January

• Get those plant and seed catalogs out and start planning next season's garden [liCut the branches off of your Christmas tree to use as mulch in the garden
• Scout tree branches and limbs for signs of egg masses

February

• Keep tabs on your houseplants. Make sure they are getting enough humidity. Check for pests.
• Cut branches of flowering shrubs like forsythia, pussy willow, quince and magnolia to bring inside for forcing

• Inspect hemlocks for overwintering woolly adelgid

March

• Prune non-stone fruit trees, grapes and raspberries. Start all-purpose spray regimen
• Start seeds of slow growing and cool season vegetables like: onions, leeks, parsley, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, eggplant and peppers
• Begin removing mulch from around rose bushes
• Plant your peas on St. Patrick's Day. (If there?s no snow stopping you.)
• Begin horticultural oil (dormant oil) applications where needed to control pests

April

• Harden off and move cool season crops to the garden
• Plant asparagus roots and onion sets
• Apply pre-emergent crabgrass killer after forsythia bloom
• Remove mulch from on top of flowers
• Re-mulch beds as necessary
• Remove tent caterpillars and webs
• Begin monitoring for signs of disease

May

• Once your last frost data has passed, warm season crops can be planted
• Start seeds for melon and squash. Hold until the end of may, to avert squash bugs and borers.

• Begin pinching annuals and perennials to make the plants fill in and produce more blooms
• Prune evergreens when the new growth starts to turn a darker shade of green
• Prune stone fruits (cherry, almond, peach, nectarine, plum) at bloom time
• Stake tall perennials
• Remove and dispose of azalea leaf gals before they turn white and release their spores

June

• Prune flowering shrubs after the flowers begin to fade
• Continue pinching flowers until July 4th
• Deadhead and remove fading leaves from spring bloomers
• Divide and transplant perennials
• Take softwood cuttings from trees and shrubs to propagate new plants
• Remove fallen fruits from below trees to prevent insect egg laying
• Place red sticky sphere traps in apple trees to control apple maggot flies
• Check undersides of rose leaves for rose slugs
• Watch for scale infestations on Euonymus and pachysandra
• Move houseplants outside

July

• Stop pinching back flowers
• Divide oriental poppies and bearded iris
• Keep deadheading
• Remove leaves infested by miners, to control spread
• Succession plant beans, lettuce, radishes and corn
• Water newly planted trees and plants as necessary
• Start seeds of fall crops like: broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower

August

• Seed a fall crop of peas
• Gather herbs and flowers for drying
• Keep deadheading and harvesting
• Begin taking cuttings for new plants
• Sit and enjoy your garden in all its summer glory

September

• Start moving houseplants indoors. Check for pests first
• Seed a fall spinach crop
• Seed cover crops on bare spots in the vegetable garden
• Plant new trees and shrubs, to give them at least 6 weeks before frost
• Plant spring flowering bulbs
• Begin "dark treatments" with your saved Poinsettia plant
• Dry and store tender bulbs before a frost

October

• Plant garlic and shallots
• Have your soil tested and amend as needed
• Harvest Brussels sprouts after a hard frost
• Clean up garden debris. Remove all vegetable plants and fallen fruit.
• Remove dead annuals from the garden, after a frost.
• Cut back perennial foliage to discourage overwintering pests. Leave flowers with seeds for the birds.
• Start raking and composting leaves

November

• Finish amending the soil.
• Cover exposed garden soil with a layer of shredded leaves, for the winter
• Wrap screening around fruit tree trunks often damaged by mice and voles
• Keep watering until the ground temperature reaches 40 degrees F.
• Buy bulbs for winter forcing
• Mulch rose bushes

December

• If you can get to them, harvest any remaining root crops
• Start rotating your houseplants so they get equal light on all sides
• Check your stored tender bulbs for rot or dryness
• Start paperwhites and amaryllis for winter blooms