Gardening By The Months

Follow these helpful year round tips.

January

Work on those hardscape elements, repair the fence, screw down those deck boards, put a bench in the garden or around a tree and someone please feed the birds ·

Mulch trees, shrubs, perennial beds, garden paths (if you haven’t) and fertilize pansies and ornamental cabbage·   
Dormant spraying of fruit trees, cotoneaster, dogwoods,·   
Prune deciduous trees and shrubs. Don't prune your spring flowering shrubs or hydrangeas because you will remove the flower.· Forsythia, Jasmine and Quince sprays can be cut and brought into the house now for forcing·    
Use your fireplace ashes as fertilizer for your Iris and other alkaline soil plants (ok, I don’t think this really works, but I saw it online…. but bone meal, superphosphate and 6-10-10 are all effective)·    
Turn your garden soil to expose insect eggs·   
Force Hyacinth, Paper white Narcissus, and Lily of the Valley bulbs into bloom indoors, in a shallow bowl of water, or in pots·

February

Lawns- Fertilize Fescue Lawns, apply a pre-emergent herbicide to control summer annual weeds late in the month as the weather gets above freezing. If it's still cold, wait till March.
Trees and Shrubs - Prune deciduous trees and shrubs. Prune springflowering> shrubs after bloom.
This is a good time of the year for planting trees and shrubs.
Flowers - Fertilize as the weather warms your Pansies, Dianthus and other winter bloomers
Plant bare-root Roses and prune existing ones.
Fruits and Vegetables - Prune fruit trees
Start seeds of peppers, broccoli and cauliflower this month.
Chores- Pick up the rest of those leaves and start getting those new garden beds ready.

March

If you have liriope (monkey grass) and who doesn't, now is the time to give it a haircut! If you have a large area, don't be afraid to use a lawnmower set on the highest setting.
If you spread lime on your yard, now is a good time to do this. Approximately 40 lbs per 1000 sqft.
Remember to keep your pansies fertilized.
Depending on your weather, you can put some of your vegetables in the ground...just remember to watch out for any freezing temps!
Divide your perennials while the temps are still cool enough.
Once your early blooming shrubs have flowered, go ahead and prune them.
Do not prune your spring blooming shrubs until they have bloomed. You don't want to cut off your blooms.

April

Check your local extension service to find out your frost date. I've planted outside before the frost date, but I always keep an eye on my plants if I do. The frost date in my part of Georgia is April 15. That is when it is pretty safe to put the rest of your vegetables outside and any houseplants you have can go out.
Make sure all your beds are weeded and plants divided...it is going to get warm quickly.
If you like planting flowers from seed, now is a good time to do that.
Your local nursery may already have annuals ready for planting. Go ahead and find your favorites and get those in the ground.

May

Once your Iris' have bloomed, go ahead and dig them up and move them if they are crowded.
Control fire ants by lightly scattering a bait over your lawn. 48 hours later, use an insecticide on any large mounds you can see.
Plant the remainder of any vegetables that you didn't get in the ground.

June

Keep an eye on your watering! Check out the tip on watering at the top of the page.
Plant those warm season grasses now. They like it when the ground is warm, just make sure you water it regularly.
Keep your garden mulched, but don't get the mulch too close to stalks of the plants.
Collect the seeds from foxglove stalks. Scratch the soil around the plant, scatter the seed and cover with a bit of earth. Water occasionally and the seedlings that sprout this year will bloom next year.
Once the blooms on your hydrangeas have faded, go ahead and prune back the shrub. Sometimes this will promote new branches and in some cases, new blooms.

July

You still have time to plant marigold, cosmos, cleome and dwarf sunflower seeds.You will get a nice showing of color until the first frost.
Don't be afraid to clip off dead flower heads (dead heading). This will encourage new growth and bushiness of the plant.
Harvest all those vegetables.

August

Now is a good time to fertilize your roses. They have bloomed like crazy and need some extra vitamins to insure they bloom up until the first frost.
There are 2 main types of tomatoes; ones that flush and ones that don't. I plant both types to insure that I have tomatoes throughout the season. My favorite tomatoes that flush are Romas and Rutgers. Once they have all come in it isn't even worth keeping the plant. So, I pull it out and throw it in my compost pile.

September

Once the temperature starts dropping, you can start transplanting any plants in your garden.
If it is still warm, make sure you have your late season plants in the ground. Lettuce, broccoli, peas and greens. There is nothing better than fresh collards in January! Just in time for New Years Day!
If you are a grass lover, now is the time to put out a pre-emergent. Do it, you'll be happy you did in the spring.
I plant trees and shrubs all year long, but this is one of my favorite times to put those things in the ground because you don't have to water so much. Now don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean you don't water, you just don't have to fight the heat with so much watering!

October

Start putting those pansies in the ground for some great fall/winter color. Keep them fertilized for lots of color during the winter months.
Cut back the brown part of your coneflower, hostas, daylilies, shasta dasies and black eyes susans.
If you have chrysanthemums or asters, go ahead and cut those back about 6-8 inches.
Plant spring bulbs now.
Finish dividing any perennial plants.

November

Fertilize those pansies and violas!
Clean up the beds in your yard. Move out any dead branches or debris from your beds. This is your time to get your beds ready for the spring.
Plant more bulbs. Make sure that any summer bulbs have been pulled up and stored for the cold season.
Water any new plants that you put in this fall.

December

Fertilize those pansies and violas!
Water any new plants that you put in this fall.
If you have a live Christmas tree, make sure it is watered.

Watering your tomatoes...

Most people are tempted to get out in the yard every day and water. But tomatoes aren't happy if they get too much water.So how much water is too much??

The secret to watering for successful tomatoes: Always check your soil first. Yep. That's it. First stick your finger in to the soil by the root of your plant. If you feel ANY moisture, don't water! Wait until your finger comes up dry, THEN you can give your plant a good soaking.

Another secret to growing tomatoes? Plant basil next to them. Basil keeps insects from getting on your tomatoes as they don't like strong smell of the basil.

Back to enjoying a tomato sandwich...the first tomato in the garden was a Better Boy, next to come in are the Romas and the Rutgers!

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