Finally Seattle is getting a weather break. The sun is out, and the sogginess is, well, a bit drier for the moment. It feels like Spring! This combo gives your itchy garden fingers the perfect opportunity to get a little work done before wintery weather returns…and you know it will. This is only January for goodness sakes!
Miscanthus Weighted with Snow
Here’s a quick list of garden work items for a midwinter Spring break:
- Cut back spent perennials: Cala Lilies turned to mush? Asian lily stems, mum stalks, gaura, erigeron, hosta, and peonies bent, browned and lurking? Cut them back now. Likely, you’ll see tight green growth below all the brown…well, except in the case of the lilies which are hiding deep in the soil. For a true gardener, this work is especially rewarding. I’m always finding treasures tucked into the beds; things that I’d forgotten since they were in their splendor months ago last spring/summer.
- Cut back spent grasses: Miscanthus, switch grass and other true seasonal grasses are about done for the season. Yes, you can leave them up to catch the sunlight. But, if yours look anything like mine did after the snow, the garden will look better with them trimmed and tidy. Plus, if you cut them now, you won’t need to worry about damaging new growth that will start emerging, possibly, as early as next month.
- Look for blooms: Last week I posted a few blooming finds in my garden for Bloom Day. Just a few days later while working in the garden I found even more Hellebores popping up their heads, a few primula blooming and lots of buds on my Azara to watch over the next few weeks; it will be blooming soon. Plus, as I crawed around on my hands & knees, fragrant Sarcococca perfumed the garden.
- Cut out Crossing, rubbing, damaged, dead & broken stems and suckers: Deciduous plants are dormant. Seeing “bad lines” and damage is easiest when they’re in this state. Even if I’m working with a plant that has already set flowering buds, I may decided to remove a bad stem right now. Once it flowers and leafs out, I may have a hard time finding that problem spot — or I may forget about it entirely.
- Weeds: It never ends, right? Creeping grasses are everywhere. Shotweed is popping up. Dandelion, which could make a fantastic winter salad green, is rooting in. But the soil is loose and moist. Everything is easy to pull, so get them out now!
- Mulch and top dress: Yes you can! If you clean out a bed, yes you can mulch. While beds are dormant, adding mulch is a great chore to get done.
- Examine Seedlings: Lots of little seedlings are popping up, and not all of them are weeds. If you know what to look for, you might find some fantastic babies to move around the garden. I found a huge crop of snow-in-a-mist yesterday…almost enough to give in and call it a weed!
There are plenty of other chores to work on, but that’s a great start. Avoid the temptation to rip out things that you think might be dead. Odds are many will come back to life next spring. True, I found a couple of plants that I’m certain are dead (my Eryssium-turned-tumbleweed, for instance). But, if you’re not sure, I encourage you to encourage the plant to keep on keepin’ on. Spring is months away. Right now, we’re just getting a tease!
Tags: maintenance, mulching, Pruning, winter clean up, winter garden
Great reminders – I’m going to print this one out tomorrow and get going on the list! I did start on Saturday, but didn’t get out there the past two (dry/sunny) days, alas. I always forget which grasses to cut back and which to wait on until spring… gotta go get my plant book out and sort it out for real this time. Lotta stuff that looks sad right now but I’m holding off on ripping out or cutting back for the moment, as you wisely say.
Karen, here’s another post I did on caring for grasses. It might be helpful: http://www.gardenhelp.org/garden-coach/caring-for-ornamental-grasses-in-seattle/