January in your Brevard Yard: Water and mow less, time to plant vegetables, flowers, herbs
This winter started off mild, but cold weather has arrived. Who knows what January will bring?
Hopefully, we won’t receive a freeze, but only enough chilling hours for the deciduous fruit crops to flower this spring.
With the arrival of 2023, I want to let everyone know about an upcoming Florida-Friendly Landscaping Seminar planned for March, a class that is scheduled to begin in April and activities to do in the yard this month.
The Florida-Friendly Landscaping Seminar will be Saturday, March 25 at the Eau Gallie Civic Center.
The free event begins at 9 a.m. with a talk by Kathy Hill of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program. She will discuss 10 things being done to help the lagoon that you probably haven’t heard.
My talk on Keystone species, soil health and a touch of compost will follow at 10 a.m.
After a half-an-hour break, Sherrie Blissett-Clark of the Florida Bat Conservancy will present “Bats in My Backyard” at 11:15 a.m.
The final talk at 12:15 p.m. will be by Nicole Perna of Go Native Landscaping. She will discuss living solutions for shorelines, swales, rain gardens, etc.
Door prizes will then be raffled off to those still in attendance. There will also be vendors at the event, so feel free to come early to shop or check out the vendors and shop during the break or after the seminar. To sign up for a free ticket, follow this link: fflseminar2023.eventbrite.com.
The Florida-Friendly Landscaping class series begins on Tuesday, April 4, and will run for eight consecutive Tuesdays, with the final class on May 23. Classes are from 9 a.m. to noon at the UF/IFAS Extension Office, 3695 Lake Drive, Cocoa. Participants can also attend classes via Zoom.
Two topics will be covered each day. The $75 class fee covers the notebook and additional printed material. Check out the Eventbrite page 2023fflclassseries.eventbrite.com to see the topics. If you are new to gardening in Florida, or you would like to have better results from your gardening efforts, this class is for you.
What to do in your garden in January
Slow down on watering and mowing. The shorter days of winter cause turf to stop actively growing, so watering and mowing won’t be required very often, maybe just every 10 days to two weeks. Lawns should be watered deeply, with approximately ½ to ¾ inch of water, when water is applied. If your irrigation is currently watering more than once a week, change it to water only once a week to follow the St. John’s River Water Management District’s watering restrictions. For more information on the watering restrictions, check out this website: sjrwmd.com/wateringrestrictions/.
Test your soil before fertilizing. If you plan on fertilizing your yard this spring, send in a soil sample this month so you will know what nutrients need to be applied and how much. The soil testing form is available at edis.ifas.ufl.edu (search for "soil test form"). It comes with directions on how to collect a soil sample.
Pay $10 test B, which measures the soil pH and the water-soluble nutrient levels for phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, copper, manganese and zinc. If the fertilizer recommendation calls for the application of phosphorus, skip that and instead, inoculate your lawn, trees and shrubs with mycorrhizae. Your plants will grow better, and the presence of the soil food web can create healthy soil that will protect water quality.
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Cool weather flowers. Some flowers that enjoy cooler temperatures include alyssum, dianthus, pansy, viola, petunia, calendula, phlox, stock, flowering kale and snapdragons.
Protect plants during a freeze. To protect tender plants from a freeze, cover them with a blanket or quilt and weigh the edges down if windy weather is in the forecast. If using a plastic tarp to cover the plants, don’t allow the plastic to touch the foliage, or cold damage will occur.
Cool weather herbs. Herbs for January planting include chives, chervil (a winter annual), oregano, cilantro, fennel, mint, parsley, lavender, rosemary, sage and thyme.
What to prune. If needed, prune deciduous plants now while they are dormant. Make sure to remove all dead and diseased wood. For detailed information on pruning deciduous fruit trees, shrubs and vines, visit our Fruitscape website at trec.ifas.ufl.edu/fruitscapes.
Feed your vegetables. If you’re growing your own vegetables and fruit trees, be sure to spray them weekly with a liquid seaweed or kelp solution (i.e., Maxicrop, Liquid Kelp, etc.). Use a hand pump-up sprayer to apply a fine mist on both sides of the foliage.
The plant will translocate the trace elements all throughout itself, even if you can’t reach all the foliage. This is a great way to get trace elements into plants that are growing in soil with a high soil pH. To receive a copy of my recommendations for growing fruit trees and other edible plants, email the Master Gardeners at brevard-mg1@ifas.ufl.edu.
Vegetables to plant. Vegetables that can be planted in January include arugula, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, collards, cucumbers, eggplant, endive/escarole, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard, bunching onions (green and shallots), peas (English and snow), peppers, Irish potatoes, radishes, spinach, squash, sweet corn, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips and watermelon.
Sow now, plant later. Seeds to sow this month for planting in February include arugula, beans, beet, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cantaloupe, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, cucumber, eggplant, endive/escarole, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard, okra, peas (English, snow, Southern), peppers, spinach, squash, sweet corn, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips and watermelon.
Inoculate the soil. If you are planting peas or beans, be sure to get a pea and bean inoculant containing the correct beneficial bacteria so the plants can fix atmospheric nitrogen in their roots.
Save room in the garen. To save space when sowing carrots and radishes, sow them in the same row. Carrots are slower to germinate. The radishes will be harvested before the carrots need space. Also, cover the seeds with some vermiculite to help mark the row.
To market, to market. Check out the fresh produce available at the Brevard County Farmers Market from 3-6 p.m. Thursdays at Wickham Park Pavilion. To stay up to date with current information, follow the market's Facebook page at facebook.com/brevardcountyfarmersmarket.
Sally Scalera is an urban horticulture agent and master gardener coordinator for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences. Email her at sasc@ufl.edu.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: January means less mowing and watering for your Brevard landscape
