Late-Winter Gardening Chores

Broken terra-cotta pots
A once beautiful terra cotta pot has broken into several pieces (figure A). However, in fairness to the pot and its manufacturer, the damage was actually Paul's fault because he left the pot full of potting mix during the cold winter, which is a big no-no.

A pot's ability to survive the winter depends on a number of things, such as the type of clay it is made of, the thickness of the pot, the manufacturing process, the way the pot was fired, whether or not it's glazed and whether you left the potting mix in it all winter.

Take this urn (figure B), for example. It was somewhat pricey, didn't have any soil in it and wasn't even in contact with the ground. However, it did fill up with rainwater, which then froze, thawed and froze again repeatedly. As a result, it cracked.

Paul recycles the cracked urn as a piece of yard art (figure C). To do this, he drives a stick into the ground to keep the urn from falling over in high winds. Then he places the urn, with the cracked bottom facing down, over the stick, creating yard art that will last about a year or two.

Lodged evergreens
Columnar forms of evergreens, such as this arborvitae (Thuja sp.) (figure D), have a downside: they don't develop a strong central leader and, as a result, have a tendency to lean, or lodge, when covered with snow and ice. Sometimes, as the weather warms and the sap begins to flow, they recover well.

However, they may need some extra support to make it safely through the winter. Paul recommends using jute, or twine, tied loosely around the upper portion of the plant to bring the branches into a more natural, upright position. Within a few weeks, the jute may be removed after the plant has had chance to recover, but chances are the jute can be left in place permanently.

Even after trying to upright lodged evergreens with jute, some plants don't recover. Unfortunately after having been flattened all the way to the ground by the weight of the snow and ice, sometimes the best thing to do is cut the evergreen down and replace with a new plant.

Cutting back perennials
Paul prefers to leave the dead foliage of herbaceous perennials intact throughout the winter, even though they may be unsightly. The dead foliage helps to insulate the entire plant, especially its crown and rootball, from harsh winter weather. Once the threat of extreme cold has past, the dead foliage and branches can be cut back to just above ground level, generally about two to four inches from the soil surface.

Fallen leaves in garden beds
As tree leaves fall to the ground in fall and winter, Paul leaves them untouched in his garden beds, even blowing leaves from the lawn into the beds. Although this can look unsightly, he prefers to leave them where they'll slowly rot and enrich the soil. Besides, they'll be covered with mulch in a few weeks anyway.

Cool season veggies in raised beds
Once the harsh winter weather has calmed down, Paul decides to plant his cool-season veggie crops in his three raised beds. First he rakes the beds to create a smooth soil surface for planting. Then he uses a stick to partition the beds, allocating space for lettuce while also leaving room for future crops. "Remember, in a small garden especially, don't fill up the entire bed with cool-season crops, because in many cases you'll need to plant your warm-season crops, such as tomatoes, peppers and beans, before the cool-season crops are ready to harvest," says Paul.