21 -- Northwest Planting Calendar

JANUARY

At a glance: Gray skies, bulb shoots emerging, time to prune trees and shrubs when days are mild; mow your lawn if it's shaggy, browse seed and plant catalogs. Plan! Sharpen and clean tools.

Flowers: Cut back dead perennial foliage, check stored begonias and dahlias for rot, clean and prepare flats and containers to start seeds indoors. Force early flowering shrubs like forsythia and winter jasmine. Clean your houseplants, and don't overwater or overfertilize when dormant.

Edibles: Plant grapes, currants, raspberries; get a local fruit catalog. Choose new fruit. Cut out raspberry canes that fruited last year. Get soil tested. Lime vegetable patch (5 pounds dolomite lime per 100 square feet) if needed.

FEBRUARY

At a glance: Sudden freezes surprise gardens, sun strengthens. Hunt slugs gnawing flower shoots, plant bareroot trees and shrubs. Check branches for tent caterpillar eggs - like gray styrofoam bands - and peel them off.

Flowers: Plant primroses, pansies, other perennials. Sow seeds of hardy annuals and perennials outdoors - bachelor buttons, sweet peas, California poppies and more. Choose and plant new roses.

Edibles: Start cabbage, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower indoors under fluorescent lights. If you have well-drained soil, plant hardy vegetables outside (garlic, shallots, onions, fava beans). Spray peach trees for peach leaf curl. Prune your fruit trees. Dig in cover crops before they flower.

MARCH

At a glance: Spring arrives! Joy flourishes with daffodils and early shrub bloomers. Fertilize ornamentals as they begin growth. Complete tree/shrub planting. Weed, weed, weed!

Flowers: Start stored begonias indoors, prune and replant stored fuchsias (protect from frost), divide and transplant summer-blooming perennials. Fertilize spring bulbs. Repot and fertilize houseplants. Prune roses.

Edibles: Start warm weather crops (tomatoes) indoors. Cool weather crops go in - peas, radishes, early potatoes; set out lettuce and cole-crop seedlings. Protect carrots, radishes and cole crops against root maggots with floating row cover. Fertilize blueberries and raspberries.

APRIL

At a glance: Rain or shine, a glorious garden month. Clean up borders, fertilize, and apply mulch to keep in moisture. Dethatch lawns, prune spring-flowering shrubs after bloom. Control slugs!

Flowers: Plant dahlias and gladiolus from storage; set out hardy annual flower transplants. Start tender flowers like marigold inside. Set geraniums and fuchsias from storage outside. Observe and note daffodils and tulips you like, to plan your fall bulb-ordering.

Edibles: Sow more peas, lettuce, beets . . . prepare areas for hot-weather veggies. Plant herbs from containers. Tie up raspberry bushes.

MAY

At a glance: After mid-month, frost danger's generally over. Set out all tender plants, and plant containers on porches and decks. Hang your fuchsia baskets! Sit in the morning sun with relief. Or go out with flashlight and hand-pick root weevils feasting on rhodies.

Flowers: Yes, yes! Choose new begonias and geraniums, divide and replant bloomed-out spring perennials. Shear rockery plants like alyssum and aubretia after flowering. Move your houseplants outside at the month's end. Pinch back chrysanthemums on Mum's day.

Edibles: Plant corn (pre-sprout if soil is cold) in many short rows to allow cross-pollination. Set out tomato and other warm-season crop transplants toward month's end. Water your garden if rainfall's inadequate.

JUNE

At a glance: Revel in roses, iris, delphinium . . . the scented, flowering garden. Eat outside on warm, light evenings. Water carefully . . . deeply and thoroughly. Renew or replace mulches. Install soaker hoses or drip irrigation.

Flowers: Remove dead brown foliage from spring bulbs. Weed out unwanted seedlings of all types. Treat roses to more fertilizer and water as they bloom. Check peonies for botrytis damage. Stake up tall perennials that may flop.

Edibles: Cool weather may delay pollination of female squash and cucumber flowers. Harvest and enjoy June-crop strawberries. Thin out carrot plantings. Have a salad of early spring greens and peas.

JULY

At a glance: Sun, dry weather. Garden harvests coming in. Visitors arrive in Seattle. You'll be watering. Keep container plants moist . . . you may need to water twice a day.

Flowers: Cut back all spent flowers of summer-blooming annuals and perennials to encourage further bloom. Fertilize container plants every two weeks. Feed and pinch chrysanthemums. Plant any other annuals you want in for fall bloom. (Cosmos, for one.)

Edibles: Harvest herbs for cooking. Plan and set out your fall vegetable garden. Set out more bush beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, radishes and winter root crops. Dig shallots when tops are brown. Keep crops picked to get tender harvests.

AUGUST

At a glance: Are you home? Weed. Bask. Water. Weed. Pick. Bask. Water. Bask.

Flowers: Order spring-blooming bulbs if you haven't. Keep dahlias staked, watered, picked. Give supplemental fertilizer to summer-blooming annuals. Divide daylilies and any iris or bulbous lilies that have bloomed.

Edibles: Plant turnips, spinach, Chinese cabbage . . . and many other greens for late fall harvest. Harvest squash and other summer-fruiting crops often to keep those goodies small!

SEPTEMBER

At a glance: A cherishable month, often clear and mild. Tomatoes finally ripen, apples and pears invite munching, our gardens overflow with harvest.

Flowers: Choose spring-blooming bulbs early for best selection; store in a cool place until planting. Plant pansies, primroses, peonies. Feed chrysanthemums one last time. Divide summer-blooming perennials. Weed. Bring in houseplants toward the month's end.

Edibles: Cover tomatoes and basil with cloches to conserve heat for ripening as days shorten. Make pesto. Plant more onions, garlic and shallots.

OCTOBER

At a glance: Gather fruit, cherish the fading light. Rake leaves and compost them. Last month to re-seed lawns; lay sod anytime it's not too wet. Prepare soil deeply for new sod areas. Select trees and shrubs with good foliage color now (buy when in color!).

Flowers: Plant bulbs, all month. Prepare containers of bulbs for forcing. Dig dahlias, glads. Store geraniums; cut back, they will winter over inside. Saved flower seeds keep best in small capped jars in the refrigerator; add a desiccant to the jars.

Edibles: Tidy the garden; remove and destroy any diseased foliage or fruit. Plant bush fruits, rhubarb. Plant garlic, too.

NOVEMBER

At a glance: Ideal time to fertilize the lawn with a 3-1-2 ratio fertilizer. Rake those leaves off. Protect outdoor faucets from freezes. Plant, transplant shrubs and trees. Flowers: Still time to plant spring-blooming bulbs. Remove leaves from roses to force dormancy; don't compost any diseased material; protect bud unions. Don't prune now, but cut back extra-long canes. Tuck in extra perennials as long as possible outdoors. Mulch for winter protection. Review garden records to plan new flower plantings. Edibles: Check on stored vegetables for soundness. Finish garden clean-up. Lime your dormant vegetable garden. Plant fava beans toward the end of the month. Plant cover crops such as red clover to protect vegetable plot from erosion, and weeds.

DECEMBER

At a glance: Dark. Pick evergreens for your house. Winter-proof if you haven't. Turn the compost; cover it with a lid or tarp. Mulch.

Flowers: Do the last spring-bulb plantings. Keep gift flowers in good light and out of drafts. Early in the month, plant paperwhite narcissus for gifts (they take 4 to 5 weeks to bloom).

Edibles: Dig up and divide old rhubarb clumps. Grow sprouts inside; grow chives on your windowsill. If you have lettuce under protection, harvest your holiday salad.