10 Gardening Activities for January in Southern California

1. Plant Bare-Root Roses, Fruit Trees, and Berries

This is the time of year to plant bare-root (dormant) roses, trees, and berries. Look for stock at your local garden center or order from online retailers such as David Austin (roses), Stark Bro's (fruit trees & berries), Raintree Nursery (fruit trees). When planning your backyard orchard, consider planting varieties that ripen throughout the year. See more on planting bare-root trees, roses, or raspberries (blackberries are similar).

2. Audit Your Seed Inventory

Unless they are stored in an air-tight container in a refrigerator or freezer, seeds have a shelf life that’s typically 3 to 5 years. This seed viability chart will provide specific seed longevity numbers. Look on your seed packets to see when they were packaged. If they are too old, then throw them away and start fresh with new seeds. If you can’t find the date or have a lot of bulk seeds that are no longer in their original packaging, you might want to do a simple seed germination test. Once you know which seeds are good to plant, start sowing seeds indoors to get a jump on spring planting. Use this seed sowing calculator to find the best times to sow seeds of different crops. Once seeds sprout, use indoor grow lights to help plants grow properly.

3. Order Spring-Planted Bulbs

Spring-planted bulbs, corms, and tubers can be ordered now so you get the first pick. Ordering now will also ensure arrival before planting time in February or March. Your local garden center, as well as online retailers such as Longfield Gardens and Brent and Becky's Bulbs are great sources.

4. Visit a California Native Plant Garden

January through March is the perfect time to see California native plants at their peak. There are a number of plants (manzanita, coast silk-tassel, hummingbird sage) in full flower this time of year and other plants (ceanothus, matilija poppy, California poppy) that are just coming into flower or will be starting to flower soon. A few botanic gardens to visit with California native plant gardens include the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, the San Diego Botanic Garden, and the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Plus, mark your calendars for the Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour, March 28th and 29th, where you'll enjoy Los Angeles region's most beautiful home landscapes.

5. Prune & Spray Fruit Trees

Pruning fruit trees when the plants are dormant will spur new growth in the spring. The goal of pruning is to keep the tree healthy (removing dead or diseased branches) and open up the tree to ample sunlight (this will help ensure the fruit ripens properly). Learn more about pruning fruit trees in this video. It’s also a good idea to read up on fruit tree care and pruning, and Fruit Trees for Every Garden is a good resource. After pruning, it’s also a good idea to spray trees with an organic insect repellent such as All Seasons Horticultural and Dormant Spray Oil. (See how to apply it in this video from Garden Answer.)

6. Plant Cool-Season Annuals

Cool-season annuals such as bachelor’s button, English daisies, linarias, lupines, pansies, poppies, tidy tips, and violas bring vibrant colors to the garden early in the year. Look for cool-season annuals at your garden center or check out these 9 favorites from Annie's Annuals & Perennials (that can also be ordered online from them) as well as their spring gardening guide to start working on now.

7. Harvest Citrus

Citrus such as navel oranges, lemons, and tangerines are likely ready to start harvesting this month. Grapefruit may also be ready. When starting your harvest, pick a few from different parts of the tree to test their ripeness. If the citrus fruit is easy to remove from the tree and it tastes sweet, then it’s ready to harvest (taste is a better predictor of ripeness than color). Remember, citrus won’t ripen off the tree so make sure your fruit is fully ripe before removing it from the tree. Ripe fruit can stay on the tree for several weeks, but make sure you harvest before too long so pests don’t get to it. Then store harvested fruit, share it with friends, or make delicious confections (fresh juices, lemon bars, citrus cake, orange syrups, candied peels).

8. Cut Back Roses, Blackberries, & Grape Vines

Cutting back roses, blackberries, and grape vines will lead to healthier plants and strong spring growth. When cutting back blackberries, only cut back canes that produced fruit this past season. New canes should be left in place because they will produce fruit next season. Read this article on pruning blackberries if you want more information. When pruning roses, the pruning process depends on how old your rose plant is. Read this article on pruning English shrub roses, or simply get basic rose pruning information to get more familiar with the process. Pruning grape vines should also be done in winter; follow this step-by-step guide to grape vine pruning.

9. Cut Back Shrubs Hard

There are a number of ways to prune shrubs—from cutting back established plants by one third or one half, to controlling their size and shape. William Cullina, the executive director of the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia, recommends cutting back many types of shrubs more severely. Read this article on when to prune shrubs to learn more about this hard cut-back pruning method.

10. Set Out Asparagus and Rhubarb

Asparagus and rhubarb are specialty crops that are growing in popularity among gardeners. This is the time of year to order and plant roots or plants (depending on how they are sold). Local nurseries may stock these plants, but online retailers such as Burpee are more likely to have them in stock.. These articles provide useful information on growing asparagus or cultivating rhubarb.