Wintertime Gardening
What To Do When It’s Cold Outside
Baby, it’s cold outside! If you live in the Midwest, you may be suffering from a bit of cabin fever these days. You probably have a yearning to take a walk in the open and plant something in the garden as well. Winter can seem never-ending, but don’t be fooled. If you take a good look at your calendar, you will see spring truly is just around the corner. There’s plenty of groundwork and planning to achieve before that first trip outside.
January is the month to breathe a bit, take a serious look at other gardens and fantasize as broadly as you desire about your own. Maybe you’d like to add more vegetables or perennials, perhaps a raised bed or water feature. Berries? Flowers? Whatever new ideas you have, January’s stillness will allow you to meditate, capturing all the specific changes to your open space you can conceive.
Spend some days poring through pictures on websites, browsing catalogs, flipping through books and magazines. Note all the plants, shrubs, and trees you can use to enhance your yard or plot. Strawberries here, chocolate mint there, a hydrangea for impact, and chives – let’s not forget those healthy herbs! Allow your imagination to lead you through the process.
Draw out a design to include all of your latest inspirations. Like a vision board, your garden schema can be as basic or elaborate as you wish. It will help direct you in labor and budget. While you may not be able to complete each detail this year, updating the layouts in a journal will allow you the luxury of looking back time and again, finishing projects at your leisure.
When your draft becomes final, start budgeting, ordering, and even indoor-starting some of the seeds and bulbs you’ll need to see your dream come to fruition. One day in June, while you are strolling through your masterpiece, you’ll thank yourself for the effort you put in this month.
Here’s to your planning and to a wonderful wintertime!
This article first appeared in the Traveler Weekly Newspaper January, 2021
