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What am I going to do all winter???

© Carol Wallace

Well, it's happened. The hard frost has hit, and plants that stood at attention last weeks now sprawl across the garden beds like so many fallen soldiers. Sad? Yes! What's even sadder is that I can no longer indulge in my favorite gardening occupation - running out each morning to see what's new. There will still be plenty of change in the garden, but blackened leaves, snow, rain, and cold aren't my idea of fun discoveries - although I have learned at least to think of the snow as a convenient form of mulch. And my active gardening days are over for one more year.

So the big question I, and every other addicted gardener is asking at this time of year is, "What am I going to do with myself until spring?" Accustomed as we are to spending every possible moment outside, digging, weeding, transplanting and admiring, suddenly we are faced with months where gloom and cold deprives us of the activity that filled our time so beautifully - not just filled, but fulfilled it.

While I may spend my winter feeling garden deprived (I tend to start salivating when I see a tiny weed sticking out of the ground and think that maybe the dirt is soft enough that I can pull it) my husband swears that I never stop gardening. And it's true, in a way. My winter days are filled with garden activities - it's just that my fingernails stay a bit cleaner than they do in summer. My most exciting activity is to plan for next year. Instead of going out and having a funeral for the shriveled remains of last year's garden it's time for me to look ahead. It's a lot like being pregnant without the labor pains - winter is when you wait impatiently and plan eagerly, getting ready to give birth to a new garden in spring.

Where you see shriveling you should also be able to see space for the first time in months. And guess what - some of that space is going to need filling! Some things clearly are going to need rearranging. It's an opportunity to create a whole new look.

If you're not into intricate mapping and plotting, at least take notes about places that will need new plants. Be very definite about how big the gaps are and how much it will take to plug them. Being somewhat absent-minded, I tend to clearly remember that I had a space out there in need of plants. What I forget is how many other things I have ordered as the perfect thing to fill that space. There are so many drool-worthy plants in each winter's garden catalogs that recollection -and sanity - fly right out the window.