Are you crazy?! Well yes, I am, but that has nothing to do with the garden. While there may not be much growing at this time of year, there are still plenty of tasks to keep us gardeners busy.
Some tasks can be completed from the comfort of the couch with a hot drink and a warm blanket at hand. Others require plenty of layers, a wooly hat and a sturdy pair of wellies. Regardless, a successful garden needs some planning and attention year round.
Sharpen your pencil and put the kettle on
Once you’ve cleaned your garden up at the end of the main growing season, it’s time to start planning for the next.
I have a note book I use to plan my garden each year. You can get very detailed or, like me, just do an over view but I recommend everyone does these three things:
- List repairs and maintenance to be completed before the next growing season
- Plan what you want to plant the next year
- Inventory your seeds and order what you need for the next season
Fix it up
Winter time is one of the best times to do work on the “structure” of your garden. If you have raised beds, hard borders, bark paths or a greenhouse or shed it is easier to do some of the maintenance jobs while they are not obstructed by plants. Of course if it is very cold or wet some jobs may be impossible but it’s still amazing what you can get done.
This year my winter job list is short but intensive. Some years it only consists of cleaning out my green house or turning my compost heap. Some years it’s a lot longer.
You can see in the pictures below, the water table gets high at the garden in the winter so wellies are essential.
Plan it out
This is my favourite winter task. I love reading seed catalogs, reviewing what I grew the previous year and planning what I’m going to plant in the coming year.
A sketch of my plot helps me visualise the space and rotate my planting to optimise the soil use and minimize diseases. I am always ambitious, and I like to try something new each year. Last year was chick peas and artichoke. This year is paprik peppers and rutabaga (swede/yellow turnip/winter turnip)
Despite my early planning my biggest challenge is always having enough space and remembering to sow at intervals so everything doesn’t arrive at once. I’m getting better at it though.
Sowing the seeds of ...
I never used to bother with a seed inventory and that eventually caught up to me. I found I had seed packets all over and perhaps three packets of one thing but only a few old moldy seeds of something else.
I also had a lot of old seeds. I remembered buying them as if it were yesterday but look at the packaging date and sure enough they were over 5 years old.
Since last year I have become diligent with my seed inventory. I got rid of all the really old seeds. By that I mean I just planted them all in the garden and hoped for the best. I made a list of all the seeds I had and the year they were packed or purchased.
Generally seeds are good for 3 years, although this can vary and the germination rate goes down over time. I also found a lot of seeds I had harvested and dried from flowers and vegetables but had not labelled them properly so I had no idea how old they were.
Now that I have a good list, I can see what I have, what may not germinate well because it is older, and what I need to get.
6-8 weeks before last frost
It is common to see “start indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost on many seed packets. What does this mean? The last frost date varies by region but is the average date a hard frost is likely to occur. In the greater Vancouver area that date is March 28th but inland or elsewhere in the country that could be earlier or later.
What that really means is you can plant seeds in February! Woohoo! In fact for early season plants that can tolerate a bit of frost like peas or onions you can get them started now.
So now I’ve got you so excited you are dancing around the living room doing your happy dance (no? Just me?), what are you waiting for? Stop reading and get planning and planting!
We are hoping the weather will warm up a little here in France, -5c the day before yesterday, -2 yesterday and 0 today. Love your posts.
😊