Is it me or does the gardening season seem to be year-round now? Just as I noticed Christmas décor for sale in stores at Halloween, I now get seed catalogs in November. It creeps up and up. I confess that it’s not just the retail industry pushing things along. I am wandering the yard with the dog as the snow melts (again) with visions of peas and pansies dancing in my head.
While I’m stocked with seeds, I fantasize my way through the catalogs anyway. It’s a tempting but I remain strong and focus my attention elsewhere. If you’re feeling the same way, here are some ideas for what to tackle.
Dormancy pruning is best for deciduous trees and some shrubs; when growth begins in spring as the tree breaks open its buds, it can focus its energy on leafing out and blooming. The cuts will heal as the season goes on.
Some tree issues can be controlled through pruning. Signs of disease could include branches where the bark has detached and fungal knots. If you can’t make a precise diagnosis, consult an arborist.
Dead branches can be a hazard and should be removed if they are near structures or paths. Tree limbs die for environmental reasons, as well as from pests and pathogens. This is another situation where a professional consultation can determine if there are underlying causes that need to be addressed. Many broken and dead limbs result from heavy, wet snow and wind, and that can be noted.
I prune shrubs more often than trees for aesthetic purposes — to influence their shape and, less frequently, their size. Because a woody plant’s branching structure is more intricate and dense, it’s easier to see what you’re doing without foliage. Choose carefully and make sure you understand the shrub’s bloom-setting process, or risk a season without flowers.
Shrubs fall into two categories: They either set blooms on last season’s growth (called “old wood”) or blooms develop on new growth (“new wood”). Lilacs, for example, bloom on old wood and pruning in winter will cut away the branches that would bloom in June. Forsythia is the same. Both can be pruned without harm, but expect fewer or no flowers.
Hydrangeas are tricky because some bloom on old wood and some on new wood. You need to know the species or observe its patterns. Hydrangea macrophylla, a mophead, will set blooms on old wood. If you’re confident in identifying plant parts, you could check the hydrangea and notice if there are buds.
An exception to deciduous tree pruning is the oak family. Because oak-wilt disease, a fungus detected in New York about 15 years ago, can spread more easily to trees that have open wounds, pruning is not advised during spring and summer, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Michigan, where oak wilt has been spreading for much longer, has even more detailed guidelines, advising that all pruning on oaks should be halted from February to June.
An infected red oak species can die in a matter of weeks. The white oaks tend to last longer. Following the guidelines is an easy way to prevent problems.
Winter is also an excellent time for landscape planning. The first day of spring is eight weeks away. (The ladybug on my windowsill seems to know that.)
There’s an advantage to working with the bare canvas of a landscape without foliage. If your goal is to install something new, in winter you’re working with the contours and flow of the land, shapes that can be built up or revised.
Planning the vegetable garden is a similar exercise in vision and fantasy. All that bare soil could be sprouting seedlings soon. There are useful timetables on many seed retailer sites that help with calculating when to start growing seeds indoors. It’s a science based on soil and surface air temperatures, the number of days a plant needs to produce its harvest and the area’s last average frost date.
For the Highlands, the last frost date is May 15. While the season is warming earlier and planting dates can shift, the weather is more erratic and in 2023 there was a hard frost a week after May 15. Prepare for everything, and if you plant early, include row covers with your seed order.
