Monthly Garden Chores for January and February

What you need to do to keep your plants healthy and happy.

Your Monthly Garden Chores

January

• Plant pre-chilled bulbs early in the month.
• Plant trees this month, making sure to consider the tree’s size at maturity when selecting a site.
• Plant bare-root roses this month. Container-grown roses can be planted anytime.

February

• Prune roses. Remove dead or damaged canes back to the ground. Remove crossed or rubbing canes. Take care not to remove more than one-third of the canes on the shrub. Cut back overall size by no more than one-third. Repeat over the next two years to rejuvenate overgrown rose bushes.
• Plant potatoes. Local nurseries will have seed potatoes that do well in our area, along with instructions on how to plant them.
• Give your citrus trees their first dose of fertilizer for the year.