Winter Checklist
Here is a guide to help you fight the winter blues. This guide will hopefully set you up for success for the upcoming growing season. Here are the top 7 things you can do to have a bountiful garden come spring.
1.) Take inventory of the seeds you actually need! Figure out what seeds you already have, and which ones you need to order more of. It might even be useful to give yourself an "allowance" on how many new things you can snag when those beautiful seed catalogs come in the mail.
2.) Take notes on your garden success and failures. What did you do a great job with this past year? What do you need to improve on? It's important to set realistic goals so you can have a plan of action when the growing season beings.
My notes look like this,
-More QUALITY less quantity! I want to focus on better plant and soil health.
-Add more fruit into my perennial food production: raspberries & figs
-Grow things that can easily be multiplied via cuttings : raspberries, figs, dahlias etc.
-Grow more cover crops
-Grow less varieties and more of what we really enjoy using and eating. Only grow a handful of "fun" crops
3.) Make your garden layout. Something I LOVE doing is mapping out my garden. I break out my favorite writing utensil and paper, draw my plans, Its fun to figure out which plants I want to grow together as companion plants.
I love the growing row crops. You can pack a ton in a small spot, it speeds up tasks such as planting, weeding, harvesting etc. . But a goal for me next year is to have permanent beds that boost the bio diversity around the farm. I'd love to have pretty areas that have a mix of perennials, annuals, grasses. A place to add bug homes, bird houses and baths.
In our row crops we harvest as much as we can so having a place for our beneficial insects and critters to set up homes and reproduce will not only be beautiful but will help our farms ecosystem in the long run.
When you draw up your garden layout consider long term goals. Pie in the sky dreams are welcome here! It's also important to visualize and mark how the sun casts a shadow. You want to think about the various plant heights and mature sizes. I also love including tables and seating in my garden spaces because I love being out in this space and hosting others out here as well!
4.) Order the seeds you need. Get those seed orders in now before the spring craze begins. I always order seeds a couple seasons ahead to make sure I get the exact ones I need. If you wait last minute, chances are they might sell out. Learn about my favorite places to order seeds here.
5.) Prep your garden. The weather has been really weird around here lately. And there have been some oddly warm days that I just can't help but get outside and do some work. If you find some of these days, get out there and do a couple things out in the garden to get a head start on the next season. Add some mulch on bare soil, tidy up some things, whatever you can manage to do now is great!
6.) Start seeds. Some seeds take a looooong time to germinate (I'm looking at your lisianthus and eucalyptus) you'll need to start them as soon as possible so they are ready to plant when the weather warms up. If you're interested in taking cuttings from your dahlia tubers you'll need to wake them up to get them sprouting.
7.) Clean your equipment. Now that we *hopefully* have some extra time on our hands, its the perfect chances to clean and sharpen your garden tools and equipment. I like to get my seed starting trays cleaned up and ready for all the seed starting that's ahead of me!