santa clarita gardening this week
Now that the big spate of rain is passing into history, you can start thinking about the garden again. First, make sure some of the moisture drains away from your soil before working on it. Even walking on mud will compress it, squeezing out helpful air pockets. And muddy shoes don’t do a lot for your interior decor either. So let the soil dry out a bit before gardening starts.
Keep an eye on the weather forecasts as you may have to throw a protective piece of burlap or other cover over new growth encouraged by the rain. This year (and last year, too) we’ve been having extraordinarily warm nights. Most years you can expect nighttime temperatures to drop to the mid or high twenties all winter causing at least light frosts. This may yet happen. So listen to the weather forecasts for cold an be ready to protect vulnerable plants. By the way, you can use a lot of fabrics for temporary covers, but avoid plastic if you can. Plants hide better under fabrics they can breathe through.
Pruning can continue for dormant trees, shrubs and vines. Don’t be afraid to cut trumpet vines, potato vines and jasmines back severely.
They will grow with all the more vigor. What you don’t want to do is give them regular little “haircuts”. You will be trimming off all the bud producing tips and flowering will be very disappointing.
It’s time for a second or third dormant oil spray for fruit trees – or a first one if you missed December and January. It’s better to spray once than not at all. I tend to prefer organic gardening and the copper oils and lime sulfur sprays are considered okay. The oils tend to suffocate aphids and other insects and their eggs as they over-winter in bark. These sprays also diminish the threat of many fungal diseases. (Try to pick a day without wind, and keep spray away from ornamental ponds as it is toxic to fish.) Avoid sprays with sulfur for apricot trees as some varieties are sulfur sensitive. Peaches are particularly vulnerable to peach curl so spraying is highly recommended for them. This is also a good time to spray roses for pretty much the same reasons as you spray fruit trees.
Check sprinkler systems for any leaks or breaks. This is a good time for repairs or additions since you shouldn’t need to use them for at least a couple of weeks after these past rains. Digging new garden areas, amending flower and vegetable gardens, building, and repairing are projects that 
need to be attended to before the spring planting season gobbles up your time. Let dormant ponds sleep for now. You can keep leaves and other debris picked out of the water and you can remove any dead growth from water plants before it rots down. Netting ponds over the winter keeps them clean from blown debris. Other than that, there’ll be plenty to do as the water starts to warm in months to come.
Once again, this is the time to plant bare root fruit trees, roses and vines while the selection is good and the prices are low. Stocks are already starting to dwindle at home stores and nurseries. Time is getting shorter for planting those tough California natives and other drought tolerant plants while the soil is cool and retains moisture. These plants need to grow a well-established root system before the weather turns hot. Remember, these drought tolerant plants will still need to be watered like regular garden flowers for the first summer and will require some water supplementation in their second year. By the third year, little to no water should be necessary depending on the plant variety and location.
The more you prepare now for your spring planting, the more fun and successful it will be. Check books and catalogs for interesting plants to fill vacated spots. Sketch plans for redesigning or creating new areas or call in a professional as a coach or to do the job for you. By starting your winter-care gardening in Santa Clarita this week, you can lay the foundation for a wonderfully colorful, low-maintenance, productive garden come the spring.
Jane has produced hundreds of landscape designs, each one a unique work of art specially adapted to the client’s tastes, needs and budget. Each design is crafted to help her clients save money, mistakes and maintenance. She also does on-site consultations and coaching through Gates & Croft Horticultural Design. She works in the local area and can tailor prices to handle big and small jobs alike. She is a member of the Garden Writers Association and the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. You can find her online listed under The Garden Coach Directory or check out her site at http://www.gardengates.info for more gardening and landscape design information for the greater Santa Clarita area.
During past decade, Jane has been writing landscape design and gardening articles for newspapers like the Los Angeles Daily News and local magazines like The Agua Dulce/Acton Country Journal and Santa Clarita Living Magazine. You can find over a thousand articles she’s written nationally on the internet for the Examiner, eHow and InfoBarrel. She also continues to paint, draw, illustrate and cartoon. She is one of the featured artists published in the 2009 ‘100 Artists of the West Coast II‘ just released by Schiffer Publishing Ltd. and available in major book stores and on the internet. Her original paintings are handled by the Orlando Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.
Contact information for Jane:
661-299-5383
