January Chores

By Karen B. Chang, U. C. Master Gardener 

Cold, gray, wet January days give us the perfect excuse to be indoors planning spring and summer gardens. Is there a more pleasurable way to spend the time than looking at seed catalogs and imagining bright summer blooms and harvests from the vegetable garden? We have to avoid walking on soggy garden soil anyway, especially clay soil, so as not to compact it.

As you are planning your garden layout, remember to rotate crops in the vegetable garden. It's a good idea not to plant related crops in the same location in consecutive seasons to minimize the chance that pathogens will become established. Don't follow melons with squash or cucumbers, for example, as these related crops are subject to the same diseases. Similarly, tomatoes and eggplants are both subject to Verticillium wilt, a soil pathogen. If your soil becomes infected, then planting a crop that is not a host for three to four years should eliminate that pathogen from the soil.

Crop rotation also controls pests that develop on a narrow range of food plants, especially if these pests have a short migration range. Moving crops to different sites isolates such pests from their food source. 

Soil management

  • We've had some heavy rains so avoid tilling the wet soil.
  • If you made basins for irrigation around trees last summer, break down the walls now so that water won't accumulate around the tree trunk when it rains. Look out for spots in the garden where water might pool, and re-grade so that the water flows away. Most plants don't like standing water. Trees become susceptible to crown rot, and roots are cut off from oxygen and may rot.
 

 

Planting

  • Purchase and plant bare-root fruit and shade trees when the soil is workable. Grapes and cane and bush berries are also available as bare-root plants now.
  • If the soil dries out enough to work, it would be a good time to relocate trees and shrubs or remove unwanted plants.
  • Sow these cool season vegetable seeds directly into the soil: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, kale, lettuce, peas, radish, spinach and turnip. Wait until the soil begins to warm before planting other seeds.
  • Set out crowns of artichokes, asparagus, horseradish and strawberries.
  • For some bright color now, plant these from four-inch containers: calendulas, candytuft, cineraria, dianthus, English daisy, English and fairy primrose, Iceland poppy, pansy, snapdragon, stock and viola.
 

Maintenance

  • Keep on top of those weeds; hand pull or hoe carefully as they germinate. You'll be happy you did so now instead of having to battle them when they have established deep roots in the spring. Eliminate them before they have a chance to set seed and propagate another crop of weeds.
  • Gather fallen leaves for your compost.
  • If frost is forecast, make sure plants are well watered; dry plants are more susceptible to frost damage. Cover plants to protect them, making sure that the cover doesn't rest on the plant itself. Remember to remove the covering once the sun is up so the plant gets light.
  • Prune fruit trees and roses and spray with a fungicide or horticultural oil to kill over-wintering insect eggs, mites, soft-bodied insects and some scales. The Napa County Master Gardeners are conducting two free workshops on pruning roses: Saturday, January 7, in Calistoga, and Saturday, January 14, in Napa. The workshops will include a pruning demonstration and hands-on pruning by attendees. For more information, visit the Master Gardener website at http://cenapa.ucdavis.edu. Call 707-253-4221 to reserve your place.
  • Spray peach and nectarine trees with a copper-based fungicide to control peach leaf curl if you didn't spray in December. Repeat in late February and again just before bud break.
  • Cut back to 12 inches hydrangea stems that have bloomed. To produce fewer but larger flowers, reduce the number of stems by cutting some back to the base of the plant. To yield numerous medium-size blooms, retain more stems.
  • Prune old growth from perennials to discourage pests and encourage new buds to form. Don't prune azaleas, camellias, lilacs or viburnums until they have finished blooming.
  • Citrus trees are heavy nitrogen users so fertilize now, following the instructions on the package.
 

 

Harvest

  • Bring in the crops planted in the late summer and fall: broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach and root crops. Plants grow more slowly in cold weather, but you still need to check for maturity regularly.