A Gardener’s Winter Plan

As Joni Mitchell would say “It’s comin’ on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees”.

For all Montclair gardeners—we are about to enter the bleak period, the time of no digging in the dirt, the time of no blooms and bare trees, the dark period. Days are shorter, nights are longer, the weather is colder and everything is tucked away for the long winter’s nap.

It is often recommended to gardeners that we use this time to think and plan for spring, to look at catalogues and study our books. Somehow that doesn’t bring me much comfort. Catalogues are great, but there is nothing like the real thing. I miss digging in the dirt, I miss watching the daily changes and growth that spring brings.

I have a plan for this year.

I am going to go out now, before the snow comes, and take lots of photos of the areas I think need work as well as the areas that don’t. So instead of just poring over catalogues, I will also pore over the photos of my garden and look at them with intention. How can I make this better, what is this area lacking etc etc.

Then, once spring does finally come, I will be ready to fly. I will be rested and I will be ready to once again see the daily changes that spring brings, start pruning and planting and get ready to enjoy another six months in the garden.

The saving grace is that this ultimately turns back to that.

So what is your plan?

Could you go take some photos of your garden before it snows? How do you cope with the bleak period for gardeners?