Monthly Gardening Calendar
Sharon Morrisey, Consumer Horticulture Agent
University of Wisconsin-Extension in Milwaukee Co.

Some tout this as the true beginning of the new millenium.  Any excuse for a big bash will do.

Make at least one of your new millenium resolutions a gardening one.  Maybe a big project like a pond, raised beds in the vegetable garden or a cold frame.  Or make this the year that you keep a garden journal - all season long!  Or you could finally map your perennial bed.  Maybe you will get around to renovating that part of the yard that was once in full sun and has matured to cool shade.

Visit the UW-Extension Horticulture Webpage at www.uwex.edu/ces/wihort/.  It is filled with helpful, up-to-date information on gardening in Wisconsin including links to many other educational gardening sites.  Also check the Milwaukee County UW-Extension's website at milwaukee.uwex.edu (note there is no "www." In this address) Then go to the Yard & Garden Line page for even more links.

Maybe it is further education you need to reach your gardening goals.  The UW-Extension Master Gardener volunteer training program begins in many counties statewide in late January.  This program involves horticultural training courses and in return requires volunteer service for UW-Extension gardening programs and projects. Call your county UW-Extension office for details and the training site nearest you.  In the Milwaukee metro area, call 290-2416.  Leave your name and mailing address to receive registration information.

First Week

Reuse your Christmas tree in your own yard to provide protective cover for our feathered friends.  Place it near an existing feeder or make the tree itself a natural feeding station.

Another option is to cut off the limbs and use them to cover planting beds where perennial flowers, strawberries, parsley, carrots, etc. are trying to survive the winter.

They also give added protection when used to screen broadleaf evergreens like boxwood,hollies,and rhododendrons from sun and wind.

Next spring these limbs, bare by then, can be used to stake vining vegetable plants and perennials that tend to get floppy such as delphiniums and peonies.

Use the limbless Christmas tree trunk as a naturalistic bed edging or lay it at the back of a mulched perimeter planting bed to decompose naturally.

Brush off ice and wet snow from tree and shrub limbs.  Use an upward sweeping motion to prevent breakage.  Tie together tall, multiple stemmed evergreens like arborvitae with wire covered with hose segments or old pantyhose.  Sometimes bent branches can have small cracks that are invisible once the branch has snapped back into place. Then in June when the branch inexplicably wilts, the correlation to this winter damage is seldom made.

Bulbs in cold storage for forcing can be brought out now if they have had their proper chilling period.  Small bulbs like crocus and hyacinth need 8 weeks and larger ones like tulip and daffodil need 12 - 14.  If potted before storing, simply move them into a warmer and lighter area and begin watering. If stored cold but unpotted, pot them into a well-drained medium that will also hold plenty of moisture.  Keep them cool and dark until roots form.       

Care of poinsettia, amaryllis and holiday cactus after flowering includes bright light, cool temperatures and reduced watering.  Start fertilizing now with a dilute, balanced fertilizer.             

Second Week

Check trees and shrubs for signs of rodent, rabbit, and deer feeding.  Install small mesh hardware cloth, chicken wire or plastic trunk guards. Apply repellents to susceptible plants like young fruit trees and burning bush.  Be certain to reapply repellents often since they wear off over time.                 

Use tree wrap on trunks of newly planted trees as well as those species with thin bark like linden, ash, mountain ash, and maple.  This helps prevent frost cracking of the sun warmed bark (generally on the southwest side of the tree) when it freezes again rapidly after the sun sets on a winter day.  Always wrap from the ground up so the overlap sheds water rather than collects it.  Remove wrapping in spring.

Third Week

Indoor foliage plants really benefit from an occasional cleaning.  Dust settles on leaves and clogs "pores", hindering light penetration, gas and moisture exchange.  Give them a shower to wash the leaves.  Water that runs through the soil helps leach out minerals and salts.

Wait until really vigorous growth begins again in the spring to transplant potbound houseplants.  Fertilize sparingly now and also water so that the water runs through the soil and out of the drainage holes.  Do not allow plants to reabsorb this water since it contains salts and minerals that can be toxic when they are concentrated in the soil.  Adjust your watering regime to the lower light levels and temperatures.

Fourth Week

Now is a great time to start garden carpentry projects.  Plans for cold frames,trellises, benches, etc. can be found in the many gardening books available at your public library.  Rig up supplemental lighting for starting vegetable seeds indoors.  Use one cool white and one warm white fluorescent bulb in a fixture which can be adjusted to keep it 4 - 6" above the plants, adjusting it as they grow.

If you are getting antsy inside, do a tool inventory and cleaning.  Hoes, shovels, and spades all need to be sharp to perform at their peak.  Soak and scrub to remove dirt.  Then coat with light oil to protect metal surfaces.  Sand handles and apply boiled linseed oil.  Use a splotch of brightly colored enamel spray paint to personalize them.  This also makes them easier to locate when left lying among the foliage.

Seeds that are slow to germinate and require long growth periods to be ready for the garden in late May can be sown indoors now.  These include impatiens, petunia, and begonia.  Be forewarned, however, that supplemental lighting is almost an absolute to successfully grow these seedlings indoors for such a long time.  Use specially designed heat mats to provide bottom heat to produce really strong seedlings.