Gardening Calendar
Refer to SDGC News In Bloom for more 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
-- by Angelika (member of South Delta Garden Club)