Lawns and Landscaping in January

While this is a website espousing organic gardening methods, even the most organic gardeners have been known to turn to chemical lawn fertilizer so the next paragraph is for them...

Not need to water the lawn this month, the ground is cold, frozen, or covered with snow. The grass is dormant. Do not fertilize. Applying fertilizer to frozen soil can pollute the water. Melting snow and winter rains wash the fertilizer off the soil surface into surrounding storm sewers, rivers, and lakes.

If your house foundation is not exposed, you do not need plant materials right up against it. Your house will look larger if a shrub or ground cover is planted in only one or two places between the corner and the front door.
Dried, crushed shells from shrimp, crabs, and lobsters can be sprinkled on the soil to enrich it with calcium. A fertilizer made from crab shell wastes is already on the market.
Plan to attend the garden and landscape meetings and clinics arranged by the Extension agents in your county or city. The latest and best gardening information will be presented.
For easier lawn maintenance, eliminate the hard to mow spaces. Eliminate acute angles in beds and borders. Combine single trees or shrubs into a large planting connected with ground covers. Put bird baths in flower beds or surround them with ground covers.
Avoid heavy traffic on dormant lawns. Dry grass is easily broken and the crown of the plant may be severely damaged or killed.
Be sure charcoal chunks are removed before wood ashes are applied to lawns.
Do-it-yourself landscaping projects are very popular these days and provide savings in more ways than most people realize. They enhance property value and can reduce the cost of heating and cooling bills. Doing it yourself saves the actual out-of-pocket expense of contracting and provides indirect savings on taxes. Finally, home landscaping is great preventative therapy and improves one's mental health.

"Though an old man, I am but a young gardener."
-- Thomas Jefferson

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