Gardening Tasks for the Winter Months

If you love to garden, the time between harvesting the fall crops and starting the spring new ones is not always a time of rest. Here are some activities, easy to do, but will help you jump into spring with new vigor and excitement.

We gardeners don't try to rely on our memory alone when it comes to what went where, or whether it did well or poorly, planted in that particular spot. In addition, there are plants that do not thrive when planted after a particular crop. Knowing what you planted and where you planted it, can mean the difference between a happy and very unhappy plant in the next growing season.

ATTRA (National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service) put out a wonderful planting guide for companion planting that shows the happy companionship between certain plants, but also which plants are incompatible. For instance, you should not plant tomatoes where you had your Irish potatoes, Fennel or a member of the cabbage family. However, planting them where you had or have a member of the onion Family, Nasturtium, Marigold, Asparagus, Carrot, Parsley, or Cucumbers will help your tomatoes through a healthy season. Companion planting is not an old wives tale. There is actually scientific basis for it and that article from ATTRA has information on this for you too.

So, log what you planted last season and where you planted it. Watch the sun move across your garden and make notes of times and locations. What is the soil like in various spots of your garden? Is it damp in some spots, dry in others? Is the soil the same or do you have rocky, clay or sandy soil in some parts of your garden. This record can help you to plan your spring garden and it's never too soon to do that. Was your crop bountiful, so-so or poor? Was it plagued by fungus or insects? All of these notes can help you with your spring crops.

Another winter activity is clean-up. Remove old hoses, twigs, branches, string, plant markers, rocks and debris from your garden. Pull any weeds that have started to take hold, even during the winter months. Depending on the size of your garden, winter mulching can help you keep the weeds down and give your soil a head start for spring.

Clean and repair your tools. This is something many of us neglect, yet it is not all that difficult to do. A bucket of sand with some oil in it works wonders. Shove your spade up and down a few times in a bucket of oily sand. The sand is abrasive and helps knock off the dirt and grime while the oil coats the shovel and keeps it from rusting. Hand garden trowels can also be cleaned up this way. Another thing we can do with our tools in the winter is to arrange them in a more orderly fashion. Are your tools just leaning up against a wall? There are numerous hanging kits in the hardware store, but even two nails close together can be used to hang up a shovel or rake.

Don't forget to check the handles of your tools. Are they secure? Are there rough spots on the handles, which might give you splinters? Rub sandpaper on those until the handle is once again smooth to the touch. Either fix or replace garden tools with broken handles.

Get some seed catalogues together to plan your spring garden. There are several online seed catalogues I like for ordering seeds, or simply givng wistful glances at crops I'll be selecting to grow in my garden. I've provided a list of three of them at the end of this article.

Another great winter activity is to plant spring blooming bulbs. Until your ground has a hard freeze, you can plant daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and crocus bulbs. These bulbs winter over and then bloom in spring.

Just because we are staring at December on the calendar does not mean we have to stop playing in the dirt. For even more tips, the web site "Winter Gardening Tips" has a great checklist for you to use.

Online Nursery Catalogues

Burpee

Gurney's

Direct Gardening