Ready to start your spring garden and looking for some tips for getting started as a gardener? I have been gardening for quite some time now and have gotten good enough over the years at tending to it that I even sell flowers out of my personal garden! With all the I have learned, I believe I have some valuable winter gardening to-dos to share and wanted to create a post specifically for gardening tips for beginners!
Getting Started with Your Garden
January is here and if you’re anything like me, the seasonal depression is hitting hard. November and December were so busy with the holidays and tying up loose ends in the garden, now that January has hit it’s like I’m just itching for spring! All I want is to be doing garden things again!
Below I am diving into some of the core tips that every gardener must be practicing, whether they are beginners or well seasoned gardeners. Often times, we forget these five key winter gardening to-dos!
Here are my best gardening tips for winter!
Winter Gardening To-Dos
1. Review Your Garden and Plan
Grab your garden journal, planner or calendar from last season, put on the diffuser and review. This is the first step of the winter gardening to-dos mentioned because it is important to do before anything else.
What worked? What didn’t? What did you have to much of? And what did you not have enough of? What pests did you see? What do you want to try differently this year as far as soil/watering/fertilizing etc.? Take notes and review all the things!
2. Go Shopping for the Essentials
For seeds of course! First organize and take note of everything you have, throw out any seeds that are older than 5 years. Then make your wishlists, break out your seed catalogs and take the first step towards making your 2023 garden come to life. Here are some of my favorite gardening tools!
3. Start Planning Your Garden
Maybe this should be number 2 on the list of winter gardening to-dos because you’ll want to have a plan for where to plant all those seeds! But either way, it’s never too early to start planning the garden, I have a few posts listed below for you to check out, as well as a free download of my helpful Garden Planner to get you set up for the best season yet!
Here are some helpful Garden Planning Posts!
Planning an Organic Cut Flower Garden
Step-By-Step Guide to Plan & Map Out This Year’s Garden
4. Eat Seasonally
I get it, believe me, all I want is pizza and cookies during these hibernation months. But let’s challenge ourselves to eat somewhat seasonally in preparation for the garden year ahead! Eating what’s in season is crucial for sustainability and nutritional content but it’s a lifestyle change that won’t happen overnight. My suggestion is to add a note in the calendar of your phone of just one veggie that’s in season that month in your zone and start with that. The spring, summer and fall months will be much easier but even in zone 6 I can find some locally grown winter greens or squash right now!
Love tomatoes? Here are some tips for growing juicy and tasty tomatoes!
5. Prune the Roses
Winter is the best time to prune roses! I am no rose expert but am excited to learn the ins and outs of this beautiful, classic and complex flower this year! I would recommend checking out Menagerie Farm & Flower, Felicia is the Queen of all things roses and I have learned SO much from her info-packed book Growing Wonder!
6. Add Compost & Mulches
It’s never the wrong time to add compost and mulch to your beds, I’ve done this in the winter chill many a times and it’s one of the most important of these winter gardening to-dos! Compost add much needed nutrients to the soil (and gives you a head start for spring!) and mulches like fallen leaves and sterile hay can help protect plants from harsh winds, freezing temps and help with retaining moisture.
7. Lay Tarps for Spring Plantings (SO HELPFUL!)
Not the most glamorous of garden tasks but a useful and imperative one for the no-til gardener! Last year we laid out two 30’ x 50’ tarps (purchased here) to kill the lawn and prep the land for our flower farm. We laid them out about 3 months before we planted. Not only was laying tarps so much LESS work than tilling, it worked BETTER! The ground was easily workable and we had less weeds and MORE nutrient-dense, biodiverse soil. I won’t go off on a full no-til tangent here, I’ll save that for another post, but do some reading up on it and you will be amazed at not only the benefits but how much easier it is!
I hope this list was inspiring and gave you a few soul-nourishing tasks for winter’s chill. I find that there’s a perpetual garden in my head that lives on and on, and even with uncompromising weather or motherhood craziness, or a bad tomato year, I have a bottomless well of garden love just waiting to be tapped into in some way shape or form.
Now it’s time for you to dive into your own garden! I hope these winter gardening to-dos have helped you figure out how to get started with your own and help you build a lasting garden that keeps on giving!
Thanks for stopping by, friend! xo, Christine
For more like this, check out these posts:
Gardening Tools, Supplies & Decor Favorites
6 Tips for Growing Graet Dahlias
Cool Season Flowers and Hardy Annuals for Cold Climates
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