Gardening resolutions for the new year
By By Steve Strong / area horticulture extension agent
Jan. 8, 2003
January marks the traditional beginning of a new year in Western culture and is viewed as a time to start fresh with a new outlook on life.
New Year's resolutions are an essential part of this annual tradition, as folks compile lists of promises to get more exercise, quit smoking and even act nicer toward their neighbors.
Resolution stems from the word "resolve," to break apart something and analyze it, and to reach a decision with firm determination. I decided to turn this time of reflection toward the gardening experience and develop a short annual checklist of horticultural practices that are easy to follow and will make life easier in 2003.
The first promise is to resist fertilizing the lawn or landscape until the proper time, when the plants can actually absorb the stuff without causing a problem.
Fruit and shade trees (pear, pecan, blueberry, or crape myrtle) can be dosed with 8-8-8 or other type of special nursery fertilizer around early March, but any sooner results in rainwater runoff and evaporation of the nutrients before the plants can use them.
Lawn grass can wait until May, despite what any so-called garden expert says (OK, early April for folks applying expensive slow-release nitrogen fertilizers on Bermuda lawns, but no sooner).
Warm season turf grass such as St. Augustine, Centipede, Zoysia, and Bermuda do not actively grow until the soil temperature reaches about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so be aware that winter applications of nitrate normally promote spring disease problems like Brown Patch and deadly Take-All fungus.
The next resolution is to manage summer weed problems with early prevention strategies, like using pre-emergent herbicide on lawn grass during the dormant season (late January-early March).
Valentine's Day is a good date to shoot for, right in the middle of the winter season, and just before a lot of spring/summer weeds seeds begin to germinate.
Pre-emergent herbicides work best to kill weed seedlings as they emerge from dormancy, usually about two months before lawn grass or flower beds begin their growing season (in April or May).
Remember that neither lawn turf nor summer blooming plants are able to absorb fertilizer during the winter months, so it's your call on whether to choose weed-and-feed products for your landscape.
Another essential part of good gardening is to prune plants only during the proper season, and the correct time depends on the type of plant being pruned.
Large limbs on woody plants should be pruned only during the dormant season to avoid excess sap flow, while fruit tree branches can be thinned any time between February and the middle of the growing season.
Many fruit growers wait till at least mid-March to prune, which keeps the plants dormant longer and help prevent freeze injury on new growth. Roses and crape myrtles are usually cut back between January and March, but for spring blooming shrubs like azaleas, wait and prune sometime after the flowering cycle but no later than mid-July.
Soil testing, amending poor dirt with compost before planting, mulching, watering correctly, planting more native species for wildlife habitat and trying new plant varieties also make the top 10 list for gardening resolutions in 2003.
Rounding out the list is the resolve to use more organic-based fertilizers when possible, and not simply because they work better on vegetables and flowers by enriching the soil biology.
There is an environmental responsibility that humans have to face up to when creating all these extra waste products (cow, chicken, horse manures, and even municipal biomass), and what better way to use them than in a recycling process.
That's where the bit about being more kind to your neighbor comes into play, because whether you're talking 13-13-13 or rabbit poop, it all trickles downhill.
Happy New Year, and happy gardening.
