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New Year's resolutions for gardeners


At a plant sale, at the UC Davis Arboretum or elsewhere, it's sooo easy to load up the cart with cool-looking plants. Resolve to buy from a plan so your purchases don't languish in their pots for lack of planting. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Start with a calendar and taking notes



Happy New Year! We (and our gardens) survived another 12 months. But what can we do to make 2020 better?

As we open our new calendar, it’s that time when we again take stock of ourselves and our habits, vowing to change. As gardeners, some simple resolutions will make our overall tasks much easier – and help our plants thrive.

1. Get a calendar and use it. Not just to keep track of dates, but when certain tasks such as fertilization, spraying and pruning should be done. You may think you can remember when you did or should do things, but putting them in writing allows you to see progress at a glance. Use that calendar to make notations when you planted seeds, fed your tomatoes and other tasks. As a bonus, master gardener calendars include those reminders each month.

2. Fertilize in time. Your plants need certain important nutrients at critical steps in their development. Giving your tomatoes loads of nitrogen may be helpful when first transplanted in April, but produces nothing but vine in mid-summer. Roses, for example, respond to monthly feeding during their bloom periods (make notes on that calendar). Figure out in advance when you should feed your garden and mark it on your calendar.

3. Don't overwater. OK, it looks like it’s going to be a good water year (knock on wood), but water saving is always a good idea. Too much water still does more harm than good, promoting rot and fungal disease.

4. Don't buy plants without a plan. (That goes for seeds, too.) I have dozens of seed packets that looked so enticing in the catalog or store, but never got planted – there wasn’t enough time or space! How many pretty plants have to die in their pots without being transplanted for me to learn this lesson?

5. Clean and sharpen tools regularly! Good tools make jobs go faster. (That’s a major lesson during pruning season.) Treat tools well and they’ll last for years.

6. Keep track of what you planted and where. Draw a garden map, label major plants with permanent markers, make notes on that calendar – whatever works for you. Months (or years) from now when you need to know a variety (yes, it’s a rose, but which one?), you’ll have the answer handy. This is also important when planting bulbs or perennials that tend to “disappear” before resurfacing.

7. Remember to have fun. Gardening shouldn’t be all work. The more time we spend enjoying our gardens, the more rewarding they will be.

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Garden Checklist for week of June 22

Mornings this first week of summer will remain comfortably cool – just right for gardening!

* Water early in the morning to cut down on evaporation. Check soil moisture and deep water trees and shrubs. Keep new transplants and veggies evenly moist. Deep water tomatoes to encourage deep roots.

* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias. It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather.

* Avoid pot “hot feet.” Place a 1-inch-thick board under container plants sitting on pavement. This little cushion helps insulate them from radiated heat.

* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.

* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

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