Gardening interruptus
So, gardeners, what is your attitude toward winter? Winter has no attitude toward you. Winter acts like winter regardless of our opinions, and the lesson for us all is to be ourselves and not a response to what others might expect from us. Our pal Stephen Stills said in song, “I’m not the one to tell you what to do/I have no desire to run your life.” So I don’t try to tell winter how to behave. I bring in firewood when I need to and take walks when I can.
Winter weather is part of our natural gardening rhythm, and every year is different so we should pay attention. Summers are also different. Gardeners know better than to take anything for granted. Forecasters who eat radar reports for breakfast predicted a very cold period with stormy weather up ahead for our area. Imagine that– cold stormy weather in January!
Perennial herbs like oregano, thyme, yarrow and St. John’s Wort know when cold nights come to send roots deeper to prepare for new growth in the spring, and they don’t fuss about it. Beautyberry plants drop their leaves to save energy for spring leaves and hopefully some berries in the summer. Not all herbs survive, however – one lavender plant did not make it out of the hard November frost. This year, I’ll get a couple more lavenders and build a greenhouse around them next winter. Lavender is worth a little effort.
Your garden soil hopes you remember to add as much mulch as you can find as soon as possible. Lay on leaves, straw, and compost with a purpose. If you need a jacket to hold off the cold, so does your soil. A layer of mulch moderates the soil temperature. There is an active economy below the surface of your garden beds– roots are spreading around bringing moisture from above; worms, sowbugs, spiders and whatnot still have school board meetings to attend and dinners to prepare. They do what they’re supposed to do, but they cannot lay down mulch.
Mulch also moderates moisture for the soil. It’s like a blanket, and so is snow. If you have humbly and artistically arranged a healthy dose of mulch on your garden beds before snow falls, it’s a two-for-one and your soil will reward you from the first radish to last bell pepper. Snow helps to prevent soil from freezing down deep which makes for a more even thaw once the cold goes away. Plus, the mulch will have begun to decompose over the winter enriching the soil texture and releasing minerals into the soil economy.
As an adaption to freezing weather, some plants such as milkweed, prairie coneflower and St. John’s Wort produce seeds that must freeze a bit during the winter in order to sprout in spring. The seeds have a hard coating that prevents them from sprouting too early in a mid-winter warm spell. That’s just darn clever. That is why some seed packets state the gardener must cold stratify the seeds.
To stratify seeds, mix seeds in damp sand or peat moss and put your mixture in a plastic bag, zip it up and store in your refrigerator for a month. You might even try a damp paper towel, but be sure to keep it damp. The seeds know you are not the real winter but they might comply and sprout. Plant early sprouters in pots until outside planting time.
Winter can be a restful time for your garden soil and you. If you added soil amendments after autumn clean-up and before mulching, those minerals along with the decomposing mulch materials will slowly add themselves to the soil community. Your soil will think everybody in town just got a bonus. Worms will be wearing party hats.
Plus, all us gardeners can give our garden boots some days off and dust off our mukluks because (have you seen the forecast?) we’re gonna need them.