It’s late December and we are in the throes of the awkward time between Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Years etc, and if you celebrate the Winter Solstice as a 3 day event of reflection, centering, and planning then, you have already begun what people often leave to the first week of January. As far the garden goes, now is actually a great time to plan ahead for 2025.
First of all, you are at your most realistic at this time because as the darkness and coldness deepen, we tend to get cabin fever and may idealize what the growing season is actually like. You are the realist, at this time. It’s very easy to bite off more than you can chew and over do the plant purchasing and bed building when everything is frozen and dormant and you are desperate for sunshine and greenery. This is where any notes you have wisely taken about the best and worst of the previous growing season comes in handy; you can replicate the things that went well and ditch the things that did not. I’m always saying, “don’t remember anything, you think at the time that you will remember this or that because it was so interesting or important but you won’t and with the magic of written language you don’t have to. Just write it down.”
Secondly, you can get the drop on discounted 2024 seed inventory and first dibs on the new stock of things that sell out quickly such as open pollinated broccoli. The drawback, however, is that you will be ordering before 2025 seed catalogs come out and therefore, can miss out on new releases. And then too, some seed companies do not allow ordering until mid winter so you may not be able to get what you want but, you can at least make your list and be ready ready ready to order seeds, plants, bulbs, and trees later.
Thirdly, the weather is oscillating but we can expect some here and there above freezing temps and what with not having outdoor chores such as weeding and grass cutting, there’s time to organize the hoards as Sara S says. Get after it, get into it. That includes seeds, see I know how it is; you never plant all of a packet at once just in case you need to re plant or are going to plant in succession but then you end up with multiple packs of the same plant often even the exact same cultivar. Seeds older than 1 year will have to be germination tested and based on the results either saved to plant as quickly as possible or composted. The germination test involves planting 10 seeds and seeing how many sprout and how long they took to do so; a rate of under 70% (7 seeds) germination is a to the compost situation or label them with instructions to plant extra thickly in order to ensure that enough seeds come up.
Don’t buy any more seeds without first going through the hoards. In fact, that is another reason to plan and organize at this time of year and not later in the Spring when the shiny shiny new catalogs arrive in the mail to tempt even the most staunch penny pincher.
All this goes for irrigation systems, hoophouses, shade cloths, row covers, and tools whatever is left in stock will probably be discounted so it’s a great time to buy these things if you can find them and know that you will need them.
Other tasks include checking water in hoophouses to make sure anything you have overwintering in there does not dry out too much because it will get hot in there with doors closed when the sun comes out.
Also check that rodents are not building a metropolis and space faring society, you know, getting ready to rescue those stranded astronauts.
Adjusting row covers on any overwintering row crops because the wind has surely snatched at least one corner up.
There is always somethings to do but be sure to skive off sometime for a lil nappypoo as my Grandma says. And treat yourself to a lil something something perhaps a new tub of shea butter, a better water filter, a new book, a bouquet perhaps. Surely there is something you like to do besides work?
Plant show and tell; Nephrolepsis exaltata ‘Suzy Wong’ aka afro fern, nappy fern a moisture loving but easy to grow fern and nice companion for Phragapedium ‘Ivan Pontilla’ aka fairy slipper orchid.
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