Keven Pauling
Our desert gardens don’t require much work in January. Bare root plants should be planted now, as should cool season veggies which take longer to mature. Planting now will ensure a harvest before the temperatures heat up.
There will be some warm days in January, but don’t be tempted to prune dead, frozen branches from shrubs until the middle of next month. I never recommend pruning any earlier than mid-February because the dead and damaged foliage will protect the living part of the plant underneath from a late frost.
Late in the month of January is the first time to feed your citrus again. If you have several trees, I recommend a special citrus food such as Arizona’s Best. If you only have one or two, just use the same brand of general purpose fertilizer that you use on the rest of your plants. Read the directions and apply accordingly, remembering to water in the fertilizer until it disappears. Don’t leave it on top of the rocks and hope it gets resolved on its own, it won’t.
Do you have extra citrus fruit? Consider donating it to a local food bank. Another option: make lemonade! My grandmother always had ice cubes of fresh lemon juice in the freezer. Every time I would go to her house, she would put me to work in her garden – or as she used to say, “Keven, you get to work in my garden.” I never realized what an honor that really was! After I had worked for a while she would bring me a glass of lemonade made from a couple of those lemon cubes, a tablespoon of sugar and water. Boy was that good! I can honestly say that nothing ever went to waste at my grandmother’s house – I mean nothing. After I drank the lemonade, she would put the glass back in the freezer so the ice cubes wouldn’t melt and could be used the next time I was thirsty!
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