By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

Get out there and get some fresh air and exercise, remember your New Year’s resolution!

January

• Force early-flowring trees and shrubs by placing branches in water. Move to a brighter area when buds swell.
  • Burlap, snow fencing or evergreen boughs will reduce water loss in broad-leaved evergreens.
  • Put wire mesh around trees suffering from deer, mouse or rabbit damage.
  • Fireplace wood ashes add potash and trace elements to the soil. Spread thinly in the garden.
  • Send for and peruse seed catalogs for planning your flower beds, vegetable garden and landscape borders.
  

February

• Stay off frozen turf!!
  • Check mulches and tamp down if soil heaving occurred.
  • Clean and repair garden tools. Sharpen edgers, shears and mower blades or have the local hardware store do it for you. (Yes we still have them)
  • Prune summer flowering shrubs, particularly old, overgrown ones.
  • Sow annuals such as coleus, petunias, snapdragons & verbena in a soil less mix.
  • Take cuttings of coleus, heliotrope, fuchsia, begonia and lantana to make attractive plants for setting out in May. They root easily at this time of the year.