New Year's Garden Tips 

DRAIN SYSTEMS:
Check swales on hills, clean obstructions, and check drains. Protect hillsides and use common sense to check for issues that may create slope erosion. Check any sump pumps, gutters, and drains.

CYCLAMEN CARE (left):
Cyclamen is a great for cool season winter blooms; it can bloom into the summer (with light shade, cool spot and some luck). The plants are expensive but generally worth it. Don't overwater Cyclamen they can wilt. You can tell if wilting results from overwatering by checking the stems. If the stems are soft and wet you have overwatered conversely if the stems are dry, crisp and firm and leaves wilted you have under watered. Do not clip faded blooms - this can lead to rot - pull them off with a quick downward yank. Fertilize regularly with a complete fertilizer.

AZALEAS AND CAMELLIAS (right) - Plant Transplant and Rejuvenate:
Azaleas and Camellias are at their peak now. Shop for the colors and forms that you want plant right away. Now is also the time to move established plants. Esteban (Garden View Maintenance Supervisor) says that struggling older azaleas can be rejuvenated by digging around the old root ball and adding sufficient quantities of peat moss in the soil.

PLANT BEDDING FLOWERS (left):
Nursery supplies of the following cool weather flowers are still good; Calendula, Cineraria, Dianthus, English daisies, Iceland poppies, Pansies, Primroses, Ranunculus, Snapdragons, Stock, Sweet alyssum, and Violets. Water to settle soil, then water twice weekly unless rains are sufficient.

GRAPES (right):
Grape vines need pruning about this time in order to get good fruit. Grapes are either "cane" or "spur" pruned.

PLANT NATIVES (left):
Some think this is the best month to plant California natives. It's also a good time to sow seeds of California wildflowers. Scatter and water them in, or wait to sow in February, when rain ought to sprout them naturally.

PRUNE DORMANT PLANTS:
Begin pruning dormant fruit and shade trees, roses, grapes, and vines. Delay pruning of spring-flowering shrubs and vines until after their flower show is over.

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Develop deep roots by training your plants. This is the time of the year to water seldom but deeply and only when needed. Do not water every day. The plants will not develop deep roots because they don't have to and because there is no oxygen and bio activity in the ground because it is too wet. Deep roots and reduced watering help prevent trees from falling over and reduce weed growth also.
 

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I have been receiving calls and emails from some of our clients just terrified about the how little water we have been applying at their properties. They insist that they can see dry soil on the surface and that I must have a personal vendetta against them and their landscape. It's not that I have anything against them personally it's just that I really want to destroy their plants! I have my fingers crossed that any minute their shrubs and lawns are just going to spontaneously combust; I just hope no one gets hurt!

The truth is, the top layer of your soil may look dry but that is not where your plants are drawing their water from. The roots are not on the surface lapping up everything around them; they are underground, and the deeper we can encourage them to grow the better. If you are still convinced you are living in the Sahara grab a trowel and see what is happening just a few inches below the surface. If you are still finding bone dry soil then proceed to scream "Blake you @$$#%7$!!" and turn on your sprinklers.

The idea behind holding off on the watering during this season, especially after that long beautiful soak that we had a few weeks ago, is that the water has so deeply penetrated the soil that we force plants to grow deeper roots seeking moisture. With the combination of cooler weather, lower plant necessity, and hydrostatic pressure drawing water closer to the surface, we really can and should cut back on our irrigating. By always keeping water on the surface of the soil the roots will never seek hydration below that well saturated layer that you create. Not only are you using less water now by limiting your irrigation, but more importantly you are developing a root structure that will be able to endure more heat with less water when that time comes.

Plant roots are kinda like the drunk guy in your family; most of the year throwing 'em back all the time works out. He can make it out of bed, even out of the house... But at some point every year, sometime around winter and the holidays, he is going to freak out unless he gets cut off. You know, that plastered call in the middle of the night asking "What happened between us? OH! So you think you're better than me?? Can I borrow $1000?" Don't you wish capping his bottle was as easy as turning off your timer?

(Blake Meahl is the Operations Manager for Garden View's Maintenance Division.)