Thursday, February 04, 2010

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/

Click here to find out more!

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

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:

  1. Cleanup those last leaves and start Composting.
  2. Sign up for a rose pruning class--Be ready to go for February.
  3. Brush up on winter plant protection practices.
  4. Check off your list of winter gardening tasks for January.
  5. Proper time to prune crape myrtles.
  6. If you didn't sign-up for this pruning class, look here for info on others.

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