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Gardening Calendar
Winter weather is anything but predictable in Arkansas. Some days will be
cold and snowy, while other days can seem spring-like, yet our plants have to
suffer through as best they can. Many of our plants are not in peak condition
after the horrid season they just survived from. While there isn’t a lot you can
do to protect plants from winter damage, you still need to pay attention to the
weather and do the best you can. Make sure all of your plants have a layer of
mulch. If it ever gets dry again, water, particularly your container grown
plants, prior to a cold snap. Ample moisture in the ground can ensure ample
moisture throughout the plants, which can buffer them from winter damage. If you
see new growth buds on hydrangeas or other sensitive plants, covering with a
porous material, or even an inverted cardboard box on days when temperatures are
expected below freezing, can help. But do avoid much contact with plants when it
is cold out. Frozen branches are brittle and can be easily damaged. If heavy
snows come again this winter, lighten the load using a broom from the underside.
This can prevent limbs breaking. If you do have storm damage, prune only broken
branches quickly. Nice clean cuts are important to prevent decay. If you have
burned foliage, or possible winter die-back, let that remain until spring
arrives. The damaged plant parts can buffer the rest of the plant should we have
additional winter weather.
Winter weeds started growing extremely early this fall. By now, many lawns
have large clumps of green from henbit, chickweed, wild onions, garlic and
dandelions. The earlier you can spray and kill them, the more likely you will be
to reduce the chance of seed set for potential problems next fall and winter.
Products containing 2,4-D will give you the best results. Many gardeners want to
use a glyphosate (Roundup) product on their dormant lawn, but this can cause
damage to all lawn grasses, except for dormant bermudagrass. Even zoysia, which
looks the most straw-colored, has green grass at the soil line. If you have only
a few clumps of wild onions or dandelions, use a weed tool to get the plant out,
roots and all.
Winter annuals have been blooming nicely for a while. Fertilize pansies and
violas on a mild winter day. Deadhead spent flowers. Many spring flowering bulbs
are up and growing. Some early blooming varieties of crocus and daffodils will
actually start to bloom in February. When you see flower buds showing, that is a
great time to put a complete fertilizer around them. This way the fertilizer can
work itself into the soil, the plants can take it up and be ready to work when
the flowers are finished. Remember, all spring bulbs need at least six weeks of
growth following bloom. For those of you who just discovered a bag of bulbs you
didn’t get planted, plant them ASAP. Hopefully, you have been storing them in a
cool location where they have been meeting their chilling requirement
needs—temperatures below 50 degrees. They will not hold until next spring, so
you need to plant and enjoy them. The shorter the chilling period, the shorter
the stems will be, but they should still have time to come up and bloom.
What’s in bloom in your garden? Color can often be at a minimum in the winter
landscape, but it needn’t be so. Camellia sasanqua is still blooming
usually through January, while the Camellia japonica won’t kick in until
late February or early March. Hellebores are blooming now, as early as November
through May, depending on the variety. Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera
fragrantissima) and wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox)
both have highly fragrant blooms in the winter landscape. To get an early whiff
of fragrance, cut a few stems judiciously from the plants and force them into
bloom indoors. Mahonia or Oregon Grape Holly is another evergreen with yellow
flowers in the winter, followed by robin’s egg blue fruit. Flowering quince (Chaenomeles
speciosa) and winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) are two other
early bloomers. Berries are a great way to add color to the garden. The
deciduous hollies are loaded with fruit, and with the absence of the leaves,
their bright red or orange berries really shine. Other female hollies also have
berries, along with nandinas and skimmia. If you can get it to survive, winter
daphne (Daphne odorata) is one of the most fragrant plants in late
winter.
Depending on our winter season, mid-to-late February is the time to start the
vegetable garden. English peas and sugar snap peas are the earliest vegetables
for the garden, followed with cabbage, greens, carrots, broccoli and the other
cool-season vegetables. Start small and plant a little more each week. Make sure
you don’t work the garden if it is saturated with winter precipitation. Mulch
your plants. Early gardens tend to be the easiest to maintain, since most
insects and diseases are not active yet. Keep winter weeds hoed down to keep
them from competing with young vegetable plants.
Houseplants that are indoors are not doing much growing during our shorter
days of winter, with low light and low humidity. Fungus gnats can sometimes
plague our plants, especially if you are keeping them too wet. Catching the
offending adults on a sticky trap—a yellow piece of paper covered in petroleum
jelly works well. Then start letting the plants dry out between watering. If you
still have them after you do this for a week or two, try watering with a
solution of insecticidal soap. No fertilizer is needed now, nor is it a good
time to repot.
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