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From YouTube: Garden Chores - January
Description
Keeping up with the seasons in your garden can sometimes be tricky. When do you plant for Spring? When do you harvest your vegetables? How do you keep those critters out of your garden? Learn to improve your green thumb with the answers to those and much more.
Join Master Gardener Linda Blue of the North Carolina Office of Cooperative Extension for need-to-know gardening tips and chores for the month of January. For more information you can call the office of Cooperative Extension at (828) 255-5522.
A
In
Western
North
Carolina,
we
can
still
tend
to
some
gardening
chores,
even
in
the
month
of
January.
But
you
know
this
is
really
the
time
to
do
some
planning,
even
maybe
making
some
new
year's
resolutions
first
gardeners.
Those
resolutions
may
include
things
like
improving
our
gardening
practices,
to
improve
our
water
usage
in
the
garden,
perhaps
to
protect
the
environment
or
perhaps
to
be
more
frugal
with
our
expenditures
this
year.
A
So
in
addition
to
a
few
garden
chores,
I'd
like
to
start
by
giving
you
a
few
New
Year's
resolutions,
the
first
step
would
be
planned
before
you
plant
by
taking
the
time
to
evaluate
any
planting
location.
You
actually
should
have
better
results
in
selecting
your
plants,
and
you
won't
be
wasting
time
and
effort
by
putting
the
wrong
plant
in
the
wrong
place.
Now
part
of
that
planning
includes
not
only
in
evaluating
your
Sun,
Shade,
soil
and
so
forth,
but
also
measuring
each
site
by
knowing
how
much
space
you
have
to
work
with.
A
You'll
know
how
to
space
your
plants
properly
so
that
they
will
thrive.
You
won't
waste
money
by
purchasing
more
plants
than
you
actually
need
and
when
we're
talking
about
areas
like
lawns
and
Gardens,
where
you
may
be
applying
lime,
fertilizers,
grass,
seed
and
so
forth
by
knowing
how
many
square
feet
you
are
working
with,
you
know
how
much
product
you
actually
need
to
purchase
and
to
apply.
Another
important
step,
of
course,
is
going
to
be
doing
that
soil
test.
Soil
testing,
of
course,
is
a
step.
That's
practically
free.
All
it's
gonna
cost!
A
You
is
a
little
bit
of
postage
to
ship,
a
soil
sample
to
the
soil
testing
lab
once
you
get
the
results
back
so
that
you
know,
if
you
need
to
make
corrections
in
your
soil,
acidity
or
other
nutrients,
you'll
know
how
much
lime
or
fertilizer.
Actually
you
need
to
apply
so
that,
first
of
all
again,
you
lose
some
of
the
value
of
those
plants
that
you
haven't
planted
because
they
don't
thrive
or
survive,
and
also
you
won't
be
wasting
money
on
putting
out
things
that
your
soil
doesn't
need.
A
Doing
this
planning
upfront
ahead
of
time
is
going
to
be
worthwhile
in
the
long
run
so
again,
you're
not
wasting
all
that
time
and
effort
and
the
expenditure
by
having
to
come
back
in
a
year
or
two
and
perhaps
replace
plants
that
didn't
survive,
or
at
least
aren't
doing
well
or
in
a
few
years
to
replace
plants
that
got
too
large.
For
example,
if
you've
got
a
a
sunny
afternoon,
location
in
front
of
a
brick
wall
and
perhaps
a
low
window,
this
would
not
be
a
good
location
to
put
azaleas.
A
Yes,
they
would
be
a
good
size,
but
they
are
not
going
to
do
well
out
in
this
hot
Sun.
Even
if
you
keep
azaleas
well
watered
they're
not
going
to
thrive
and
they're
gonna
be
very
prone
to
problems
like
Azalea
lace
bugs.
But
if
you
select
a
plant
like
this
glossy
of
the
ouya
that
will
thrive
in
these
sunny
conditions,
the
plant
will
do
well
with
very
little
attention
and
if
you
select
dwarf
growing
varieties,
it's
not
going
to
get
too
large
for
this
particular
location.
