Now that the holidays are over, it's a great time to re-fresh your winter garden and get ready for the spring! We've compiled some tips to keep your winter garden thriving.
1.) Plant Winter Cabbage/Kale For a Pop of Color
Winter cabbage's deep purple hues and pinks often steal the show in the garden. Ornamental kale is a popular decorative winter vegetable and looks similar to cabbage but has more ruffles in its leaves. While the ornamental kale doesn't have much flavor, it does make a great bottom layer for a salad.
2.) Build a Veggie Washing Station
With a few 2 x 4's and some hardware cloth, you can create your own veggie washing station! Plucking fresh veggies and flowers from your garden is one of the biggest rewards so having a place in the garden to clean them on the spot creates instant gratification. Added bonus: after washing, you can leave the veggies on the hardware cloth to dry out. Tip: Build your station over a cement or hard surface area so you can hose off easily when finished and the ground doesn't get muddy.
3.) Build a Garden Fence
This may sound like a no-brainer but a garden fence is well worth the investment because it keeps unwanted critters out and adds some style. And this project is great to do in the winter so you can fully focus on your flowers and veggies in the spring. We recommend this popular style of wood and welded wire. You can buy rolled wire garden fencing here.
4.) Build Your Compost Pile
Now is a good time to regularly prune your garden and toss any dead plants into the compost bin so that in the spring, you will have a nutrient rich stock to plant with! Compost bins with hardware cloth on all sides keep the compost pile ventilated, allowing for faster decomposition.
5.) Plant Other Winter Friendly Flowers
If you live in a milder climate, you can continue to add to your garden throughout the winter. Plants that love colder temperatures include: lettuce, pansies, violas, mums, primrose, polyanthus and forget-me-nots.