Monthly Gardening Tasks for the month of January December 29th, 2015

• Turn off irrigation if rain more than 1” over 2 weeks otherwise the seasonal adjustment on the irrigation controller should be set to 15-20%
• Prune Roses to three main canes approximately 18” in height. Clean up all dropped leaves from around the roses.
• Prune fruit trees, and other leafless trees and shrubs from December through January. WARNING: Do not prune spring blooming shrubs and trees such as lilac, quince, flowering cherry etc. until the blooming period is over.
• To prevent summer suckering prune branches to larger branch – thinning out 1/3 of the branches to enable airflow and better tree health
• Fruit Tree Dormant Spraying– Early winter is a good time to make an application of dormant spray to help control over-wintering insect and disease problems. A combination Lime Sulfur and Oil spray or Copper spray are the ones most often used for winter dormant spraying. Do not spray when the temperatures are below freezing; or when it is raining; or at a time when the wind is blowing. Apply the spray according to label directions.
• Start seeds of cool-season vegetables such as spinach now for seedlings to plant outside in February.
• If cold weather is predicted, make sure plants are well watered (dry plants are more susceptible to frost damage).
• Move tender container plants (citrus, cymbidium, Mandeville, and hibiscus, for instance) beneath overhangs or into the garage. For frost-tender plants too large to move or growing in the ground, protect with burlap (don’t let the cover touch the leaves)
• Sharpen and clean gardening tools.
• Hydrangea: Non ever-blooming varieties– Bloom off old wood so avoid severe pruning all branches- – Prune half the branches severely and the reset to bud to ensure you have blooms- then next year prune those that you did not prune this year.