Ask the Learn Gardeners: January 2022

Q: Because we are obtaining this kind of a late winter season, ought to I just go in advance and prune my crops now?

A: As of my composing this the final week of December, we even now have not experienced a freeze. I would absolutely hold out, not only since you do not want to just take a chance on new development sprouting, but also for the reason that the birds and other wildlife are continue to benefiting from the unpruned vegetation. What you can be accomplishing is watering if the floor is dry (check for dampness with your finger), and cleaning out weeds and plant particles from your beds. Bare root roses are by now available for planting. This is also the time of the calendar year to transplant shrubs and trees. If you had a living Xmas tree, plant it outside. Mow the weeds in your lawn so they won’t unfold whilst remaining cautious to stay clear of the baby bluebonnets. If you even now have vitality, mulch your flower and shrub beds and close to your young trees. I also have mulch underneath my large trees instead of ground cover. Recall that chilly year crops can be grown now as very well as chilly-tolerant herbs these types of as chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, garlic, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme. My rosemary even has a bloom on it, but if a freeze is forecast I will convey the pot within since I misplaced my outdoors plant previous wintertime.

Q: My neighbor has a pretty large fig tree increasing up coming door. The figs weren’t as substantial this year so I have asked her to prune the tree. She claims it is a Celeste and these figs are smaller anyway. What are the regulations about pruning fig trees?

A: Aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu in their Household Fruit Output write-up on figs suggests that fig trees are pruned pretty small. The short article adds that you should not prune experienced Celeste and Alma trees because this lessens the crop measurement. However, the report also suggests that more mature trees which expand extremely tiny each and every calendar year ought to be thinned out to stimulate new growth and to increase fruit dimension. Throughout our dormant time of the yr, weak, diseased or dead limbs need to be eliminated. By the way, Celeste is the most cold-hardy of all Texas fig varieties.

Q: When are onion transplants or sets set in the floor?

A: Plant them from mid-January to early February though in Seguin everybody appears to be planting them a great deal earlier. Plant them a few-fourth inch deep and 3 inches aside. Onions are a interesting-period crop and can stand temperatures down below freezing. Fertilize your onions when the vegetation have 5 to six leaves by scratching the fertilizer into the top rated inch of soil. Never harm the plant roots. If planted now, you need to have bulbs amongst May and July nevertheless, you can decide on them from pencil measurement on for use as inexperienced onions. Dry bulb onions are prepared when the main stem commences to weaken and drop.

Clara Mae Marcotte is a Texas Master Gardener with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. If you have a problem to be answered, connect with the Learn Gardeners at 830-379-1972 or leave a message to be answered. The website is guadalupecountymastergardeners.org. The Grasp Gardener investigation library is open up Wednesdays from 1 to 4, at 210 East Dwell Oak Road in Seguin.