Garden News–Early January 2012

I never cease to feel fortunate to live in such a beautiful area as Campbell and the Santa Clara Valley. The Valley of Hearts Delight they used to call it, and I can understand why. We have moderate weather all year round and some of the best soil in the country, in my opinion. Just perfect for gardening!

Gardening in January? You might ask. Well, there’s almost always something to do in the garden. I always look at January as a time for planning for the season ahead, general housekeeping and a little R&R for the plants and soil.

I’ve been busy lately pruning the fruit trees that we are fortunate to have here on our property. We have two types of plums, two Fuji apples and a Bartlett pear.  It seems that January is a good time for me to do the pruning. I typically do it once a year around this time. I do my pruning now for several reasons:

1. The trees have lost most of their leaves for the year and it’s easier for me to see where to cut and get up in there on a ladder.
2. I always picture the trees as “sleeping” at this time of year and less likely to be bothered by the pruning.
3. I’m clumsy. If I were to wait much longer, the new flower buds will have started to form and I’d probably knock quite a few off with my activities.

In addition to the fruit trees, I am growing a few Fava Beans and edible pod “Snow” Peas. I started them from seeds a month or two ago and they are doing fine so far. They are growing at a slow rate, but hey, it’s January! Both of these vegetables can tolerate quite a bit of cold and should be fine as long as we don’t get several days of hard frost. I can try to cover them as well, if it gets bad enough.

We have a great artichoke plant filling out in the yard right now as well. It produces twice a year and requires very little care. The plant does take up a bit of space though. I have mine in about a 3-foot-square area and it always grows bigger than that.

Another thing I’m busy doing at this time of year is deciding what to grow this Spring and ordering seeds from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog! If you have never heard of them, you can check them out at http://rareseeds.com/Shop/. You can shop there online or request a catalog in the mail. The variety is incredible as is their catalog! It could be a great coffee table book with all the fantastic pictures. I look forward to getting mine every year! They are based in Missouri, but they have a “brick and mortar” store on the West Coast, an old bank building in downtown Petaluma. I would like to go on a field trip there sometime and check it out.

I do my best to maintain a natural garden around here. I don’t use pesticides or artificial fertilizers and encourage natural controls for common garden pests. The one exception I make is that I do use “Sluggo” snail and slug killer on occasion. It is a more natural alternative that will not harm pets, children or other wildlife. There are times of the year that the snails and slugs are so bad that I couldn’t grow anything without a little help. I’ve had all my seedlings wiped out in one night before! The trick is that I use the “Sluggo” when I see evidence of snails or slugs and I don’t use any during periods of inactivity. This saves me money over a continuous application method. A theme you’ll see a lot of in my writing. The saving money part. :)

It’s hard to talk to a gardener for very long without the subject of the weather coming up. Specifically rain, or in the case of this year, the lack of it. Call it climate change, or whatever you want, but it’s definitely more than a little strange out there for January. I even saw a couple of butterflies in the yard today!

I keep a rainfall log each year with a rain gauge in the backyard. According to my records, we’ve had less rain up to this point in the year than we've had since 2007. Most years seem to average about 6 inches of rain by this point in the year. My rain log shows 1.9 inches since it started raining in October 2011. I sure hope we get a lot more between now and April or it’s looking like a mighty dry year ahead indeed.

So, here are a few suggestions for the new year:

Try to spend a few minutes in the garden every day. I understand that it’s not always possible, especially if it’s raining, but do your best. You can keep tabs on what’s going on in your garden, it’s peaceful and it gets you away from the stress of the day, at least for a little while.

If you don’t have a garden yet, start one! Even if you don’t have a yard, a few containers on the deck or outside the front door are a great start! The benefits are many. A calm environment, healthy food for you and your family, fruits and vegetables free of unnecessary chemicals and genetic modifications, the satisfaction of producing some of your own food, flowers or herbs, an opportunity to see the local birds and insects that visit your yard and much, much more.

In the next garden post, I’ll cover some natural methods of control in your yard that you could use to build a better environment and save a little money in the process.

If there are any other gardeners out there with tips, advice or questions, please leave a comment below.

Let us give Nature a chance, she knows her business better than we do. --Michel de Montaigne - French Renaissance writer  - 1533 to 1592  

Watch for my “Tuesdays on the Trail” feature in about a week.

Thanks for reading – Steve A.