New beginnings in the backyard

Gardens are about new beginnings. January is a excellent time to choose stock and come to a decision regardless of whether to refresh or overhaul. In this article are tips for exactly where to get started:

 Color your backyard garden now with alyssum, calendula, Chinese forget-me-nots, dianthus, Drummond phlox, English daisy, fuchsia, edging lobelia, pansies, petunias, snapdragons, inventory, toadflax and violas. For an edible flower yard, pansies, calendula, snapdragons, dianthus and pineapple sage can be harvested this month.

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 Plant ornamental kale, Swiss chard, ‘Osaka’ mustard and cardoon in fertile, properly-draining soil.

 Mulch to shield roots from upcoming freezing temperatures. Mulching also conserves soil moisture and discourages weeds, these as at any time-present oxalis.

 Water in advance of a freeze. To protect the complete plant, address it with a blanket or sheet, then insert a layer of plastic. Really don’t allow for the plastic to contact the foliage or you will get “cold melt away.” Take away the plastic as the temperature rises. Heat buildup can damage or kill vegetation.

 Plant prechilled tulips the first fifty percent of the month in a sandy, organically enriched soil. Include bone food or superphosphate to every single gap.

 In the vegetable backyard garden, sow carrots, lettuce and mustard. These can go in prepared beds or amongst your ornamentals. Sow tomatoes indoors.

 Add an architectural aspect to the backyard garden, this sort of as a hen tub, 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 tiny sap-sucking pests that attach themselves to the leaves and branches of plants. Manage with dormant oil, which smothers the insects.

 Prune crape myrtles. Stay away from topping: This large pruning leaves an hideous tree and can diminish its overall health. Topping prompts vigorous new expansion which is weakly connected and effortlessly snaps in poor weather. For a clean, potent and in a natural way shaped tree: Prune lifeless, weak and crossing branches. If ideal, eliminate any branches lesser than a pencil. Take away h2o sprouts together the branches. Maintain root suckers taken out.

 Do not prune azaleas or hydrangeas you’ll be slicing off the spring blooms. Also, do not prune hibiscus still. Freeze-ruined wood will shield the eco-friendly wooden farther down the branches. Prune to inexperienced wooden when the hazard of frost is past.