January 2008 To Do List

Now is a great time to take care of some of that ''outdoor housekeeping'' in order to make your spring and summer gardens productive, easy to care for and more drought-tolerant.

Prune dormant, deciduous trees, shrubs and roses. For advice, see http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/2002/3363.pdf.

Apply dormant spray to deciduous trees and shrubs if aphids, scale or whiteflies have been an issue in the past.

Apply tri-basic copper sulfate or lime sulfur to your peach trees if peach leaf curl has been a problem. For the Master Gardeners' fruit tree calendar, go to: www.mastergardeners.org/picks/treecalendar.pdf.

Clean up fallen leaves and debris, and add them to your compost pile.

What to plant now

Bare-root plants: berries, grapes, strawberries, artichokes, fruit trees such as apple, apricot, cherry, fig, nectarine and pear. For a list of recommended varieties, go to: www.mastergardeners.org/picks/fruit.html or call the Master Gardeners Hotline weekday mornings at (408) 282-3105 to request a printed copy.

Transplants: onion, garlic, chard, artichokes, potatoes, lettuce, spinach and rutabagas. Local nurseries should have a good supply of most of these.

Seeds: onion, garlic, carrots, fava beans, radishes, salsify, chard. To find a list of cool season vegetables that do well in Santa Clara County, go to: http://mastergardeners.org/picks/cool.html or call the hotline.

- Rebecca Jepsen, University of California Cooperative Extension Santa Clara County Master Gardener