Saturday, January 5, 2013

January Gardening Tips, "Pay now, Play Later!"

  Well, since we all harvested our bounty from our gardens in the fall and preserved it for our winter consumption, it has been a busy time, with the holidays and all. But I am sure everyone is starting to get seed catalog's in the mail and you are starting to plan what you are going to plant the quick coming planting season? Remember this is the time of the year that other things us "Urban Gardening" junkies can be doing to make our lives a little easier come spring! It's a new year, a new season, so learn from your trials and errors and make this season more enjoyable! Dad always said, "Pay now, Play Later!"
  Create and "Urban Garden" for less than $100.00!
  Last Years "January's To-Do List".
  1.  When salting to melt ice on walks and driveways, spread it carefully to avoid damage to nearby shrubs, trees and grass. You could use sand or sawdust instead.Using "Epsom Salts in the Garden".
  2.  Brush snow from evergreens as soon as possible after a storm. Use a broom to sweep off snow. Serious damage can be caused by heavy snow on the branches.
  3. Do your lawn mower maintenance!Make it easier to mow your yard, get rid of the hard to mow spaces. Eliminate angles in beds and borders. Combine single trees or shrubs into a large planting connected with ground cover. Put the bird bath in a flower bed or surround it with ground cover.
  4.  Try not to walk a lot on the dormant lawn. Dry grass is easily broken and the crown of the plant may be severely damaged or killed.
  5.  With the catalog's coming in, its time to review your vegetable garden plans. Perhaps a smaller garden with fewer weeds and insects will give you more produce or my favorite, "Raised Beds"
  6.  Do not wait until late in the winter to order seeds. Many varieties sell out early.
  7.  When looking at your garden catalogs for new vegetable varieties to try, an important consideration is improved insect and/or disease resistance, look also for drought-tolerant types.Also Heirlooms varieties!
  8.  If you all keep any, study last year's planting, fertilizing and spraying records. Make notes to reorder the successful varieties as well as those you wish to try again.
  9.  Check all of your stored fruits and vegetables such as potatoes and apples for bad spots which may cause decay. Remove or use those which show signs of spoiling.
  10.  Don't forget your house plants, Turn and prune house plants regularly to keep them shapely. Pinch back new growth to promote bushy plants, Check for insects, the most common is ants, here is a natural way to deal with them!
  11. Don't put your houseplant around hot electronics like T.V's, ect and give the an area with good outside light. Your house gets dry during the winter, so make sure to take a spray bottle of water and mist them or do like mom used to do and set them in the bathroom and turn a hot shower on, the steam will help them.
  12.  Clean all your pots, add one cup each of white vinegar OR household bleach to a gallon of warm water and soak the pots for about 12 hours. Another use for vinegar in the garden!
  13.  Move garden ornaments such as urns or jarsinside to prevent damage during the cold winter season.
  14.  Feed the birds regularly and see that they have water. Birds like suet, fruit, nuts, and bread crumbs as well as bird seed. Clean their homes or bird bottles!
  15. And don't forget, this is a great time to into the meat of the pages of God's Word, "The Bible". Spend lots of time with Him. He even gives you tips on "How To Garden", in His Word! 
 
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new"


 Linked With:
Harvest Mondays, Homestead Barn Hop, Back Yard Farming Connection Hop, The Country Garden Showcase, Teach Me Tuesday, Frugal Tuesdays, TALU Tuesday, Winter on the Home Acre Hop, Simple Living Link-up, The HomeAcre Hop, The Country Homemaker , Frugal Days Sustainable Way, Wildcrafting WednesdayDown Home Blog Hop, This and That ThursdayFridays Fertilizer Flaunts, Fantabulus FridaysFarm Girl FridayClever Chicks Blog HopSimply Natural Saturdays, Natural Life Link up

32 comments:

  1. There is one on your list I can't help but do - walk on dormant grass. I put my laundry on the line, year round. Some day I hope to have a reel out type to avoid that.

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    1. Thats funny, sometimes we must do what we must do. LOL!

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  2. Thanks for the link on how to deal with Ants naturally!

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  3. Thanks for #12! I'm going to try that in my Christmas tree stand since it has tons of gunk built up! Visiting from http://lessonsfromthegarden-jen.blogspot.com/

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    1. Remember its one or the other on bleach and vinegar. Mixing them together cam cause a dangerous gas!

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  4. Clint, this is such a good list! I'm working on a post, too :) Thanks for stopping by!
    Love the photo of the clay pot birdhouse!!

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    1. Thank you it was bought in Colonial Williamsburg!

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  5. Great ideas Clint! I would love to have you share this tomorrow on the Winter on the HomeAcre Hop!
    http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/01/winter-on-the-homeacre-hop.html

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    1. Thanks for linking this post to the hop, Clint!

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    2. Thank you for inviting me Lisa, I am just glad we finally got it there! Please stop back by!

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    3. Hi Clint! Thank you for sharing your list of winter chores on The HomeAcre Hop! This is a great to do list to keep us on track for the new season :)

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  6. Great list, Clint! Perfect resource for this time of year. Thanks for linking it up with the TALU!

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  7. We can play later (now), I'm in east coast and in the sunny parts of the yard, the grass is still green. ;-)

    TALU

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    1. Yes you can play now, lol! Its all fun or we wouldn't be doing it!

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  8. Hi Clint,
    The hop is live now, sorry to keep you waiting! I slept a bit late, trying to recover from a cold. Thanks for stopping by! You can link up as many posts as you have that fit the description :)
    http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/01/winter-on-the-homeacre-hop.html

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  9. Great tips! Thanks for the good read and for the visit to my page!

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  10. Thanks for the tip about walking on the grass and misting the plants, I didn't this about plants.

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  11. Thanks for all of the great information. Visiting from TALU.

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  12. so much of this didn't even OCCUR to me! especially the bit about walking on dormant grass. I cut through my yard all of the time, but will stick to the pathways for now. TALU.

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  13. I am so pleased you all have enjoyed it!

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  14. Love the post. We are talking about having a garden this summer. (talu)

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  15. You have some nice ideas. It's hard to get a lot done outside in January, but we can certainly plan for a better gardening year. I hadn't thought about the things for making mowing easier, that's definitely something we can be thinking about!

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    1. Its always fun to get out there and get dirty, lol!

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  16. Meredith/GreenCircleGroveJanuary 10, 2013 at 8:37 AM

    Good list! I am getting anxious to be out in the garden again! I saw you on the HomeAcre Hop!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by! Please stop by and share anytime!

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  17. Great tips! I rarely walk on my dormant grass in the winter, mainly because I prefer to stay inside where it is warm (LOL) but unfortunately I have four dogs that are on it daily. By the way, I found you through the HomeAcre Hop.

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    1. I am sure it will come back. Please stop back anytime!

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  18. Well hello there!!! First I want to thank you so much for linking in today...I have been absent from my own party a lot lately, and I feel terrible! My internet is acting like a diva this last while and it is hard for me to even load my own page much less a link or two! So..forgive me...I am trying!
    This is a great post!!! ...I hope you will link in again soon...if my internet will allow me to...I am going to try to share this post with the tootsie time facebook page!
    hugs!!!
    (¯`v´¯)
    `*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
    ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
    (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

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  19. Great list, Clint! And great to see you back at the NOH Natural Link up!

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