Quick tip 1 for green thumbs during winter-learn

 

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Winter can be a downer time of year for those of us that love to garden, but it doesn't have to be!  There are many "gardener" things you can do during the cold months of the year.  I'm going to share an idea each week for the rest of the winter on gardening activities that help satisfy the itch and prepare us better for the upcoming spring season.  Here we go with Winter Quick Tip 1. 

A top priority for me every winter is to research what I want to learn more about in gardening and including my newfound knowledge in my next year's garden plan.

There are lots of ways to learn.  You can subscribe to gardening magazines like Mother Earth News, Farmer's Almanac, Fine Gardening, and many others.  You can buy books on a subject you are interested in learning more.  You can browse books and magazines at your neighborhood library, too.  You can get free videos through your state's agricultural extension office.  Here is a link to ours in Kentucky https://kentuckyhortnews.com/horticulture-webinar-wednesdays/season-one/.  It started during Covid so there are currently 4 years of videos.  And there are thousands of videos on YouTube.

I have a little book I got years ago that covers the four seasons of kitchen gardening "In the French Garden: The Joys of Cultivating a Potager" by Georgeann Brennan.  I start re-reading this book every spring.  It isn't a thick book so it's nice to have a refresher that has easy recipes for what's in season. 

There are some really great information in seed catalogs too.  Territorial Seed as one that I learned so much from when I first started gardening.  They have general growing information for just about every type of common vegetable.  I still get their catalog and reference their growing information each growing season.  A few years ago, I discovered Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.  Their huge seed catalog that ships in January has in-depth history and growing information on a variety of highlighted vegetables.

If you are going someplace warm, you can go search for display or historical edible gardens to visit.  If you are interested in growing in greenhouses or under cover, you can see if there are any display gardens in your area or ask one of the year round CSA's in your area if you can come by for a visit.  Or check with your local agricultural extension office to see if there are opportunities they know about.  Many extension offices give gardening classes, too.

Of course, you can just google what you are interested in knowing more about and scan the million results that are brought up!

I jot notes to myself in my garden notebook on what I want to learn more about over the winter so I have a list that I can work off over the winter to have a more productive garden come spring.  Keeping a journal is a very helpful tool.