For:
By: Daniel E. Mullins
Extension Horticulture Agent
Plan for a New Year of Gardening
Time management experts generally agree that if you plan to accomplish something, first write it down. Somehow this is supposed to help us reach agreement with ourselves and make us more likely to actually do something instead of just thinking or talking about it.
Such is the case with gardening. Instead of the usual overworked list of New Year’s horticultural resolutions, let’s consider some potential gardening projects and discuss the recommended time for getting them done – after you write them down of course.
Lawn Renovation: By rule of thumb, don’t consider a redo of the entire lawn unless half or more of it is dead. Even so, put this work off until well into spring. April is considered the ideal month for renovation work including: thatch removal, aerification, seeding, plugging and sodding.
Shrub and Tree Planting: With enough attention to irrigation after transplanting, this can be done at almost any time of the year if containerized plants are used. However, the cooler months are better. Fall, winter and early spring transplanting allows time for root growth to occur before the demands brought on by summer heat.
Pruning of Fruit Trees and Vines: Any major pruning should be done during the dormant season. That means late December, January and early February in our area. The various fruit types have specific pruning requirements. If unsure, contact your local Extension office for advice or publications.
Annual Flower Beds: There is still time for a late planting of the cool season flowers for late winter and early spring color. If good bedding plants are available in January, plant pansies, snapdragons and petunias in prepared beds.
Vegetables: There are cool season and warm season vegetables with the time that each group is established being a key to success. Serious vegetable gardeners should obtain a copy of the Extension “Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide,” which lists the recommended planting dates for 20 different warm season and 25 cool season vegetables. Using this guide, it is possible to plant and harvest fresh vegetables from the garden during every month of the year.
Planting Fruit Trees: January is considered to be the ideal month for purchasing and transplanting fruit trees. Most are sold in the dormant stage and the best selection is available at this time.
Repairing Cold Injury: Depending upon winter conditions, there will be varying amounts of cold injury to some landscape plants. Don’t get in a big hurry about removing this damaged growth. There is often a delayed reaction between the time that tissue is killed and visual symptoms appear. Wait until late winter or early spring to remove dead twigs and branches.
Try Something New: Make plans to try a new plant during the year. For those who wish to be ahead of the gardening curve, the Perennial Plant Association has already chosen their “Plant of the Year” for 2004. It is the Japanese painted fern. Growing to a height and width of 12 to 18 inches, it exhibits shades of gray, green, red and purple. The Florida Nursery and Grower’s Association’s list of Plants of the Year includes: Stoke’s Aster, Evergreen Paspalum (Paspalum quadrifarium), Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow (Brunfelsia grandiflora), Beautyberry and Little Gem Magnolia.
Question of the Week: I would like to plant some seed from a tangerine fruit. If I do, will it produce?
Answer: Properly planted and cared for, the seed would germinate and produce a tree eventually. After that things get somewhat complicated. Most commercial fruits including citrus, are clones. They were bred or selected for certain desirable traits and then reproduced by budding or grafting onto a selected rootstock. Using this method of propagation, the offspring is exactly like the mother plant.
Seed
propagation on the other hand, is sexual reproduction and variation shows up in
seedlings. Chances are great that the
resulting tangerine trees and fruit would be different in one or more ways.