Partners
Alabama Outdoor Classroom
January Maintenance Checklist
During the month of January, you may want to use the following maintenance checklist to help keep
your outdoor classroom in great shape and to prepare for future projects.
 Continue collecting bags of fall deciduous leaves. These will really come in handy for your
spring and summer gardening.
 Get your garden soil test sent in for analysis of your soil’s nutrients and pH. Go to
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0006-A/ANR-0006-A.pdf for instructions on how to
take a home soil sample. The cost for this test is $7.00. For assistance, contact your local
Alabama Cooperative Extension Office. They will provide recommendations for fertilizer
and other amendments to meet your garden’s needs.
 Print a copy of the Alabama Cooperative Extension’s Alabama Smart Yards publication
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1359/ANR-1359.pdf and add it to your resource
library. This publication will provide you with lots of environmentally friendly information
about how to maintain your outdoor classrooms and your yard at home.
 Winter is a good time to take care of some of your pruning (don’t prune spring blooming
plants as you be cutting off the buds), especially on trees. Try to get it completed before
things start to bud out in spring.
 Grab your seed catalogs and place your orders now. Some of the companies that have
catalogs are as follows:
Park Seeds – www.parkseed.com and request a free catalog
Burpees Seeds – www.burpee.com and request a free catalog
 If you haven’t already done so, now is a good time to fertilizer your spring bulbs such as
daffodils. Select a fertilizer at the garden center that is recommended for spring bulbs such
as a 5-10-12.
 Keep filling your bird feeders as the worst part of our winter is probably coming during the
next month or two. Get signed up for the Great Backyard Bird Count (Feb. 14-17) at
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc . You can also checkout some other interesting bird projects
at this website such as e.Bird and Project FeederWatch.
 This is a great time to get some of your projects built such as raised bed gardens. This way,
they will be ready for spring planting.
Any questions, please contact Doyle Keasal, (334)750-6735 / keasade@auburn.edu or April Waltz, (256)882-9183 /
aprilwaltz@alabamawildlife.org