Get a Head Start on Spring with Tips from The Webster Arboretum

“Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream.”

~Josephine Nuese in The Country Garden

As the snow falls, are you dreaming about Spring?  Since you can’t (or don’t choose to) get outside in your garden now, you can still do some preparation work and research to fill the cold and dreary days of winter.

January is a great time to start planning and learn more about garden design and companion planting.  The following books are recommended to keep you busy this winter and provide you with some great ideas for spring.

Good Planting Plans 

by Rosemary Verey is a classic garden design guide with illustrated layouts for herb gardens, knot gardens, borders, and more, offering ideas for color, texture, and year-round interest.

Do you know about companion planting?  Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte explores that very topic. Learn which plantings should go next to each other in rows and which things to interplant in order to get the most productive vegetable garden.

Other tasks to fill the time…

Pre-order seeds, bulbs and plants for spring. Develop your spring plan now and look through seed catalogues and garden magazines with a purpose. Be on the lookout for disease resistant seeds, especially if you have had issues in the past. Organize your new orders as well as the seed packets you have left over so you’ll know exactly what you have and what additional seeds you need to purchase. Read the packets thoroughly, as they are surprisingly full of helpful information. Seeds don’t actually expire, but the "Packed for" date on the packet tells when the seeds were certified to meet germination standards. This date is a guideline to help determine if the seeds are getting old. Most seeds remain viable a few years after the "Packed for" date, but the exact number of years varies by plant and storage conditions. Conduct a Seed Inventory of the seed packets you have on hand as seeds do have a shelf life. Old seeds may not germinate properly (or at all). Generally, seeds that are 3 to 4 years old should be thrown out and replaced unless they were stored in an airtight container in a refrigerator or freezer.

In seed catalogs, you will often see abbreviations describing the resistance of a variety to a particular disease. For example, VF means that the variety is resistant to Verticillium and Fusarium wilts. PM means that the variety is resistant or tolerant to powdery mildew. Resistant varieties resist infection by a particular disease agent and show little or no disease. Tolerant varieties may show symptoms of the disease but still yield the same as resistant varieties or susceptible varieties that are protected by pesticides.

A great way to organize your seed packets is with a plastic shoe box, a recipe box, or a larger storage container with a lid. Create dividers to separate different types of seeds and label the dividers or drawers with the seed types, such as "Tomatoes," "Peppers," or "Flowers". 

Other things to do….

If you dug and stored tubers such as dahlias, cannas, gladiolus, or tuberous begonias, be sure to periodically check them throughout the winter months. If the storage is too humid and moist, you may find mushy tubers. Remove those tubers and decrease moisture. If your tubers are shriveled, mist them or add some damp vermiculite, helping them to rehydrate.

The key to successfully storing tubers for the winter is making sure they stay dry, have good air circulation, and are in a cool, dark spot that won’t freeze. For many, this could be an unheated basement, attic, closet, or utility room.

Check that your bulbs are stored properly and discard any that are moldy. Bulbs should be overwintered in a cool, dry place. An unheated garage that does not freeze works well. The ideal location has temperatures between 35 and 45ºF and humidity of around 50%.  Pack the bulbs in a cardboard box or other ventilated container. Store bulbs between 2-inch layers of sand, sawdust, coir, or vermiculite. The bulbs should not be touching.

Organize your shed or garage. If you’re not afraid of the cold, this is a wonderful time to haul all of your gardening supplies out and organize them. Add more shelving or hooks for easy access. Tools often get tossed during the gardening months and winter is the time to collect and store them appropriately.

Pruning Trees. Winter presents an optimal period for pruning most deciduous trees, as their dormant state provides improved visibility of their branch structure and reduces the risk of transmitting diseases or pests through fresh cuts. The absence of foliage on deciduous trees allows for a thorough assessment of branch structure, facilitating informed pruning choices. Begin by removing dead, dying, or damaged branches, followed by the elimination of crossing branches. Lower branches on evergreen shrubs and trees should also be addressed in late winter. Additionally, remove overgrown and smaller branches to enhance light and air penetration to the tree’s crown. Pruning should focus on preserving branches that contribute to the tree’s structural integrity. Ensure all cuts are made at the node, where one branch or twig connects to another.

Refrain from pruning spring-flowering trees during this time, as doing so may remove buds essential for the upcoming season’s blossoms. For shrubs that flower on “old” wood (growth from the previous year), such as azalea, beautybush, bridalwreath spirea, spring-blooming clematis, cotoneaster, deutzia, enkianthus, flowering almond, forsythia, mophead hydrangeas, lilacs, mock orange, mountain laurel, ninebark, oakleaf hydrangea, pieris, rhododendron, viburnum, Virginia sweetspire, weigela, wisteria, and witch hazel, it is recommended to wait until late spring or early summer—after the flowers have faded—before performing any pruning. Pruning these plants prematurely will result in the removal of buds that would otherwise bloom in spring. The optimal time to prune spring-blooming shrubs is immediately following their spring flowering.

So, January may not be the time of rest you anticipated.  There are things to do to get a head start on spring.  So happy January and get busy.