green beans but now is a great time to plant lettuce, radish, beets, turnips, cabbage, kale and more!
 | | Not quite time to plant outside! |
A word about tomatoes too: if you're starting tomatoes from seed (indoors, where it's nice and warm and bright), it's almost too late. They need to be ready to move outside in late February, and that takes about 6 weeks under very bright light, so get going. All the rest of you antsy tomato growers, you know how much of a risk-taker you are by now. If you like to walk on the wild side, plant them as early as possible so you have as long a harvest as possible before the heat sets in. Of course, you may have to replant if a late freeze kills your baby tomatoes. You cautious types? Wait until March. We hardly ever get a freeze in March. Stay tuned: I have a list of tomatoes for spring 2014 in the works.
You can prune dormant shrubs and trees now but don't go crazy. Don't prune spring-blooming shrubs like azaleas. The earlier a shrub or tree blooms, the more likely it blooms on old wood. If you prune now, you're merely cutting off flowers. And if you're pruning a shade tree, my strong recommendation is to hire a certified arborist. If you're going to do it yourself, please don't engage in lion-tailing!
 | | Well, I'm no artist, but you get the idea... |
It's too early to fertilize the lawn, but it's time now to apply a pre-emergent weed herbicide if you're into that sort of thing. These products work to inhibit the emergence of annual weed seedlings so timing is critical. You have to apply then before the soil warms enough to germinate seeds. A good rule of thumb is to make your winter application before the redbud trees bloom. You can fertilize the lawn when you first need to mow. Until then, the grass isn't actively growing enough to need the extra nutrients.
 | | This is Brown Patch. |
Speaking of lawns, watch out in the early spring for fungal diseases like Brown Patch. Fungal problems arise when you combine a susceptible host (like St. Augustinegrass), a pathogen (and we all are hosts to the common ones), and the proper environment (cool, wet temperatures). I don't recommend preventative application of fungicides. Usually, adjusting your watering practices or waiting for hotter, drier weather takes care of minor infections. But for major cases of Brown Patch, use a listed fungicide on the affected area, plus a few feet around the edge of the diseased spot. No need to treat the entire lawn. As always, please follow the label instructions exactly.
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January 2014 Scrapbook
Foodscaping - it's all the rage. That fancy word just means planting edibles in the ornamental landscape. And in January, the greens really shine. Sneak a peek in my January 2014 scrapbook.  | | Brilliant ornamental cabbage. |
If you don't know what the scrapbook is, you can read about it here.
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My Gardening Resolutions
You might not know this about me, but it's my habit as a gardener to swing wildly from a highly mannered, formal design aesthetic to a whimsical, cluttery rather silly sort of garden. For whatever reason, I feel the serious side of me coming out now and my plan for 2014 is to turn a very small, south Texas backyard into a formal New Orleans or Charleston-style courtyard. I have already informed the Biermeister that the garage must be torn down and replaced with a carriage house. Also, the 6-foot cedar fence needs to magically transform itself into a weathered, almost crumbling stone wall.
 | | See why I need a wall? |
I'm not going to wait until these tasks are completed though! (Can you hear Biermeister's snort of laughter?) I'm busy moving all the plants I want to save and getting rid of ones that must go. (Anyone want to come dig up a ton of butterfly ginger?) And I'm collecting pictures of courtyards and very small garden spaces. Pinterest and Houzz are both very useful for this. Both sites allow you to create a virtual design scrapbook of sorts, which is useful for inspiration and also for communicating your ideas to whatever helpers you're able to enlist.
 | | Form follows function, right? |
My goal for 2014 is to keep the purpose of the backyard in mind and try to focus more on design than on plants. That's hard for a plant person. But I think it will help me overcome the "arboretum" effect I have going on back there, with one of every kind of plant I happened to see at the nursery.
What are you doing in the garden in 2014?
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Thanks for reading,
Elizabeth Barrow
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