February Gardening Task Rundown
For those you who may have missed some, here is a rundown of our essential gardening articles for February that we published on Examiner.com . This information is generally applicable to many areas of the United States, however, the seasonal timing is specific to the metro Atlanta area, surrounding counties, and North Georgia.
Gardening tasks for February -- a list of gardening tasks to get accomplished before March.
Which lopper pruners should I buy? -- a discussion of some key factors in selecting a new pair of loppers.
Protecting flowers & pansies from ice -- still relevant information for the next four to six weeks in areas above the fall line Georgia (line running from Columbus to Macon to Augusta)
Live plants from Valentines Day? -- applicable advice for any live plant flower baskets you may receive, even after Valentines Day.
Pruning Crape Myrtles -- if you absolutely must prune your Crape Myrtles, get it done now, and read this article.
Must-do Atlanta Winter gardening tasks -- your most essential last-minute Winter gardening tasks for Atlanta gardeners.
Phlox--a classic Atlanta flower garden plant -- can start indoors now, or seed outdoors beginning April.
Get ready for Lawn Spring Green-up -- task list to have a great Spring green up for your warm-season lawn grass.
These are the articles from February which are, and will remain seasonally relevant through March. I will be putting out a new March gardening task list, so look for it.
Abdurrahim is the lead designer at metro Atlanta based Proudland Landscape, LLC.
You can contact him with question via email at arjalal@proudlandlandscape.com
Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/Proudland.
Labels: articles, Crape Myrtles, flowers, garden, lawn, maintenance, Pruning, Spring, tasks, winter
Must do Atlanta Gardening Tasks before March: If you only have one weekend to get it all done.
There is only one weekend left before March. For gardeners in Atlanta, surrounding counties, and North Georgians this means the Spring season is almost upon us. The question was asked regarding the February gardening task list, "What if I only have one weekend to get it all done?" Well, here is that list:
- Clean leaves off lawn. This is way overdue, from our January list--So get it done!
- Scalp cool-season lawns (Bermuda, Zoysia, Centipede). Mow to lowest setting on mower. Bag and pickup clippings. Compost your clippings.
- Prune hydrangeas, crape myrtles. Hydrangeas may be showing some budding, but get it done. Pruning crape myrtles is always a contentious issue, but if you're going to do it, now is the time
- Cut back ground covers & ornamental grasses (e.g., monkey grass/lirope, ivy, pampass grass). Pickup clippings and trimmings and compost.
- Check & refresh mulch in flowers beds. Keep a few bags of your preferred mulch on hand to repair behind squirrels and neighborhood dogs.
If you have more than a weekend to work with, double check my task lists for this winter so far from January, and February.
Whatever you do, get something done, because there is a whole new set of things we need to address going into March.
Abdurrahim is the lead designer at metro Atlanta based Proudland Landscape, LLC.
You can contact him with question via email at arjalal@proudlandlandscape.com
Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/Proudland.
Labels: Crape Myrtles, garden, lawn, mulch, tasks, winter
February Gardening Tasks--Atlanta & North Georgia
It's February in North Georgia, and Atlanta is cold and raining. Gardeners, don't sleep, because Spring is almost upon us. Do not be lulled into complacency because it feels and looks like winter. In just a few weeks Atlanta Spring will begin, and there are things you the gardener needs to do now to be ready. Here is a list:
- Scalp warm-season lawns (Bermuda, Zoysia, Centipede)
- Continue to monitor local freeze warnings, be ready to protect tender plants
- Pick up the clippings and put in your compost pile
- Prune roses (middle of February)
- Cut forsythia to force indoors
- Fertilize seasonal flowers, tulip, and daffoldil beds with a low nitrogen, high phosphorous ferilizer
- Dead head yellowing, brown, or burned Camellia blooms.
- Prune crape myrtles (middle of February)
- Trim unruly shrubs like hollies, ligustrum, and cleyera
- Refresh mulch, if you haven't already
- Nurse your compost pile.
- Inventory and inspect gardening equipment
- Get mowers, chippers, weed eaters that need it to the mechanic (if not done in January)
- Sharpen blades and change oil on mowers
- Sharpen chain saw chains.
- Check the January gardening task list, and do on there what you didn't do.
March is less than a month away, and Atlanta Spring season will be upon us, despite what a certain groundhog in Pennsylvania may say. Regardless, for them it will be winter a bit longer than for us.
Abdurrahim is the lead designer for a local, award-winning landscaping firm. You can reach him via email at: a.jalal@ProudlandLandscape.com
Tweet at: twitter.com/Proudland
Resources:
"Winter chores in the landscape" -- UGA CAES
www.cleanairgardening.com/npkexplanation.html
www.groundhog.org/groundhog-day/about-groundhog-day/
Labels: Crape Myrtles, garden, landscape, maintenance, mulch, Pruning, rose, tasks, winter
January Gardening Rundown--Winter 2010
January 2010 in Atlanta started out atypically cold, cold. But, all was well for the gardener because, we had good rain, not too much ice, and it ended with typically mild Atlanta winter temperatures. Here is the run down of January gardening topics in Atlanta and North Georgia:
- Cleanup those last leaves and start Composting.
- Sign up for a rose pruning class--Be ready to go for February.
- Brush up on winter plant protection practices.
- Check off your list of winter gardening tasks for January.
- Proper time to prune crape myrtles.
- If you didn't sign-up for this pruning class, look here for info on others.
Labels: articles, compost, Crape Myrtles, frost, Pruning, rose, tasks, winter
Pruning Crape Myrtles
Crape myrtle trees are popular landscape plants and specimens here in the Atlanta area. They are ubiqitous, common, and redundant, though beautiful and almost irresistible in the landscape. They are especially useful in the commercial landscape where careful control of plant size and shape is necessary, not only for aesthetic, but also liability reasons. It is not uncommon to see them being pruned as early as December. Our customers see this, and I am frequently asked when the crape myrtles will be pruned.
Pruning crape myrtles does nothing for their blooming. There is a beautiful, gigantic crape near the Fuqua building in the Atlanta Botanical Garden which is absolutely beautiful, and has had minimal pruning. Pruning crapes is done to control size and shape. Crape myrtles bloom on new wood, and handle pruning well.
As far as time frame is concerned, February is the time--post Valentines day. Maintenance companies, and commercial operations need to buffer around this time frame, due to the volume of work required, and the relatively short time between mid-February and Spring here in the Atlanta area. However, December is very early, and January is early.
Labels: Crape Myrtles, Pruning
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