Winter Steps To Help Your Spring Garden

Summary

Winter Steps To Help Your Spring Garden

During winter, all but the most avid gardeners tend to overlook their garden due to the cold weather, dormant plants and an overall lack of greenery. What can be done out there, they ask, amid the months of frost and snow?

The answer is: plenty. Indeed, there is much a gardener can do in the dead of winter to ensure productive and flourishing growing seasons come spring and summer. Here are some strategies you can pursue now to help prepare your garden for the year ahead.

The Good Seed: Winter is the time to consider just what you want to plant come spring and that means perusing seed catalogs. There are multiple catalogs on the market, of course, so order a few to get a wider view of what is available to go in the ground. You might be surprised by what you find, but it’s safe to say the process itself is sure to get you itching to start digging in the dirt.

Decisions, Decisions: Winter also is when you must decide how your garden will grow. Once you have a very general plan – vegetable garden, herb garden, annuals, perennials – the next step is to start getting more specific. A journal specifically designed for gardeners will greatly assist in planning your garden. In addition, you can journal your efforts in there and make notes about what worked and what didn’t.

Erosion Situation: Take advantage of the increased visibility from all the plants dying or being dormant to take a good look at your garden. Are there areas of erosion? If so, you have a project for spring and can start researching and planning how to best fix it. Now is also a good time to consider critter dissuasion options.

Clean It Up: Now’s a great time to clean up your garden by removing debris and weeds from your yard in preparation for spring. Pull up weeds, maintain garden paths and remove dead annuals and dead growth from perennials from your garden bed. Pick up fallen branches and dead leaves that have accumulated from the ground. This is also a good time to prune your shrubs and bushes.
Tool Time: A great way to be prepared for spring is by maintaining and, when needed, replacing basic garden tools such as pruners, garden shears and hand rakes. Maintain garden tools by sharpening or cleaning them, and inspect them for rust. Fully disinfect them to remove soil and bacteria. If you have a patio, wash the furniture by rinsing with a hose and sweep the deck and porch.

Prioritize Plants: When planning, start with the plants that take the longest to mature and will be there for the longest – the trees. Next, come bushes; then perennials, including any perennial herbs; annuals including vegetables; and finally any potted plants.
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At Harmony Communities, we feel strongly that each resident has a sense of home. That they come home from work and feel pride in their environment and in their place in the greater community. That families are comfortable raising children in our neighborhoods, and that couples and singles know that they belong to something bigger than their four walls. In other words, we seek to create harmony within each community, making our communities not just passable, but peaceful, safe, functional, and beautiful.