A
Another
thing
we're
going
to
be
planning
for
probably
this
year
is
wise
water
use
in
the
landscape.
Yes,
that
can
include
selecting
drought,
tolerant
plants
for
the
landscape.
It
could
also
include,
though,
dividing
your
landscape
areas
by
water
use
zones,
so,
where
you
have
this
very
sunny,
dry
location,
this
is
the
area
where
you
put
plants
are
going
to
be
very
drought,
tolerant
and
shouldn't
need
extra
water,
even
in
that
type
of
location.
A
The
water
mulch,
of
course,
is
an
excellent
way
to
retain
moisture
in
the
soil.
But
again
you
do
not
want
too
much
mulch.
Your
mulch
should
be
a
total
of
about
three
inches
deep.
You
don't
want
it
to
accumulate
any
deeper
than
that.
It's
actually
not
good
for
the
plants.
So
when
you
are
adding
additional
mulch
topdressing
dumped
in
too
much
more
than
three
inches
depth
of
mulch,
not
only
is
not
beneficial
to
the
plants,
you
can
actually
will
be
just
wasting
money
on
material
that
actually
can
be
harmful.
A
If
you're
maintaining
a
lawn
area
maintain
that
correct
mowing
height
at
at
least
three
inches
the
higher
you
mow,
the
deeper
root
system
that
lawn
will
have,
which
of
course,
will
make
it
more
drought
tolerant.
Ideally,
you
should
also
be
using
a
mulching
mower
by
recycling,
those
grass
clippings
onto
the
lawn,
the
clippings
act
as
a
natural
mulch,
and
also
help
to
recycle
nutrients,
whether
it's
a
lawn
area
or
garden
area
do
not
over
fertilize
and,
of
course,
apply
fertilizer
at
the
right
time.
A
If
you
fertilize
areas
too
much
that
actually
encourages
excess
growth,
which
makes
plants
less
drought,
tolerant
and,
of
course,
you
also
are
not
using
your
money
very
efficiently
by
buying
more
fertilizer
than
you
need.
In
fact,
although
plants
may
not
be
as
green
or
grow
as
rapidly
as
you
would
like
them
to
plants
aren't
going
to
die
if
you
have
to
skip
a
year
on
fertilizing
practice,
wise
pest
management.
That
starts,
of
course,
with
selecting
the
right
plants
for
the
location,
so
the
plants
are
just
they're
not
going
to
be
as
prone
to
pest
problems.
A
Second
of
all,
you
are
introducing
pesticides
into
the
landscape
or
into
the
environment
that
didn't
need
to
be
there,
and
you
may
be
creating
storage
and
disposal
problems
for
yourself
by
having
all
these
excess
and
unused
pesticides
on
hand.
Of
course,
this
is
the
ideal
time
of
year
to
get
out
those
garden
catalogs
and
use
the
catalogs
for
little
armchair
gardening
to
start
reading
the
catalogs,
getting
product
descriptions
and
making
some
of
those
decisions
for
the
year
when
we
do
have
some
nice
weather
to
get
outside
take
advantage
of
those
days.
A
If
you
have
some
shade
trees,
ornamental
trees
that
need
some
corrective
pruning,
it's
fine
to
go
out
and
remove
tree
branches
this
time
of
year,
it's
not
a
good
time
to
prune
fruit
trees.
Other
than
those
mature
apple
trees,
you
want
to
wait
till
late
February
or
early
March
before
you
prune
any
young
trees
or
peach
trees.
You
can
also
prune
those
grapevines
now
and
the
Cooperative
Extension
Office
does
have
videos
available
for
loan
on
pruning,
grapevines
or
fruit
trees.
A
This
is
also
a
good
time
to
plant
those
young
fruit,
trees
and,
of
course,
don't
forget
about
that
living
Christmas
tree.
If
you
haven't
gotten
it
in
the
ground
any
time
the
ground
is
not
frozen,
is
a
good
time
to
go
ahead
and
get
that
tree
planted
as
soon
as
possible.
If
you'd,
like
additional
information
on
gardening
in
Western,
North
Carolina,
be
sure
to
contact
us
at
Buncombe,
County,
Cooperative,
Extension
office.