NEW BEGINNINGS IN THE GARDEN
11 tips for starting over and turning your backyard into an oasis
Gardens are about new beginnings. January is a great time to take stock and decide whether to refresh or overhaul. Here are tips for where to start:
• Color your garden now with alyssum, calendula, Chinese forget-me-nots, dianthus, Drummond phlox, English daisy, fuchsia, edging lobelia, pansies, petunias, snapdragons, stock, toadflax and violas. For an edible flower garden, pansies, calendula, snapdragons, dianthus and pineapple sage can be harvested this month.
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Audrey Hepburn
• Plant ornamental kale, Swiss chard, ‘Osaka’ mustard and cardoon in fertile, well-draining soil.
• Mulch to protect roots from upcoming freezing temperatures. Mulching also conserves soil moisture and discourages weeds, such as ever-present oxalis.
• Water before a freeze. To protect the entire plant, cover it with a blanket or sheet, then add a layer of plastic. Don’t allow the plastic to touch the foliage or you’ll get “cold burn.” Remove the plastic as the temperature rises. Heat buildup can harm or kill plants.
• Plant prechilled tulips the first half of the month in a sandy, organically enriched soil. Add bone meal or superphosphate to each hole.
• In the vegetable garden, sow carrots, lettuce and mustard. These can go in prepared beds or among your ornamentals. Sow tomatoes indoors.
• Add an architectural element to the garden, such as a bird bath, trellis, finial or fountain.
• Plant shrubs and roses. Or plant trees to celebrate Houston’s Arbor Day, Jan. 18.
• Check camellias, hollies and fruit trees for scale, the small sap-sucking pests that attach themselves to the leaves and branches of plants. Control with dormant oil, which smothers the insects.
• Prune crape myrtles. Avoid topping: This heavy pruning leaves an ugly tree and can diminish its health. Topping prompts vigorous new growth that’s weakly attached and easily snaps in bad weather. For a clean, strong and naturally shaped tree: Prune dead, weak and crossing branches. If desired, remove any branches smaller than a pencil. Remove water sprouts along the branches. Keep root suckers removed.
• Do not prune azaleas or hydrangeas; you’ll be cutting off the spring blooms. Also, don’t prune hibiscus yet. Freeze-damaged wood will protect the green wood farther down the branches. Prune to green wood when the danger of frost is past.