Gardening Calendar for January

• Sow pansy seeds indoors now.
• Limbs damaged by ice or snow should be pruned off promptly to prevent bark from tearing.
• To clean heavily encrusted clay pots, scrub them with a steel wool pad after they have soaked overnight in a solution consisting of 1 gallon of water and one cup each of white vinegar and household bleach.
• Check stored summer bulbs (Dahlias, Canna and Gladiolus) to be sure they are not rotting or drying out.
• Gently brush off heavy snows from tree and shrub branches, but allow ice to melt naturally from plants.
• Check all fruit trees for evidence of rodent injury to bark.
• Avoid foot traffic on frozen lawn as this may injure turf grasses.
• If you didn’t get your bulbs planted before the ground froze, plant them immediately in individual peat pots and place pots in flats. Set them outside where it’s cold and bury bulbs under thick blankets of leaves. Transplant into garden any time weather permits.

(Missouri Botanical Garden)