by Jack McKinnon

Photo credit: Surrey Blackburn

Living in California has real advantages when it comes to gardening. Our most reliable resources are our weather and soil, which allow us to garden abundantly all year long. Many people believe that because it is cold, dark and wintry that our gardens need to lay fallow and rest. This is a myth. There are plenty of plants that bloom, fruit and otherwise produce during the winter here.

Here are my tips for January.

1. Make frequent visits to the nursery. This is a year-round task for several very good reasons: education, supplies, plants and problem solving. 

2. While at the nursery look at each section for possible plants to buy. Nurseries provide gardeners with plants and materials in season, for the work that is needed now. All we have to do is look.

3. Look in the annual section for plants that are in bloom now or will be coming into bloom shortly. If you are visiting nurseries regularly you will notice when fresh stock arrives.

4. Take note of produce that you can either grow in a vegetable garden or interplant in your ornamental garden for added interest and food.

5. Shop for blooming perennials. By visiting public gardens, nurseries, and shopping centers with fantastic plantings — Stanford Shopping Center is a good example — you will see the colors to look for in the nurseries. If the stock in the nursery is in bloom you will be able to compare it with what you saw in the other plantings and purchase your plantings by color theme.

6. Observe what shrubs are in bloom in your neighborhood or within a mile or so of you. This will help you know if you live in a microclimate that you can take advantage of. Note the location of nearby buildings or trees, which may provide the plants with sun or weather protection.

7. If you do your homework you will get a good grade. Take notes, take pictures, look up plants in your garden book. All of this is homework for gardening.

8. Get out in your garden and get something done each week. This may seem daunting at first but you will see results and so will your friends and family. If you have a plot in a community garden, get over there and clean it up, then plant and mulch it. I see a lot of plots in community gardens that are not being used.

9. Everybody can have a garden. If you are just starting then one or two easy plants in pots will do. Each season, add two or three or more. Award-winning organic gardeners can have a fully producing garden (and I mean really producing a lot of food) in two years.

In the past I have given you plant lists. In this month’s tips I am teaching you how to make your own plant list. Calculate a spending plan, buy your supplies and plants for the season, do your planting, and record the results (to learn what to do or not do next year).

Good gardening!

Jack McKinnon is a garden coach and can be reached at jack@jackthe gardencoach.com, or call 650-455-0687. Visit his Web page at www.jackthegardencoach.com.