SDGC GARDENING CALENDAR

Refer to SDGC News In Bloom for details.

JANUARY

General - Stay out/off of garden & lawn

Plant - Plant if ground is frost-free: bare root fruit trees, shrubs

- Start lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower in cold frames

Prune - fruit trees, cane fruits

Plant Health - Fungicide: fruit trees & canes, roses

- Leaf curl: peaches

- Lime, boron if necessary

FEBRUARY

General - Water esp. under eaves, evergreens if rainfall is low

Plant - Start: tuberous begonias, hardy annuals

- Pot up geraniums, take cuttings

- Sprout early potatoes

- Plant: sweetpeas, rhubarb, shallots, broad beans, peas, leeks, radish, parsley, fruit trees & canes, shrubs, roses

Prune - Fruit trees & canes, blueberries

- Cut back old leaves: Hellebore

- Cut at 15 cm: buddleia, summer-blooming clematis 

Plant Health - Spray fungicide if not done in January

- Moss control: aluminum sulphate 

- top dress perennials,

-  In-ground fertilize ornamental & fruit trees

- Fertilize berries

- Aerate soil if not waterlogged

MARCH

General - Water esp. under eaves, evergreens if rainfall is low

- Compost unrotted perennials/vegetation once bees, ladybugs have emerged from hibernation

Plant - Plant: lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower

- Sow grass seed after 20th

- Tie-up climbing roses, clematis, cane fruits 

Start: tender annuals, tomatoes, strawberries, onions, chard, spinach, parsnips

Prune - Roses when the forsythia blooms

- Trim hedges

Plant Health - Prepare ground/Turn vegetable patch

- Top dress/fertilize annuals

- Top-dress nitrogen: roses

- Top-dress compost, organics: evergreens

- Feed ammonium sulphate or fish fertilizer: rhubarb

APRIL

General - Water esp. under eaves, evergreens if rainfall is low

- Compost unrotted perennials/vegetation once bees, ladybugs have emerged from hibernation

Plant - bedders, summer bulbs, perennials, container plants

Prune - winter heathers

Plant Health - Feed spring flowers

- Mulch

- Water during morning

MAY 

General - Plan for successive vegetable crops. Follow crop rotation plan.

Plant - Vegetables, annuals, container-grown plants

- Last chance for lawn seeding before summer

Prune - Late-spring blooming trees, shrubs, perennials

Plant Health - Fish fertilizer on broad-leaf evergreens

- Black spot - spray with skim milk mixture

- Water as needed

- Mulch, top dress to suppress weeds

JUNE

General - Deadhead, water, allow biological controls to grow/live in garden

Plant - Container plants

- Stake floppy plants

- Divide iris, spring perennials

Prune - Spring bloomers - cut off dead foliage, seedpods

- Thin tree fruits, grapes

Plant Health - Fish fertilizer on container plants

- Black spot - spray with skim milk mixture

- Water as needed, deeply but not too often

- Mulch, top dress to suppress weeds

JULY

General - Water, deadhead, mulch

Plant - Fall vegetables, bulbs

- Spring annuals

- Take soft wood cuttings

Prune - Lightly: heather, wisteria

- Hedges, espalier trees

- Cut out flower/fruit wood: rambler roses, canes

Plant Health - Powdery mildew - does not affect plant production

- Black spot: spray with skim milk mixture

- Water, mulch, fertilize as needed

AUGUST

General - Water, deadhead, mulch, eat veggies

Plant - Spring bulbs and seedlings, lettuce, leeks

- Container plants

Prune - Top tomato plant at 4th truss

- Black spot: spray with skim milk mixture

- Deadhead

Plant Health - Feed: fish/other fertilizer

- Water deeply, not too often

SEPTEMBER

General - Bare earth yields weeds, soil erosion, dead bees. Let plants die naturally and rot in place, returning nutrients to soil and sheltering beneficial insects.

Plant - Seed lawns, onions

- Bulbs, spring bloomers, container plants

Prune - Hedges

Plant Health - Fertilize: fall bloomers, strawberries

- Mulch trees

- Water as needed

OCTOBER

General - Bare earth yields weeds, soil erosion, dead bees. Let plants die naturally and rot in place, returning nutrients to soil and sheltering beneficial insects. Dried stems/flower heads give winter interest as well as seeds for birds.

Plant - Indoor herbs

- Bulbs, ground & forcing

- Evergreens, shrubs, trees, rhubarb

- Lawn seed until 10th

- Divide peonies

Prune - Take geranium cuttings

- Summer flowering wood

Plant Health - Feed: fall bloomers

- Dig, store tubers, corms

- Leave dying plants as mulch EXCEPT

- Roses: Pick up all leaves (black spot)

NOVEMBER

General - Keep off the garden, grass. Compressed soil damages roots.

Plant - Garlic, bare root plants

Prune - Roses: 1/3 to 1/2 in height

Plant Health - Roses; Pick up all leaves (black spot)

- Lime

DECEMBER

General - Keep off the garden

Plants - Bare root trees

Prune - Rose if not done in Nov.

Plant Health - Dormant spray fruit trees

- Protect tender plants from frost, ice at roots

- Clean tools, oil, sharpen

-- Angelika  (member of South Delta Garden Club)