Happy new year! It’s late January and the start of the 2023 growing season. Although it is cold, rainy, and dull out there, there are signs of spring—primroses, snowdrops, and crocuses are starting to pop up, and chard, kale, and other greens that survived are putting on a bit of growth. If you planted broad beans and garlic in the fall, they’re showing signs of hope ahead as well!
If you’re itching to get outside, here are a few things you could do.
Adding mulch such as leaves is always a good idea. Mulching slowly adds nutrients, protects the soil nutrients from washing away, and is a home for soil microbes. Although it’s always tempting to add seaweed, hold off on gathering it during February, March, and April as this is prime herring spawning season and you could inadvertently take thousands of eggs. Here’s a good article.
If you have a greenhouse, it’s a good time to wash away any algal growth on the walls, tidy up the space, and pop in the seeds of cool greens like corn salad and winter mesclun. This is also a great time to clean and sharpen your tools (learn how from this video).
Start a lasagna garden or try hügelkultur. Both use layering to build up your garden, although hügelkultur, which means “hill culture,” is typically more of a large mound. You can find lots of information online, but typically the bottom layers are large branches, or even tree trunks depending on the size, so if you have to remove some trees, check this method out.
If you had a chance to take the winter sowing workshop last year, you know that this is the time to start planting! If you haven’t, stay tuned for a how-to video that will be released soon on our YouTube channel.