The Four Gardening Seasons – Winter

Gardening in the Winter?

So, what on earth can you do in your garden in winter?

For those fortunate enough to live in more temperate climates, winter gardening is a definitely a possibility, but when you have temperatures dipping into the -30’s to -40’c Celsius like we do, then gardening is nothing but either memories of the summer season and dreaming of the upcoming spring.

There’s nothing wrong with that actually. The soil needs a rest, indeed many of our perennial plants need a break as well. Plants such as rhubarb, raspberries and asparagus NEED a prolonged winter period for them to do their best. We, as gardeners, too actually benefit from some time off, though when it’s -30 for the 20th day in a row it’s hard to appreciate that one!

Dreaming and Scheming

Winter is the perfect time to reflect on your gardening successes from last summer, what worked, what was a failure, what you’d try again, and what was just good for the scrapheap of ideas.

Time for some Winter Reading

Of course, you’ll be spending considerable time planning for next spring and if you’re a keen gardener there’s no better way to enjoy a long winters day than curling up with a seed catalogue or a good gardening guide as in the coldest, shortest days of winter, an hour or two with a colorful catalogue makes for some mighty fine reading.

Fortunately, with our prolonged winter, it is necessary to start a lot of plants indoors, as our growing season is not quite long enough to take many of our plant species to maturity without starting them indoors. As a result there is a flourishing “greenhouse” industry, usually Mom & Pop ventures with 3-4 Green Houses under plastic, that as winter is closing out, will be full of “bedding out” annuals, hanging baskets, flower towers and more, all ready for eager gardeners to swoop onto at the first sign of spring.

They make a great place to visit in the depths of a cold snap, as the vibrant color of hanging baskets in bloom, roses, and ornamentals, along with the aroma of rich soil, lilly blooms etc., all combine to astound your winter weary senses, and make you all that more eager to wave bye bye to the cold, and hello to getting your hands dirty in the garden.

And next thing you know and you’re Gardening in the Spring again….

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