In the Garden:  JANUARY-FEBRUARY

Helpful tips for gardening in the Triangle.

Flowers
•    Cut back ornamental grasses to 6-8 inches.  Divide large clumps and replant.
•    Plant bare-root roses.
•    Cut back flowering vines.
•    Shear back liriope to make room for new growth.
•    Force bulbs indoors – paperwhite narcissus, hyacinths and tulips will brighten your home in winter.

Fruits and Vegetables
•    Have your soil tested by your county extension office.
•    Plant fruit trees while the soil temperature is still cool for strong root structure. Wait until spring to plant berries.
•    Prepare the vegetable garden – loosen the soil, add organic matter, browse seed catalogs.  
•    Start your vegetables from seed and get a jump on spring gardening.
•    Plant cold hardy vegetable plants like sugar snap peas and onion sets.

Lawns
•    Watch for cool season weeds – chickweed, hairy bittercress, henbit – and treat by removal or post-emergent herbicide (above 40°F).
•    Fertilize fescue lawns in February – one pound nitrogen per 1,000 sq. feet.
•    Sharpen lawn mower blade, repair or replace broken tools and power equipment before spring.

Trees and Shrubs
•    Keep evergreens watered during dry weather.
•    Clean up camellia blooms.
•    Prune woody ornamentals like hydrangea and butterfly bush that bloom in the summer.
•    Survey trees and shrubs for breakage from winter weather and prune the damaged area.
•    Add mulch around trees and shrubs – keep 3-6 inches away from center/trunk.

Insects
•    Apply dormant oil on fruit trees and roses if you had mealy bugs, aphids, scale or mites last year.

For a complete list of garden maintenance activities, visit the NC Cooperative Extension web site at www.ces.ncsu.edu. For lawn care go to the NC State Turf Files at www.turffiles.ncsu.edu.