Your All Things Plants newsletter for January 16, 2012

• 38 new members.
• 113 new threads.
• 2,325 new posts.
• 2,127 new images to the plant database.
• 225 new comments in the plant database.

Team Garden Designed, or Team Go With the Flow? By Trish Whitinger on January 15, 2012 Some people are born planners, some like to experiment and see what happens. Come tell us what kind of gardener you are. (18 comments)

Time to winter sow your seeds By Lynn Smith on January 13, 2012 Have you tried winter sowing vegetable and ornamental plant seeds? If not, let's give it a try this winter. Many seeds, including tomato seeds and your favorite perennial seeds do unbelievably well using this method. (37 comments)

Opinion: A few good trees By Sharon Brown on January 10, 2012 It's a good time to take a look at the bare bones of trees now that winter is upon most of us. That's about all we can see anyway since they aren't dressed in their leafy finery at the moment. Look out your window. How many trees can you see? (130 comments)

Daily Gardening Tips from this week:

January 16, 2012: If you're opposed to wearing gloves for light tasks and don't want to harm your manicure draw your fingernails across a bar of soap filling the nails so they can't get dirt into them. Tip by Aguane Photo by mcash70 - (One comment)

January 15, 2012: Talk to your neighbors and see what vegetables they will be planting. You can then plan different plants, and each neighbor share the bounty of their harvests with each other. Tip by Shelly Photo by gardengus - (2 comments)

January 14, 2012: Coffee Grounds: Mix in the soil of acid loving plants like Gardenia's, Azalea's etc. Tip by plantladylin Photo by gardengus - (15 comments)

January 13, 2012: January is a good time to start keeping a personal gardening calendar. Use any type of calendar you like, but a wall calendar that already has large, empty blocks of space allotted for each day is ideal to hang where it can easily be seen daily. Hang a pen along with it to jot down those notes, garden observations and reminders for future reference. Tip and photo by SongofJoy - (15 comments)

January 12, 2012: Solitary bees are very important for pollination, to keep them in your garden build them a house. My husband made a simple one from a 4x4 about 15" inches long with one end cut on a slant, then he drilled several rows of holes about 2 inches deep. The holes can be various sizes from 1/6 to 3/8 of an inch. He then cut a board somewhat larger and nailed to the slanted end as a roof. Attach to a fence or tree for happy bees!! Tip and photo by mcash70 - (12 comments)

January 11, 2012: To repot a cactus or other spiky plant, wrap it carefully in a washcloth or towel, to minimize breakage to the spines and injury to your hands! You will be able to handle it easily this way. You may need to use some tape to hold the cloth in place. Tip and photo by Dutchlady1 - (8 comments)

January 10, 2012: When researching what plants to grow in your yard, look up their requirements for sun exposure and water needs, for maximum success! Tip by Dutchlady1 Photo by gardengus - (2 comments)