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
Pansies Freeze Burned by Ice?
Don't let your flowers look like this
(c)2009 Proudland Landscape, LLC
Protect your pansies and other winter seasonal flowers from freeze burn. January and February Atlanta weather can be extremely deceiving when it comes to winter temperatures. Seasonal flowers can become the victims of balmy winter days, followed by bouts of ice and freezing temperatures. Atlanta and North Georgia gardeners must be proactive to prevent damage.
There are five action items to prevent winter damage to your pansies and other seasonal winter flowers: Plant in the ideal window, prepare soils, mulch properly, water adequately, protect from ice. Planting and soil preparation may be beyond your control at this point, but the other items can be still acted on.
Planting time. Planting time for Summer and Winter seasonal color is very important. For winter flowers, we want temperatures to be cool enough that the flowers won't suffer heat stress, but still have enough time for them to establish before winter sets in. This time would be the middle of October in Atlanta, and surrounding areas.
Soil preparation. We want well tilled soils, with plenty of organic matter. Hard, clay, rocky soils will just not cut it. Roots need to grow easily and quickly, water needs to be absorbed and then released to the roots, and there needs to be mico air pockets for insulation--In short: fluffy, black soil.
Mulch. A heavy layer of mulch should be applied to the newly planted and watered flowers. This layer should be maintained, and replenished as needed throughout the winter. When the squirrels and neighborhood dogs dig in your fluffy beds, go behind them and repair your mulch layer. This will provide the moisture retention, and insulation your flowers need.
Water adequately. This is a double-edged sword. Cold and low humidity levels will dry plants out, so they need water. However, if your watering is ill-timed, this will leave a coat of ice on the leaves and flowers, which can burn your flowers to the ground. The solution is to be dilligent about watering before the first hard freezes set in. After that, turn off your automatic sprinklers, and water by hand in between rainfall.
Protect from ice. Do what you can to keep ice from forming on the leaves and flowers. You only can control so much, but absolutely turn automatic sprinklers off before the first freezing mornings. Nothing will burn down your flowers quickly than a nice, thick coat of ice sprayed on your flowers when the sprinklers go off at 6am in 30 degree temperatures.
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/proudland.
Labels: flowers, frost, 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
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