Frankly, January is a pretty good month to stay inside and read a gardening book.  Or peruse beautiful seed catalogs and envision the garden of your dreams.   But for those of you who would like some additional suggestions, here are some productive things you could be doing this month:

• If you’ve been keeping a garden journal, this is a good time to pull it out and reflect on the past year.  What went well for you and what did not?  Are there lessons to be learned that you could apply next season?
• Take hardwood cuttings of deciduous ornamental shrubs and trees for propagation.
• Assess which ornamentals need to be replaced this spring – either through cold weather losses or varieties which are not as disease resistant as you would like.
• Clean pruners with rubbing alcohol, and sharpen those and other tools as needed.
• Winter wind is is very drying for plants – place windbreaks around plants that are sensitive to cold, dry winds.
• Stay off lawns as much as possible, as it causes soil compaction and kills turf.
• Don’t forget to occasionally water plantings  that are protected from winter rains under eaves.
• Use dormant sprays of lime sulfur or copper fungicide on roses for general disease control.

Don’t you feel better having a list?  Now, back to that book and comfy chair by the fire!