Planning your garden in the winter may seem like an odd time to be thinking about growing. However, it is the perfect time to reflect on the last season and plan for the upcoming year.
Why start planning your garden in the winter?
- Reflect on last year’s garden and food preservation. Did you grow enough food for you and/or your family? If not, adjust your plans! Were you able to handle the amount of food you grew or the size of your garden? If not, maybe you should think about shrinking your garden next year.
- Planning your garden before you plant it means you are going to have a more efficient spring garden. Making a plan means you won’t be spending too much on seeds, compost, fertilizer, mulch, etc. Not only that, but you can plan where everything is going to go, rotate your crops or make a plan for multiple sowings.
- Prepare for how you are going to preserve your garden harvests. By planning your garden in the winter, you will be able to give yourself a time line for when things should be ready to harvest. Then you can have a good idea of when those things need to be preserved. Planning to succession sow can help to ensure you are not overwhelmed with more than you can preserve at one time.
- Winter is the time to get free seed catalogues! So many companies will send out free seed catalogues to help you decide on varieties. Find a company you like and go sign up to receive it. Companies like Baker Creek and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange will keep you on their mailing list year after year.
How do I plan my garden in the winter?
This can look a little different for everyone based on their budget, size of growing space and growing needs. But there are a few basic steps everyone can take to plan a well thought out and productive garden.
1. What do you want to grow?
Decide what types of vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers you want to grow in your garden for the upcoming year. Next check out varieties. Make sure you pick varieties that grow well in your area. There are certain seed companies that produce varieties for specific areas. If you live in the South, try out Hoss Seeds. If you are further north, check out MIgardener.
2. When do you want to grow?
Make sure you have your first and last frost dates on the calendar. Many seeds need to be started 6-8 weeks before those dates to be planted out in the Spring or Fall. However, talk to other gardeners in your area. First hand experience from other gardeners could save you some mistakes down the road. Also check out youtubers who garden in the same planting zone or close.
3. Gather Supplies
Are you short on fertilizers or compost? Do you need to build raised beds or collect pots and buckets to grow in? Make a list of all the basics you will need to get started for the upcoming season and work on acquiring them throughout the slow winter months.
4. Get Excited!
Don’t let the fear of messing up make you miss out in the garden. Gardening is a skill that can be learned by anyone. But it can take time and experience. Get started now and get excited for all the upcoming possibilities.
Planning your garden in the winter can help you get through those cold dreary days.
Often in the winter, it’s January and February when I really get a vision for the upcoming garden season. Being outside is my favorite place to be and spring is my favorite season. But when it’s too cold, there is nothing I enjoy more than pulling out seed catalogues, a notebook and pen and getting to work. I hope you give planning your garden in the winter a go. And I hope that the garden blesses you this upcoming season as much as it does me every year.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;” Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
