Use Your Garden Time Wisely

Posted by Jamie McIntosh Mar 10, 2008

The lights began to dim in October, when I found myself finishing my raking and other fall clean up tasks in the dark. Then, one weekend, I don’t remember when (it seems like an eternity ago now) the news anchor reminded us to set all of our clocks back. That was the death knell of my gardening activities for the remainder of the year. Sure, my compost pile continued to work its magic, albeit with the urgency of a snail, in the cold winter months. However, even the most enterprising gardener must take a three-month respite in this part of the country, unless he’s lucky enough to possess a nice greenhouse.

This past weekend, the scales tipped in favor of the gardener. Even if you’re still buried under a foot of snow, it’s still daylight when you get home from work! You can hunt for signs of life in the soil on the way to the mailbox without a flashlight.

Here are some things I’m going to do with my extra hour this month, weather permitting:

• Apply corn gluten meal to my lawn to prevent weeds from germinating
• Plant pansies in my window box
• Remove winter mulch from my marginally hardy plants as growth begins
• Gather materials for seed starting
• Turn my compost pile regularly to finish it in preparation for spreading on my garden beds