The first week of January means it is time for the annual list of gardening resolutions. But be practical this year. This time write these tips down on a calendar or put them into your phone as a reminder. Now if you chose to ignore them it won’t be because you forgot to clip this column – does anyone ever clip anything from a newspaper anymore?

January

Order seeds! The seed catalogs can run out of popular varieties. In Western Washington the seed company that caters to our climate is Ed Hume Seeds. Each pack has a tip from Ed Hume himself, still gardening at 93 years young.

February

Cut branches of forsythia and bring them indoors to force into bloom. Sometimes it is nice to fool Mother Nature. You can also cut back your Pee Gee hydrangeas and Annabel hydrangeas. You can also cut back ornamental grasses to get rid of the brown fronds before the new growth begins. Think of it as the February massacre.

March

Time to prune your roses if you did not cut them back in February. Seed sweetpeas, lettuce and radish. Weed.

April

Haunt the nurseries for really cool plants. Add pansies, lobelia and perennials to your garden, Weed some more.

May

Take out a home improvement loan and buy up all the cool pots, bedding plants and garden ornaments in the nursery. May is when nurseries are well stocked. Plant everything!

June

Fertilize roses and perennials this month. Keep weeding. Cut back sedum Autumn Joy to keep the stems from getting leggy and toppling over in the fall.

July

Cut back the foxgloves after they bloom. If you want more native foxgloves take the spent stem and lie it on the ground where you see a bare patch of soil. Watch for new seedlings.

August

Water thirsty plants and harvest zucchini before they grow too large to leave on door steps.

September

Harvest dahlias to keep them blooming. Get snippy with your lavender. Fertilizer the lawn.

October

Dig dahlia and other tender bulbs if they are not in raised beds. Plant bulbs like daffodils and tulips that will flower in the spring.

November

Move tender potted plants and pots that might crack in freezing weather under the eaves of the house or into a rain protected patio.

December

Order tickets to the NWFG show online this month for the best price of the year. Visit www.gardenshow.com

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For answers to gardening questions, visit plantersplace.com and click “As The Expert”. Copyright for this column owned by Marianne Binetti. For more gardening information, she can be reached at her website, www.binettigarden.com.