Winter tasks to ensure a successful growing season ahead
While all seems quiet in the winter garden the soil below is busy preparing for its next cycle of growth. Herbaceous perennials develop their new shoots, buds swell on bare branches and some brave bulbs emerge from the ground. We too can quietly work away in the background to prepare for a successful growing season ahead.
“And don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous.”
Time feels as though it has stretched - slow, cold days that move at a snail’s pace give us the opportunity to also slow down and make considered decisions about how we would like our garden to evolve throughout the approaching seasons. Here are a few things that we can do to be one step ahead when the energy of spring sweeps us away in a glorious wave of abundance and vibrance.
Creating a Garden journal
A garden journal really becomes an invaluable resource in the garden. It can be as fancy or as basic as you like, digital or handwritten, a spreadsheet or a work of art! Have a play with a few different methods to find what works best for you. It took me a few years of experiments and gaps to find out what works for me and what I felt like I could easily sustain over the growing season. It can absolutely be as detailed as you like but I have pared mine right down to the notes that I find are essential to gain a real understanding of the environment that I am growing in. I include specific germination notes for individual varieties ie. Scabiosa need light to germinate so just cover with vermiculite not soil, sowing dates, planting out dates, 1st harvest, top crops, failed crops, frosts & snowfall dates. I also write down any new methods that I am trying out in very specific detail, so that I know for next time whether to adjust some of the variables or stick with what worked.
Designing Your Garden
Perhaps one of the loveliest jobs and aspects of winter, is sitting beside the fire and dreaming of the next growing season in your garden. Referring to my garden journal I can see what grew really well and also what crops didn’t work. Was there a plant that you loved but perhaps the colour wasn’t quite right so is there a different colour you could get to try? Was there a plant that just attracted bugs and wasn’t worth the hassle of trying to keep on top of the pests? Did you find the most beautiful flavoured tomato that you need to make sure you have enough room to grow twice as many of them? Did the cosmos suffer because it had too much shade so perhaps you can find a spot that it will thrive in? Going through and asking these types of questions for each crop will help you start to form an idea of what your garden will look like next Spring.
Throughout the year I keep a running list in my garden journal of plants that I love that I have seen in other peoples gardens, seed catalogues, garden books, saved Instagram posts and on my Pinterest. I then go through my list and search for each one on the internet to see if I can get either the seeds or plants here in New Zealand or if there are any similar alternatives available here. Will they suit my growing conditions and probably the most pressing question of all…do I actually have room to fit all these new plants?! I find that as each year goes by I am wanting to make my life more simplified in the garden - to choose to grow more perennials, less fussy plants and growing things that naturally thrive in our conditions. So have a think about all these different aspects, do you have the time and energy to maintain and nurture all these plants?
Using a pen and paper I sketch out my garden and have a play around with plant combinations taking into consideration sun-lovers, heights, flowering duration and time. From here I can see just how much room I have and can then narrow down my plant list to a list of solid favourites.
Order seeds
Once you have a garden plan, it is time to place your seed orders. I find it is good to get in early so that you don’t miss out on any popular varieties. I also keep in mind that seed catalogues are always changing so you can’t always guarantee that a variety you love will be available the following year. If you have any special plants that are an essential part of your garden design, it is worth looking into seed saving so that you can be sure to always have it.
Beds Cleared
In autumn I leave many of the fallen leaves on the gardens to create a layer of mulch to protect the soil beneath over the fallow period. As winter comes to an end I cut back any herbaceous perennial stalks that are still standing in the garden. I leave them until later on in winter so that the birds have had a chance to eat all of the seeds from the dried seedheads. Although this can mean your garden looks a little messy I do think it is worth it for the benefits it brings to the wildlife that live amongst your garden. Some of the dried dead plants actually look fantastic and quite sculptural glistening with frost on a winter morning - sedum and phlomis both look wonderful. In late winter I pull back the mulch and add it to my compost bins, then add a thick layer of compost, about 3-5cms, on top of the beds. I use the No Dig method for my garden which I just find so effective and straightfoward. It creates such healthy plants and soil, little competition from weeds and no physical back breaking digging - I wholeheartedly recommend it. After adding the compost the beds are left to sit and are all ready to plant into in early spring.
Making compost
Autumn & winter provide us with so many wonderful materials that we can use to create our own amazing compost. There is an abundance of leftovers from the end of season tidy up that all go in to the mix - leaves, fallen fruit, annuals that are finished, tatty leaves that I remove from plants and any weeds that are still popping up in the garden all combined with the food scraps leftover from the kitchen. Over these months we rake a lot of our leaves into a big pile next to our compost bins so that it is very easy to add to our bins as we continue to layer roughly equal parts green materials to brown. I don’t add any seed heads just incase they survive the heat of the compost making process and end up germinating throughout the garden as we spread the compost. I had a whole carpet of sunflowers germinate in my greenhouse after putting the dried heads in the compost a few years ago! I just love the idea of this never ending cycle of the remains from one season breathing life into the next.
General tidy up and organise
Winter is the perfect time to have a good tidy up of all things that may have fallen into a mess through the chaos of the growing season. Have an organise through seed packets, no need to throw out ones past their use by date. They may just have a lower germination rate so sow more to take this into account. Give away any packets that you are not going to use. Make a tidy stack of seeds trays and punnets, throwing out/recycling any that are cracked or sun damaged. Clean up, sharpen and oil your garden tools then return them all to their rightful home. It is a good feeling to know that you are all organised and tidy before the growing season gets underway.
Having a break
It is important to follow the natural rhythm of the earth and use the winter time to slow down and rest. This period of rest allows us to gather our energy ready for the new beginnings of Spring. Use this time to dream and get inspired for the upcoming season; choose a selection of garden books from the library, catch up on episodes of Gardener’s World or follow along with Instagram gardeners in the opposing hemisphere to see what they are growing and loving.
Joy:
Consider planting something that blooms in winter to brighten up the garden & bring you joy. Often the winter flowering plants are very highly scented to attract the few pollinators that are still about - just a few stems of Daphne will perfume a whole room. Daphne, hellebores, viburnum x bodnantense & witch hazel are all lovely options. It is important to plant them close to the house or somewhere where you will see them frequently so that you can enjoy them, rather than them being forgotten in some corner of the garden that you never spend time in through winter.
Extending the season
This is totally optional but it can be really fun & rewarding to find some ways to extend your growing season. The ultimate luxury is to have a greenhouse - however a low tunnel, cold frame, conservatory or even a sunny windowsill can all provide that little bit of extra protection that will allow some hardy plants to continue on growing once the weather turns. It feels like such a treat to be able to go out to my greenhouse in the depths of winter and pick a stem or 2 of Iceland poppies or to pick a handful of rocket or coriander to brighten up a winter dinner. Everything grows very slowly & there is not much pressure from weed growth so there is not the usual hustle that goes with the rampant growth of the spring & summer. Harvests probably won’t be huge but every little pick brings in much more happiness than you would imagine possible.
