To the uninitiated, winter may be a time when the garden or gardener slows down or even stops, but we know different. The colder months are the perfect time to start on a timetable of ‘pre-season training’. For those of you who do not understand the football reference, let me explain what I mean.
Pre-season training is the super intense period before the playing season starts. Footballers train at a super high level in order to ensure that the season starts as well as it can and that each player is in tip top condition. I see the colder months of autumn, winter, and early spring in exactly the same way: a time to do all the things that make sure our gardening season starts off in the best way and that we, as gardeners, are the best we can be.
Planning
If the weather is too cold or wet to be outside getting your hands in the soil, then cosy up with a hot drink and your garden notebook and review how last season went, what were the great successes, or what disappointed you that you could change.
Think about the seasons ahead: consider what you want to grow, and how, and even where. Which seeds do you want to sow or plants do you need to buy? The colder months are a great time for planning.
Once you have some of those basics down you can make a plan of action. There is no right or wrong here, so stick to the methods that work for you. I personally like a good old spreadsheet, and mine lists all the seeds I’m growing with dates for sowing, transplanting, flowering, and harvesting.
As I’m thinking and planning, every new reflection or thought helps me shape this. By the time I have finished, I know which plants will be growing where for every month of the year, I even know when to sow the seeds to make that happen. I can then use this list to sort through my seed box, deciding what I need to buy, or if I have enough seeds already to ensure my plan to ‘win the next season’ is a success.
Sort Your Seeds
Another great indoor job with a cup of tea is to sort through your seed box to organise your collection for the coming season. My seeds are organised by type, for example all of my tomato seeds together and all of my cosmos seeds together.
When, however, I start to prepare for the new season, using my newly completed plan, I reorganise my seeds into the months in which they are going to be sown. That way I can see what my garden workload will likely be and I can easily grab all of those seeds in one go without the worry of losing a vital packet.
Seed packets usually have some form of best before date on them, but this is purely for guidance. If you store your seeds well, out of direct light, somewhere cool and dry, then your seeds can last for many years after that date, no need to spend hard earned pennies on new seeds!
Seed Viability
If you are worried, you could try a seed viability test to see just how good, or not, those seeds might be. It is a super simple way to check by adding a few seeds to a damp paper towel and leaving it somewhere warm and safe – I leave it on top of the fridge. Keep it moist and watch to see when and how many of the seeds germinate.
From this, you can work out how viable those seeds are for the coming year or if they need replacing. You might be surprised by the results.
For more details on this process see our Simple Seed Viability Testing.
Take Stock and Organise
This is also a great time to organise and take stock of your tools and gardening paraphernalia. Are those pots and module trays clean and ready to be used, do any need replacing? Are all of your garden tools cleaned, sharpened and oiled, if needed? Winter is an ideal time to assess the condition of your gardening tools and equipment. Give your tools a good clean and sharpen to ensure they are in top shape for the spring. Better to find those broken secateurs now rather than when you need them.
Read, Listen, and Watch
Winter offers the perfect opportunity to enhance your gardening skills. Embrace resources like the web, YouTube, gardening magazine back issues, podcasts, and books authored by well-known gardeners. Take the chance to spend some quality time researching that new idea you have added to your plan, or the new plant you intend to grow. What about taking on a challenge for the new growing year and spend the colder months preparing?
Explore gardening blogs and youtube channels of local gardeners to find out what and how they tackle things, or to learn about new techniques. Consider attending gardening webinars or workshops to gain insights from experts in the field or, staying closer to home, dive into those gardening books and magazines with a specific focus on the thing you want to swot up on. For me this year, this is square foot gardening.
Another fantastic way to learn over the colder months is simply to read those seed packets and catalogues. This is something you can be doing as you tidy up and plan. Seed packets and catalogues provide fantastic information on planting depth, spacing, and growing requirements for each plant.
So, if you are already missing your gardening, grab that notebook and pen and get started on your pre-season training. Trust me, spring will come quicker than you think and this year you will be ready to score that hat trick!
Eli Appleby-Donald, one hald of ‘In the Garden with Eli and Kate’ tends an urban garden in East Lothian which she has managed to make beautiful and productive. She considers herself a perpetual learner gardener, and has spent the last 11 years learning by experience, success, and failure.
Eli is a digital education guru for a local university by day, and due to the lack of good information about growing in Scotland when she started gardening, she decided it was time to put those skills into action to correct this. She now regularly blogs and vlogs about gardening on YouTube where she has hundreds of videos all about her gardening journey and her top tips, as well as appearing as a guest on others worldwide.
You can find out more about Eli and all the fun of creating your own suburban garden paradise on either her YouTube channel, her website, or Instagram.