Updated February 28th, 2019
Here’s a Gardening Checklist to Get You Through the Last Part of Winter
Heads up! This article was last updated 5 years ago.
Even the mid-30s and low 40s forecast for early February are going to feel balmy compared with those Polar Vortex temps, won’t they?
Relatively milder days can give you a much-needed energy boost — so channel it into some serious garden planning. Here’s an easy checklist to get you through the last full month of winter:
- Make your final seed selections and get them started. Place the trays on anything from a fancy radiant-heat floor to a simple heating pad to give your starts the warmth they need.
- Spread compost around shrubs and perennial beds. The freeze-thaw cycle washes the nutrients into the soil, breaking it up and making it richer for April sprouts.
- Review your notes from last year — to remind yourself of plants that didn’t make it, for example. Blooms and greenery can look great in the garden center but don’t always work in your garden.
- If you don’t have a system for tracking what to plant and what to avoid, plan to keep those plastic tags this year. Punch a hole in them and keep them on a ring and then make notes on them about how each variety thrived — or didn’t.
- Give your houseplants a thorough exam and repot or divide them as needed.
- Have some canna, caladium or gladiola bulbs in the basement? Make sure they haven’t gotten squishy. Overwintering mums in the garage? Give them a drink.
- Speaking of the garage, and the shed, make sure mice haven’t moved in — they love to bed down in fertilizer bins and cinder blocks.
