Mid-Winter Gardening Tasks

Fall is behind us and winter has set in. For many gardeners, mid-winter brings on some cabin fever. Following are some mid-winter gardening tasks that can help fill the time until spring arrives.

Prune

Winter is a great time to do a little research on the best methods and strategies for pruning your particular plants. Generally, it’s a good time to prune woody plants, but some others are best left alone until after they flower. Dead, damaged or diseased limbs can be removed on nearly all plants.

Clean and Repair Tools

A good cleaning will help to prolong the life of garden tools and mid-winter is a good time for it. Remove any caked-on dirt with a wire brush or putty knife, then scrub down and rinse tools. Place them where they can dry thoroughly. Sand wooden handles to remove any roughness or splinters and add a coat of linseed oil to protect the wood and prevent cracking.

Disinfect Gardening Tools

Cleaning also helps to limit the spread of disease. It’s a good idea to clean and disinfect pruners and shears throughout the gardening season. At the very least, take some time to do it as a mid-winter gardening task. The simplest way to sanitize is with 70% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). No prolonged soaking is required and alcohol isn’t corrosive like bleach.

Some studies have shown that rubbing alcohol isn’t as effective as bleach against some pathogens. Particularly with fruit trees that show signs of blight, soaking tools for 30 minutes in a bleach solution may be a better choice. Mix 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. Add the bleach to the water to avoid splashing the concentrated bleach. Rinse tools immediately after soaking and dry them thoroughly. Note that bleach can cause corrosion on tools.

Lubricate and Protect Tools

After cleaning and disinfecting, lubrication and a thin coat of protection can help to prevent rust and corrosion. Three-in-One oil is great for any moving parts such as those in shears and pruners and a coat of WD40 or mineral oil will help prevent rust from forming on metal surfaces. You’ll be happy to have smoothly operating tools when you need them!

Maintain Power Equipment

Small engines are relatively simple to work on and giving them a tune-up is another good mid-winter gardening task. Changing the oil, spark plugs and air filter and sharpening blades will have that mower ready to run in the spring. If you’re not into doing it yourself, mid-winter is a great time to take your equipment to a shop when they’re less busy and being without it for a little while won’t matter to you.

Continue to Water

Irrigation typically gets turned off at the end of the growing season, but it’s important to pay attention to plants that still may need an occasional watering. There is no need to water if the ground is frozen, but warmer temperatures and lack of precipitation may make it necessary. Watering once or twice a month during the winter should be enough. 

The point of winter watering is not to keep plants green and healthy looking, but to prevent the roots from drying out in the cold dry ground. This is most important for newly planted perennials, particularly woody ones.

Create Your Garden Plan

A good mid-winter gardening task is creating a plan for spring planting. While it may take some imagination to picture how the garden will look when it’s growing, planning now can save some time during the busy spring months. You can even get started on creating raised beds or borders. Winter is also a good time to plan out installation of or changes to an irrigation system, if needed.

Start Some Seeds

Starting plants from seed can be a rewarding (and addictive) mid-winter gardening task. It’s a pretty easy project to get started on, with only a few necessary items needed. Seeds, seed starting mix, containers or trays and a light source are all that’s really needed to get started. 297-Seed Starting Essentials, a podcast episode by Joe Lamp’l, presents a much more involved list if you really want to go all-out. 

Timers for the lights and heat mats are helpful to make sure seedlings get 10-16 hours of light per day. Seedling trays with clear covers will help to ensure that moisture stays consistent during germination. Be sure to read the information on the seed packets to get an idea of when and how to plant them and when to look for seedlings to emerge.

Bring Some Beauty Indoors

If you just can’t wait for the colors of spring to arrive, bringing cuttings indoors to flower can help bide the time. Cuttings from magnolias, serviceberries, redbuds and forsythias can be coaxed to flower indoors after buds have appeared in late winter. More information can be found in this handy guide. 

Cuttings from berry-producing plants like hollies, nandina, pyracantha and Washington hawthorn can add a festive and natural holiday flair to your home. On the other hand, Christmas tree branches and decorative greens cut into 2-foot sections can be taken outdoors and used as protective mulch for garden and perennial beds.

Lawn Care

Depending on your location and the type of grass you have, some lawn care may still be required during mid-winter. In the southern states, winter grass may still need to be mowed, fertilized, watered and weeded. Other areas will not require maintenance, but foot traffic should be avoided. Leaves should be removed to avoid creating a dense mat that will harm the turf. Mid-winter is a good time to take a soil test to see what amendments may be needed in the spring.

Start a Journal

If you haven’t already, mid-winter is a good time to start a gardening journal. Notes about what plants have done well, areas that need a little more work and any pests or diseases that were problems this year can be written down for future use. In particular, the variety of seeds planted, when they were planted and how long it took them to mature will be helpful next year.

Look Forward to Spring

Look forward to spring with all of us at Jerry Pate Design! Mid-winter provides a break from working outside, but most gardeners will find themselves a little stir-crazy before long. Pass the time and feel prepared for the beautiful months around the corner, with these simple mid-winter gardening tasks.