January Gardening Chores

Starting seed indoors

As I mentioned in December, January is the perfect time to start seeds that have long germination and maturation periods. Things like foxglove, kale, chives, spinach, onions, lavender are just a few. Some stores won’t have seed packets ready yet, but local greenhouses and garden centres keep them around for most of the year. The back of the seed packet will tell you when to start planting them and under what conditions.

If you love greens, sow seeds in an indoor planter and place them in a sunny spot for a lovely indoor winter harvest opportunity.

I like to find nice days during the winter period to prune my apple and cherry trees. The first step is to remove the ‘3 Ds’: dead, diseased, and damaged. Check for live wood by scratching the bark to see if it is green under the bark. Cut back to a healthy bud or lateral branch. Remove crossing branches and those growing towards the centre. This opens up the middle of the tree, improving air flow and making it less susceptible to diseases.

Look at last year’s growth. Is it getting too high? I keep my fruit trees on the shorter side so that my family only have to use a smaller step ladder to reach the top fruits. I’ve kept my cherry trees to my height so no ladder is needed at all, and they still have too much fruit for us to get through. Cut back last year’s growth by 1/3 to outward facing buds and space the branches evenly around the tree. All cuts should be at an angle to avoid dead wood. Remove the suckers at the base of the tree if you can dig through the snow.

The goal is to encourage a strong and solid framework on young trees, maintain a manageable shape, and encourage fruit production on mature trees.

Often people purchase a house where a fruit tree was not properly maintained. The tree has become bushy and weak and produces poor quality fruit. This requires extensive corrective pruning. It’s taken me 3 or 4 seasons to shape our tree to the look we want, and some of those years it didn’t produce as much fruit because of the hard pruning. Check fruit trees for evidence of rodent injury to bark. See our article on Mice and Voles for further advice on what to do if this happens.

There really aren’t many outdoor tasks in the garden in January, so why not take care of the feathered wildlife in your yard? Fill some bird feeders or hang some suet and watch the array of birds that flock to the feast. Attracting these colorful friends to the feeders will provide some entertainment and joy as you await the milder days to come. Clean feeders once every 2 weeks with a solution that is 9 parts water and 1 part bleach, scrubbing away any debris. Let the feeder dry before refilling. Purchasing better quality bird food lessens the mess around your feeder, I know it’s much cheaper to buy that huge bag of feed at Costco, but a lot of that seed is wasted because our birds do not eat it. They’re picky eaters and will throw the unused seed out onto the ground, which attracts pests. If there are particular birds you want to attract, I recommend visiting one of Edmonton’s bird stores. Wildbird General Store or Wild Birds Unlimited will give you fantastic advice on which bird seed you’ll need.

Healthy gardens start with a robust and nutrient-rich soil structure, and what better way to do this than making your own compost? You can add kitchen scraps to your compost all winter. My household upgraded our green bin to a stainless steel bin with a carbon filter on its lid to stop smells leaking out. There are many good scraps you can add to your compost that you may be throwing in your regular garbage, including coffee grounds, tea bags, and egg shells. Just don’t throw in any meat or dairy products.

If you want to learn more about composting, why not sign up to become a Master Composter Recycler with the City of Edmonton? I took this course many years ago and benefited greatly from it. But hurry because applications close mid-January.

If you still need more information about composting you can call 311 to ask for advice or take out some books from the library. I have several composting books I like to refer to.

Here in Edmonton, throughout the winter season we sometimes get periods where the temperatures rise above the 0℃ mark. Things start melting and then freeze overnight. This can be troublesome on our sidewalks, especially when it comes to safety. Many residents scatter ice melt, turning their sidewalk pink or blue from the dye in the crystals. However, this can damage your precious plants! Avoid using salt or chemical ice melts and try alternatives like sand, sawdust or zeolite for traction control. In spring these natural products can be swept onto your lawn or flower bed. They will help your soil, breaking down clay soil and aerating it. This helps it retain more water to support your plants.

Here’s wishing you the very best for the new year from all of us at the Edmonton Horticultural Society. May your gardens be plentiful and your flowers abundant this coming season.

Happy gardening everyone.