Master gardener John Hethrington doesn't let a little thing like winter prevent him from working on his 20 different gardens. His advice for all gardeners is this: there's always work to be done in or for your garden.
Wow! What a winter. Feet and feet of snow and no January or February thaw.
But, it’s not all bad. When it finally melts, there will be lots of much-needed moisture deep in the soil.
To get a whiff of spring, take in the Barrie Spring Garden and Home Show, March 8 and 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Bradford Greenhouses Garden Gallery.
After the 15th you can start tuberous begonia and caladium corms in pots, or in a tray of peat moss. Keep it moist, but not soggy.
Plant brassicas, like kale, turnip and radish seeds plus hardy annual seeds indoors for late May planting outdoors.
Start tomatoes, lettuce and other fast-growing vegetables from seed in late March to early April.
Make a list of spring garden chores in the order they should be done, if you haven’t already done so.
Order summer flowering bulbs and plants. Try www.botanus.com.
Order or buy flower and vegetable seeds now for summer planting to get the best selection.
Check, repair and sharpen your gardening tools on a snowy day.
Apply combination dormant oil spray to fruit trees and pest-prone shrubs when above-freezing weather permits.
Bring Spring indoors. Start forcing branches of spring-flowering shrubs like Forsythia, if you can get through the snow to get at them.
If you can find them, buy Narcissus bulbs and grow them in gravel with water for spring flowers indoors.
Prune summer-flowering shrubs and vines late in the month.
When the snow is finally gone from your garden beds (maybe in April) and they are still damp, but before new plant leaves emerge, buy and apply triple-19 agricultural fertilizer liberally, but only to your garden beds.
Plan to plant a few native shrubs that have berries for the birds, plus pollinator perennials for the bees and butterflies.
When the snow finally goes, loosen up and dig-in any packed winter mulch, and press perennials that have heaved, back into place.
Think about your garden and make a list of the perennials you could dig, divide and donate to the St. George’s Annual Plant Sale in Clarksburg, Saturday, May 24, 2025.
Donate 15 or more plants and get a tax receipt for the value your plants sell for. I have 327 on my list.
If there are any students out there who are interested in garden work after school this spring, plus during all the summer
months as well, please get in touch now. There are lots of jobs available. Contact John Hethrington [email protected]