Gardening Tasks for January

Video Credit: Jonah Holland and Michaela Parker 

Do you have improving your garden or landscape on your New Year’s resolution list? If you don’t, you should! Each month, we are going to offer a few suggested tasks to do. So, without further ado, here are four tasks for you to complete in your garden and landscape during the month of January:

1. Planning is an important step to the gardening process. January is the ideal time to plan for the upcoming growing season and reflect on the last year. What worked? What didn’t? What kind of plants and vegetables do you want to grow? Garden catalogues and magazines will become your best friend during this month. Browse through them to find new or better plants to try out this year. It’s best to go ahead and order seeds. 
2. Equipment maintenance is also another great task you can do during January. Clean, repair, and sharpen mower blades, pruning tools, and spray equipment so they will be in great working condition when it is time to use them. Check out our Southern Gardening video on how to sharpen your garden tools! 
3. Cleaning your garden and landscape is very important this time of year.  Keeping your landscape tidy helps prevent diseases. Be sure to pick up any fallen fruit from under trees, rake or blow leaves out of landscape beds, and remove any dead or broken tree limbs. 
4. If you notice weeds are beginning to appear in your lawn, it’s time to treat with a properly selected postemergence spray. To learn more information on how to control weeds at your home, check out Publication 1532, “Weed Control Guidelines for Mississippi.” 

For a full list of tasks to complete in your garden and landscape, check out our Master Gardener Garden Calendar. It’s sure to keep you busy during January! 

Happy gardening!