Garden Talk: What do I need to do in January to get ready for spring?

Jill and Rick Van Duyvendyk answer all your gardening questions in Garden Talk on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME every Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Here are some questions and answers from the Jan. 19 show:

These questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Read more:

• Garden Talk: How can I deal with aphids in 2025?
• Garden Talk: Plan ahead for a delicious raspberry harvest in 2025
• Garden Talk: Indoor grow room plantings can breathe life into winter
• Garden Talk: Protect your trees from pests over winter

Q: What do I need to do in January to get ready for spring?

A: Don’t take those leaf pillows off until shrubs like spireas start putting some leaves
out.

If you’ve got leaves in the shrub beds not in bags, don’t clean those up until the leaves are out either because beneficial bugs like ladybugs live in those leaves. Once the leaves are put, they’ll climb up into the plants. If the ladybugs are moving, so are the aphids, so the ladybugs will start eating right away.

Remove leaves off your lawn, as soon as it is exposed. Once the snow starts to melts, spread it out so that it melts evenly. Use a leaf rake ready to fluff it up so it’s not all matted down. You can’t do it when it’s still frozen or the roots are frozen because you just rip it all to shreds.

If the snow is melted and dried, but nothing has started growing, you can use an electric power rake or put a blade on your mower for raking things up. That will mulches everything up and get thatch out of the lawn.

Before spring pull out your garden tools, sharpen them up and do any repairs you need to do, like adding new handles. Take the blades off your lawnmower and sharpen them. Take out any fuel that has been left in your mower and put a fuel stabilizer in the tank.

You also need to think about starting seeds indoors. Sterilize and clean pots and trays with bleach and water. Make sure there’s no soil in them at all because that’s where bacteria could be that might stop the seeds from germinating. If you are serious about getting really good germination, get a heat mat.

There are a few plants you can start at the end of January. Increase the light for geraniums to get them growing so you can start taking cuttings and put them in jiffy pots to get stem roots. Rooting hormone number one will help.

See Dutch Growers guide to Getting Your Garden Spring Ready here.

Q: How do I use fallen leaves to cover perennials in winter?

A: There are two ways. You can use leaves to fill white garbage bags — the white reflects the sunlight. Black or clear can act like a greenhouse and black can attract the heat also. Make them in a pillow shape then put them on top of perennials like shrubs.

You can also use cardboard boxes. Open up the flaps and set the flaps out so that you can throw some dirt or something around the outside edge so the box doesn’t blow away, then fill the inside with leaves. You can also use cedar mulch, pine mulch and fill them at least three quarters, depending how tall the plant is. It’s the width that’s more important than the height, because you want to be able to get a heat sink from the ground.

Q: Will the snow that we got this winter insulate the roots of perennials?

A: That early snow will help but you have to watch for warm weather. Make sure that you keep snow on top of them or otherwise use any leaf-filled bags and put them over top of the ground if it is exposed, then throw some snow over top. You can also blow snow into those areas.

Q: How do I care for Morden roses over winter?

A: Mainly roses have trouble in the shoulder seasons. The roots can take -10 to -12 C. It is just a matter of making sure there’s good snow cover over top of them. If the snow doesn’t come early, like if you get to getting to November and you don’t have
any snow, keep fallen leaves and make white garbage bag pillows to cover them. Any snow over top of them will give them even more protection.

You have to watch out now for the other shoulder. If we get Chinooks, especially in March and then some dips in temperature again, that’s where you have to make sure you keep them covered.

Q: Do roses have to be cut back to six inches high?

A: You can cut them back to 50 per cent, but even even cutting them back by one third is fine. With hardy roses, cut anywhere from 25 to 50 per cent down in the spring. Don’t do it until spring, so the branches catch as much snow as they can.

Rodents, rabbits, deer, porcupines and voles are all looking for food in winter in Saskatchewan.(pictureguyDepositphotos.com)

Q: What do I do if animals are eating my plants?

A: When the snow is crusty on top, they’re all looking for food — rodents, rabbits, deer, porcupines and voles. Dig down underneath the snow around your trees to see whether there there’s any damage being done to the trunks. If there is, get a tree guard  and throw the snow back around them again.

Tree guards are  a spiral wrap that you take off in May. Leave it on until the snow is totally gone and the grass starts growing again. If you leave it on all summer, you can get some molding between the cover and the bark. Put them back on again in the fall.

Q: My lawn is too alkaline. How can I correct that?

A: Aerating it will help. You need to do it every year in the spring when there’s some moisture in the soil. You can add aluminum sulfate or GroundKeeper fertilizer, or if you have access to another fertilizer that the farmers use, that has a sulfur base and works great. You can also add things like humic or charcoal to buffer the soil so you don’t get high alkalinity as well. Fertilize your lawn three times a year — in spring,
summer, and fall.

Q: How do I care for an Alberta spruce in a pot until spring?

A: Put it inside the house and treat it like a house plant. It needs regular watering. Put a finger into the soil,  and water when the top inch is completely dry. It doesn’t need direct sunlight. It’ll only live outside in the ground if you cover it with burlap every winter.

Read more:

• Garden Talk: How can I deal with aphids in 2025?
• Garden Talk: Plan ahead for a delicious raspberry harvest in 2025
• Garden Talk: Indoor grow room plantings can breathe life into winter
• Garden Talk: Protect your trees from pests over winter