Garden Calendar
Traditionally our coldest and wettest month, but now is time to get serious in the garden. Prune roses, fruit trees, berries and grapes, and pick up your bare root plants. Now is the time to apply tribasic copper sulfate or lime sulfur to treat peach leaf curl.
February
Spring may seem far away -- it's not. Start seeds indoors for spring and summer planting. Later this month, fertilize lawns. Plant hardy annuals and perennials; you can plant some veggies including potatoes, onions and garlic. Your garden may be waterlogged from the rains, so avoid trodding on it and compacting it.
March
Time to check your irrigation systems for broken sprinkler heads and pipes, and clogged emitters, but don't be in a rush to actually use it yet. There's still time to start spring and summer vegetables indoors. Plant an herb garden. Start a compost pile, or refresh your old one with an infusion of new material.
April
Have a soil test done so you'll know what your garden might be lacking. Once the petals have dropped, spray apple and pear trees for coddling moths. And at last, if the soil is warm enough, pop those summer vegetable seedlings into the ground. Wait until later in the month to plant tomatoes.
May
Get serious about those weeds and make sure you've got a good layer of mulch -- at least 3 inches -- that will cut down on the weeds and help the soil retain water in the hotter days to come. Plant hot-weather
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annuals (asters, cosmos, marigolds, petunias and portulacas). Give roses a good feeding.
June
As the weather starts to warm up, be sure your potted plants are getting enough water. For a continual harvest of beans, corn and squash, reseed your plots every three weeks. Plant pumpkins, melons and gourds. Looking for ornamentals? Plant those shade-loving ones now, including coleus, impatiens and ferns.
July
Time is getting short, but you can probably add a couple of fast-growing tomatoes to the garden. Deep-water your established trees and check your fruit trees for stress and strain. Brace any branches that might be overburdened.
August
Put sentiment aside and pull out any vegetable plants that are starting to fade -- time to start planning for the winter garden. Prep beds by working compost and fertilizer into the soil, but omit the fertilizer in areas you'll be planting root vegetables such as beets, turnips and carrots.
September
Now is the time to plant new trees, shrubs, ground covers, lawns, perennials and vines. Tired of your lawn? Rip it out in favor of native grasses or a vegetable garden. Divide perennials. Pick up your favorite bulbs at your area nursery, and consider trying a new one this year. You'll find lots of choices at native plant nurseries or at public garden plant sales.
October
All the remnants of the summer garden should be gone, and your winter garden planted. Consider growing a cover crop in areas of the garden that have been well-worked this summer. Plant fava, wheat, vetch and rye to help replenish nitrogen in the soil and prevent erosion. It will grow happily until the first frost, then pick up where it left off when it warms again.
November
Turn off those automatic sprinklers and tuck frost-sensitive plants into protected areas. Cover succulents and cactus if you live in an area prone to frost. Considering planting bare root plants in January? Dig the holes now so you don't have to do it in the rain.
Another year has flown by. Prune fruit trees and vines, reshape conifers and evergreens. Plant the last of your bulbs and start planning your spring and summer garden.
By- Joan Morris of Mercury News