The Wintertime Gardener

Wintertime in Middle Tennessee can be a confusing time for gardeners.  It can be freezing cold for several days, followed by one or two warmer days and drastic temperature changes. 

What’s a gardener to do during winter?

The answer is a laundry list of things, such as focusing on planning and preparing for spring.  However, February especially tends to be my busiest month for maintenance and the readying for spring.

Spring preparation first and foremost means planning, and February is really your last chance to do it without feeling the rush.  Finalize your plans now.  Pick a designer or design to work with and get started before everyone gets else gets busy with his or her projects as well. Tip: During slow times, it is possible to take advantage of sale prices on plants and other items, such as services. If you look around, there will be places seeking to get rid of old stock before they start heavily replenishing again in the spring.

Pruning is probably the largest chunk of your garden maintenance, and the on again off again relationship with your pruners begins now.  The first week of February, I always suggest cutting back all of your ornamental grasses.  Cutting them back now ensures that the growth they put out in a few weeks will be unobstructed by unsightly dead plant material.  It also encourages a lot of vigorous new shoots on things like pampas grass and miscanthus.  Later in the month you’ll need to prune back your roses to keep them under control.  The yearly hacking back of grape vines can occur now, along with any other necessary cutbacks.  And don’t forget any fruit bearing plants you have such as apples, blueberries, and other fruit bearing plants. These plants need their shaping and selective pruning done before they begin blooming.

It is recommended that you finish up your transplanting of fruit trees now.  The time for planting them with the least amount of summer stress is quickly ending, and getting ahead of the Tennessee’s heat can be crucial to a transplant.  Of course, this also applies for anything you still have slated for moving around the yard.  As an added bonus to this time, if you started any of the hardier and larger cole season crops (broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc.) in January, they can be moved outside to harden off in any cold frames you have before bringing them out for planting.

My favorite thing this time of the year, however, involves vegetables. I grew up helping my grandfather garden, and at a young age I learned this is the time of the year when things were beginning to happen.  At the beginning of February, broccoli and cabbage  (as well as other vegetables that need a long, cool growing season) should be started indoors as seeds. This will help with the transplanting of the plant later by making them stronger and giving them a head start. By the middle of February, you need to have started such crops as peppers and tomatoes to be planted once it has warmed up outside. At the end of the month, leafy greens and root crops can be directly sown into beds or cold frames to get your fresh vegetables going again.

 

That’s a lot of stuff to do in one month! Although it can be difficult gardening with the fickle weather of Tennessee, it’s worth it.  Planning now and getting all this pruning and other maintenance work done will help you enjoy the growing season for the fun stuff- like planning new landscaping ideas or growing vegetables.  Not only is that nice to think about; but as we begin the transition into spring, keep in mind that everything you do now will serve as an aid in your garden’s overall success. Selectively pruning and cutting back or trimming plants at the correct time can greatly improve the growth, blooms, and shape of most material. 

 

Do you have questions? Would you like a quote on plant maintenance? Call us at (615) 603-6542!

 

Picture Source:
Michelle's personal photos

 

 

Written by Richard