Garden checklist: Winter is a great time to get to work

Think you can’t garden in winter? Think again! January is a great month for garden renovation. Dormant plants are easier to prune, divide and move. Maintenance and cleanup also are high priorities.

In the city of Sacramento, the “Claw” will pick up street piles of green waste until Jan. 31. Get that pruning done! Other tasks that need attention:

▪  Clean up leaves and debris around fruit trees and rose bushes to prevent the spread of disease.

▪  Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective. Don’t apply on foggy days or when rain is forecast.

▪  Prune hybrid tea, floribunda and grandiflora roses for April bloom. For more flowers this spring, prune less severely. For a taller bush, prune canes to 24 to 30 inches tall instead of 12 to 18 inches.

▪  Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.

▪  Cut back chrysanthemums to 6 to 8 inches tall; divide if necessary.

▪  In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.

▪  Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.

▪  Plant bare-root roses, shrubs and fruit trees.

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Garden checklist: Winter is a great time to get to work."