Winter
From Antivist
(Difference between revisions)
Current revision as of 18:51, 7 September 2007
December
- Keep watering your holiday plants and give them plenty of light
- Check houseplants and any plants you brought indoors for the winter, for insects that may have hitched a ride. With the heat on, they can multiply quickly.
- Also check any bulbs, corms, tubers and bare root plants for dessication or rot
- Start eating those stored vegetables and think about planting more winter squash next year
- Feed the birds
Zones 6 and Lower
- Keep an eye out for bark damage from ice rabbits, deer....
- Spray broadleaf evergreens with anti-desiccant, to prevent dehydration.
- Use the branches from your Christmas tree as protective mulch
- Keep watering newly planted trees and shrubs
January
- Order from catalogs
- Rework your garden design
- Review last year's journal and start a new one for this year by recording your seed/plant orders
- Check your stored bulbs and veggies
- Check plants for heaving
- Recycle your Christmas tree as garden mulch or a bird feeder
- Feed the birds and provide them with some unfrozen water
- Take a gardening class
- Sharpen your tools
Cold Climates
- Start cool season seeds like cauliflower, leeks and geranium seeds
- Zones 7+ can start seeds of slow growing annuals like ageratum, nicotiana petunias, portulaca, snapdragons and verbena and direct seed plants that need a period of cold (stratification).
- Check outdoor plants for animal damage
- Check indoor plants for pests
February
- Finish up your seed and plant orders
- Keep an eye on houseplant pests
- Get your garden tools in order
Cold Regions (Zone 7 and Lower)
- Prune trees and shrubs, both ornamentals and fruit
- Check flower beds for plants that may have heaved
- Replace mulch as needed
- Check outside plants and trees for animal damage
- Cut some branches for forcing indoors
- Rejuvenate holly bushes with a hard pruning
- Check evergreens for sign of desication
- Start seeds of cool season vegetables and flowers
