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www.gaygardener.com
©2002 Gay Gardener
All Rights Reserved
When the lights and ornaments come off your Christmas tree, don't throw away the tree. It has all sorts of uses for the savvy gardener. The limbs can be pruned off and placed on top of your flowerbeds of nursery rows, to protect your plants from freezes and thaws in the early spring. You can use the longest branches, arranged in a teepee fashion around your evergreens, to shield them from harsh winter winds.
If you have a live balled tree, you should get it planted as soon after the holiday festivities as possible. Hopefully you dug the planting hole for it before the ground froze in your area. Place the tree no deeper in the ground than it was growing in the nursery.
After filling in around the ball and packing it good, place mulch around the base of the young tree and water it well. If we have any thaws in Jan. or Feb. give the newly planted tree a good watering.
GOOD NEWSThe mail carriers should be bringing you all of the new seed and nursery catalogues. As winter-weary gardeners we jump right to dreams of what we think might look good in our own gardens, without giving much thought to where we will plant them or the weeding, cultivating, and watering these new plants will need in the summer.
As you are paging through them if something catches your eye, try to plan where you will grow them, before ordering from the catalogue. If you buy things you like and don't have a plan for where to plant them, at proper shipping time in your area, you can quickly get overwelmed when your order arrives and you have to get all the stuff planted.
BIRDS OF A FEATHERYour bird feeders should have a steady stream of customers these days. It is very fun and entertaining to just sit at a window and watch the antics of the birds as they feed.
The advanced 'birders' are on the alert to identify any unusual birds that drop by for a quick snack. While the novice is happy if he can just identify one, two, or three different species.
They say that if you start feeding the birds, you should try to keep your feeders filled all winter long. Because the birds get used to coming there for food, and any sudden changes could leave them unable to find food and possibily lead to starvation.
finches like millet and wheat--scratch grains
chickadees, titmice, and woodpeckers are the suet eaters
thrushes like apple chunks, rasins, and bits of oranges
bluejays and nuthatches prefer sunflower seeds
morning doves like cracked corn and scratch grains
To Do List
- January -
- Start geranium seeds indoors for summer bedding plants
- Put some paperwhite Narcissus bulbs in a shallow dish filled with water
- Take leaf cuttings of African violets
- Brush heavy snow from evergreens with a broom
- When Amaryllis flowers fade, cut off the flower spike but keep the plant growing to replenish the bulb
- Place cyclamens in a cool room and keep the soil moist
- Start gloxinias in a moist soil mixture
- Use sand instead of salt on icy sidewalks
- Tie down any climbing rose branches whipping in the wind
- When poinsettias drop their leaves, stop watering, put in cool place to rest
- If Christmas cactus is still blooming, give it a half cup of water every three days
- See that bird feeding stations are kept filled
- These gardenless days are a good time to plan any changes to beds and borders
- Try and attend more meetings of your local garden club
- Bring in some branches of pussy willow or forsythia to force for indoor bloom
- Towards the end of the month start your coleus and begonia seeds indoors