5 Tasks for Gardeners in the Sacramento Valley in January
As Californians living in the Sacramento Valley, we are blessed with mild winters and no hard frosts, which means we can garden year-round.
If you’ve fall-sown anything, it may be blooming or ready to harvest right now, but if you are just starting out, or if you didn’t get your fall garden sown, then January is a month for dreaming and planning for the coming year.
It’s a time to ask yourself what you want to accomplish in the garden. Below are 5 tasks to do in the garden in January if you live in California’s Central Valley.
1. Plan
What do you want your garden to look like over the next 12 months?
Do you want to grow vegetables, flowers, or maybe a combination of both?
Do you want to start a garden for the first time, but don’t know where to start? (I can help with that! Click here to get started with a Garden Consult.)
Do you want to turn part of your yard into a raised bed kitchen garden?
Do you want to add a pollinator border to your existing raised bed garden?
Do you want to add fruit trees to your gardening space?
Start by writing down all of your garden dreams, no matter how big. You can always plan to do them next year, but get them on paper. Then, take a look at the things you want to do and assign them to a season in the garden: winter (beginning of the year), spring, summer, fall, or winter (end of the year).
This will help you get an overview of what you want to do and what it will take to actually do it. So, grab a cup of coffee and let the dreaming begin!
Planning is important for success in the garden. If you’re struggling, send me an email, I’d love to help.
2. Plant
Did you know you can grow flowers or still plant a winter garden in January? Yes! Because we live in the Central Valley in California, we can plant in January.
There are many cool season varieties that you can get from a local nursery and plant into pots and/or planters and add a pop of color to your entryway or backyard. Some varieties include:
Cool Season Vegetables include: Arugula, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, peas, and Swiss chard
Cool Season Herbs include: chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, mint (grow in a container), parsley, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme
Cool Season Flowers include: anemone, calendula, Iceland poppy, pansy, primrose, ranunculus, snapdragon, stock
And many more! Visit a local nursery, like Green Acres or Big Oak Nursery in Elk Grove to see all the cool season possibilities for your garden.
Note: because the heat comes quickly in spring, it’s best to buy transplants for most of the above-listed plants when starting your garden in January in the Central Valley.
3. Prune Fruit & Nut Trees
Pruning your fruit & nut trees should be done annually in January when trees are dormant. Your trees will be healthier, more productive, and more attractive when you do this regularly.
There are two types of pruning cuts:
Heading cut which removes only a part of a branch back to a shoot where you want a new branch to develop.
Thinning cut which removes an entire branch all the way back to the trunk, or the large branch it sprouted from.
Before pruning, consider what shape you want your tree to have — do you want your tree to have an open center or a central leading branch? Which to choose depends on the kind of tree you are pruning.
For example, fruit trees, such as apricots, are pruned to have an open center, allowing more light and airflow into the tree’s canopy. Conversely, apple trees are pruned to have a central leading stem from which all other branches develop.
4. Prune Roses
In the Central Valley, where we don’t experience hard frosts, roses don’t really go into full dormancy, however, January is the best time to prune roses here.
Pruning is the best thing you can do for your rose bushes. Roses are very forgiving, so even though it may seem intimidating, give it a try, your roses will thank you with lots of blooms this spring.
Follow these steps to prune your roses:
Think of the shape you want your rose bush to have. Roses are generally pruned in an open vase shape, which allows for good air circulation and sunlight to reach the center. (Climbing roses are pruned differently).
Cut away any dead, diseased, or damaged canes (these would be blackened or shriveled) and cut them back to green, healthy wood.
Remove any canes that are crossing, as this can lead to rubbing.
Next, remove any suckers — these are shoots growing up from the roots on own-root roses and below the graft union on grafted roses.
Finish with 4-6 healthy canes in an open-vase shape and trim at 18-24 inches. All cuts should be made just above a bud eye.
That’s it! Your roses will be giving you loads of bloom in thanks this spring.
5. Clean & Sharpen Gardening Tools
When cared for properly, gardening tools should last for years — the key is to keep them clean, sharp and rust-free.
To remove built-up layers of dirt, sap, and rust from pruning shears, clippers, loppers and pruning saws, scrub them with steel wool and warm, soapy water, then rinse, dry and condition them with linseed oil. Once cleaned, sharpen your tools using a sharpening stone, then wipe them down with a rag and apply more oil.
Shovels, spades, hoes, and trowels can also be cleaned and sharpened in the same way as above.
Wooden handles can be lightly sanded and wiped down linseed oil to prolong their life and make it easier on your hands when using them.
For Year-Round Maintenance:
Keep disinfectant wipes with your pruning shears, clippers, and loppers and wipe them down after each use. This will help keep them clean and will reduce the likelihood of spreading disease from one plant to another.
Fill a bucket with clean horticultural sand and pour in two quarts of motor oil. Keep this bucket with your tools and use it to care for your tools throughout the year. After using your shovel, spade or trowel, thrust it into the sand several times. This will keep them sharp and the oil will help reduce any rust. Store bucket with a lid on.
If you need gardening gloves, these are my favorite. They’re comfortable, durable and can go in the washing machine when they get too dirty. Check them out here.
