Even if we get frost in Southern California it is quickly melted as the sun rises, unlike the above frost on a friend’s lawn in Corvallis, Oregon. For most gardeners in this area, January is a month of dormancy, a time to plan and prepare for spring.
One way to prepare is to let your pigs root up last year’s garden area, as some other friends near Eugene have done here:
We in Southern California have no such down time, not necessarily. If you’d like to be out in the yard this month, check out my post “What to do in a Southern California garden in January.”
All of my Yard Posts are listed HERE
It’s so busy in Dana Point in January that I barely have time to read your post. Tomatoes and peppers are setting fruit, and cilantro, lettuce and bok choy are growing nicely, as are the onions and garlic. We don’t really like to eat brassicas much (and squirrels love broccolli). The lemon tree is already full again, and the little satsuma orange tree has 3 oranges and tons of flower buds. Parsley is also abundant. I am making deep vole cages around ALL my artichokes, It s big job, as a deep hole needs to be dug and sometimes a smoke bomb is used for the connecting tunnels. Squirrels, gophers and voles ALWAYS make a major tunnel right through the middle under the center of the artichoke plant, which can even kill the plant.
My biggest project is the vole exclusion, installing wire under the lawn (This was done 25 years ago and worked great for a long time).
So I pulled up the sod, and now have to get all the pieces realigned more smoothly over the wire before the next big rain. I didn’t want to bring in more sod and throw away my organic weed filled lawn. No point in doing that, as the weeds would come back anyway…sod with all its plastic really bothers me a lot. The beautiful bok choy flowers are a real treat for the bees during winter months…they self sow here, a very cheerful look in the dark months. Bees are interesting to watch, as it seems like they collect some kind of fungus (or something I can’t see) off of many plants that don’t have flowers. Having a lovely time in Dana Point in January. Got a lot of rainbow pictures too!
I lived south of Eugene, near Mt Skinner, on 5 acres, 2 flat, 3 across a creek running up into fir trees in 1970 for a year, the only warm and dry month was July. The rest had rain most every afternoon. That winter we had two feet of snow. Now living in Socal just one day of rain is about all we want. My newly planted #15 Stewart is blooming! Did the honey treatment and the bees are having a field day. Hope for a few fruits this year. Its 68 here today Jan 4th.
Hi Frank,
Altogether, we spent two weeks in different parts of Oregon and there was at least a little precipitation every single day. No wonder the oak branches are covered in lichen and moss even grows on cars! I love it as a change of scenery from dry Southern California though. Now I can return to sunshine and appreciate it better.
Yup, busy here, too. We’re definitely gonna have an early spring this year. I frantically finished my winter prune on the stone fruits yesterday. There was no time to waste as my tropic snow while nectarine is doing it’s best to push buds as fast as it can. Not sure which one will bloom first but I’m certain I’ll be getting some January flowers. Also, predictably, it’s been a dry winter, so I dumped a lot of fish pond water on the plants in an effort to trick them into thinking it’s been a rainy season. In the past I’ve noticed that rainy seasons equal lots of blooms, dry ones not as much. Not much I can do about the chill hours at this point so I’ll hope for the best.
Also, Greg, I got that tilapia pond going if you want to see it when you’re in the area. I’ll email you some pics next