When it comes to growing plants, everyone always thinks of Spring as ‘The Season’. Sure, it is the time when you transplant all of your seedlings and clones outside, and it’s when you start seeing your garden grow, but there is definitely a little preparation that can be done during the Winter, unless you’re in a state with snow on the ground right now, in that case talk to me about going indoor. Winter is a crucial time of year for your garden to regroup and get ready for the upcoming Spring. Your garden cannot do it alone though, with just a little help from you your garden can be ready for an award winning Spring.
An excellent place to start is with opening up the soil in all of your gardens. Get out that transplanting fork! A regular shovel will do if you must, but a transplanting fork is best because it won’t damage the roots. This will prevent some unnecessary shock. Use your transplanting fork to gently work the soil back and forth. Don’t completely turn it over though, turning the soil over harms the roots that you want to keep. Repeat this in every garden for every plant. After all of the Fall rain the soil begins to compact and become saturated, depleting the oxygen that the roots need. Oxygen will now be able to flow freely through your soil.
Winter is also a great time to amend your garden with some fertilizer. If you will be eating what you are growing we always recommend using an organic fertilizer. Kelp meal, fish meal, bone meal, and worm castings are just some of the many organic options. There are also organic liquid fertilizers that many times can be combinations of organic nutrient sources that have done the mixing work for you. We are always here to help point you in the right direction.
One very important thing to do during Winter is remove “suckers” from applicable plants and trees. Read up on the fruit and flower bearing plants that you have for the proper “sucker” removal. It can be quite different from plant to plant. Winter is the best time to do this for outdoor gardens because the plants are dormant. If done properly, come Spring, your plants won’t even know they were trimmed, and will bear much more fruit and flowers come Spring. Now all that’s left to do is plan for the upcoming Spring!