This Week in the Garden

For the week of February 13-19

I garden in zone 5/6 and we are 15-16 weeks away from our last frost date.  This is what can be done in the garden this week….

• Gather the seed starting supplies that you have on hand and purchase what ever else is needed.  Clean old pots and make markers.
• Inventory the seeds you have on hand and order what else is needed.
• Do a seed viability test on old seeds to see if they are still good to plant.
• Start seeds of cold hardy vegetables such as leeks, onion and celery, spinach, Swiss chard, lettuce and peas.
• Start seeds of hardy perennials.
• Order bare-root perennials, plants and shrubs.  Also rhubarb, asparagus, artichoke and horseradish crowns.
• When the weather is nice, you can work on the compost pile and do general tidying up around the garden.
• Repair, sharpen and clean the garden tools if needed.  Tune-up and service mowers and power tools.
• Take a walk through of the garden and make note of what is needing done. Make plans to fix, repair, or replace anything needing it.
• Write you garden plans out and make a planting schedule.  Begin a garden journal.
• Inventory any vegetables in cold storage and discard the bad.
• Try growing sprouts.
• Begin pruning fruit trees and shrubs.
• Care for your indoor plants.  They are responding to more daylight hours and will begin putting out new growth.  Give a good pinching back and keep watered and fertilized.
• Force branches for indoor color.
• Apply dormant oil to fruit trees.