With most everything you do there is a procedure, a bit of repetition that makes doing it again, easier and easier. Having a schedule for your gardening plans keeps your garden happy, healthy, & abundant. Often I refer back to checklists. Specifically having a checklist for each new season, keeps your gardening mistakes from snowballing. Missing one gardening procedure can cause you to fall behind on your next garden chore, and your next, creating a huge list that you have to pick away at to see just where you went wrong. That's all learning is, figuring out where you went wrong and fixing it. Everyone starts somewhere and keeping track of what you do year to year is the first step in learning whats working and whats falling through the cracks.
Gardening and landscaping are on mother natures clock. A lot of gardening chores depend on weather as well as a particular time of year that they are best practiced.
pruning (tree & shrub work)
planting, mulching
watering (irrigation)
liming, seeding (lawn maintenance)
Snow removal, salting (winter maintenance)
Tool repair
Vineyard Gardens nursery & Landscape is an excellent resource on island for any gardening questions or tasks.
Winter is a great time to clean and sharpen tools.
We like to top dress our garden beds with compost when they are cut back in the early winter. If you haven’t yet, this might be a good time, before bulbs start to emerge in another month or so.
VG Landscape can plow your driveway and deliver cord-wood as needed.
Today on the vineyard the weather is mild. We haven't seen much snow but most trees, shrubs and perennials are dormant. In the land of 7A the tropical plants have been pulled inside and most other annuals have been composted. We still have many other chores to do on our gardening checklist, spring is just around the corner! There's a few weeks in winter that you should dedicate to cleaning up your garden bed of leaves, twigs, passed blooms, dead plant materials, as well as cleaning out your gardening shed of old fertilizer and soil. Start with sharpening your favored tools, have them ready for spring pruning! (contact Jeremiah Brown at Vineyard Gardens Landscape office if tool repair is on your checklist!) It’s important to know when the right time to prune is. Spring blooming plants should be pruned after they have bloomed, to ensure you haven't cut off any new flower buds of the year. Once these plants are done blooming, they will take all their nutrients and put it toward setting new buds for the following spring. Summer blooming plants can be pruned and shaped in early spring because they often bloom on the new years growth. Every plant can be different so its important to learn about whats planted in your garden. Does your plant flower on new or old wood? Answering this question is a great start to figuring out when you should prune!
Winter is the best time to prune most deciduous trees and shrubs, removing dead wood and reducing their size. A couple of exceptions being Lilacs, Hydrangea and Macrophylla that hold their flower buds at the tips of branches.
Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ needs to be cut back before they start to awaken in spring, now is a good time to do it if you haven’t already.
Often the best time for new plantings should happen in fall because the temperatures are cooler, less bugs, and plants aren't stressing in summer droughts. More rain, means less watering for us! Plants need time to mature their roots before hard frosts hit. If you have planted in late fall, and are afraid your plants roots are still tender, try laying down mulch. Apply at least 3 inches after the ground begins to freeze. Never apply mulch too close to the trunk or stems of your plant. Straw, finely chopped leaves, or shredded bark will make a good substitute for mulch if your local garden center has closed for the season. The hardy zone map is based on the average annual temperatures in a specific area across the globe, and knowing the hardy zone of whats planted in your garden can help you decide if the extra work is needed. Evergreens that are hardy to zone 7a should stand up just fine to our hard frosts. If anything, keep an eye on the amount of rain we are getting. Evergreens are more susceptible to winter burn and death if they didn't receive enough water before the ground freezes. On warm days, when the temperatures are fluctuating, you may need to water. Frigid temperatures are not the only thing fatal to young trees & shrubs. Protect plants from deer and other animals this winter too. Wrap them loosely with burlap from the bottom to the top of the plant. Remove burlap when the plant shows signs of any new growth.
Some plants we just can’t be without despite not being winter hardy, so we bring them into a cool but heated greenhouse for the winter. The fragrance of citrus blossom makes it all worth it!
Some plants just can’t be kept down by a little cold weather! Some of the first to emerge are the Heleborus. There are many different varieties with colors ranging from deep plum-black to ivory-green. Hardy and shade tolerant they always surprise the vigilant gardener.
On warm days through late winter little surprises can jump out at you. You’ll hardly notice the flowers on Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis but the delicious, exotic fragrance will find you as you pass.
Early flowering plants can be cut and brought inside to ‘force’ into flower. Forsythia, Pussywillow and Dogwood are some of the most common.
In colder temperatures deciduous shrubs will defoliate. Going dormant is their way of preparing for winter. Fallen leaves form a wet dense mat, preventing sunlight to reach your grass. Top that with winter snow and it becomes the perfect environment for disease and pests to grow. Then, when the grass begins to grow in early spring it could be suffocated by the leaves. Thus begins, another spring of seeding, germinating, and top dressing a new lawn. Save your lawn and schedule Vineyard gardens to come out to preform a lawn & yard maintenance. This is a leaf clean up, and a final cut of the lawn to prepare it for winters heavy snow. Vineyard Gardens Landscape is also a resource for snow removal! We are available to help with whatever winter has to throw at us. Harsh salt is used on slippery, icy, surfaces. Be careful using salt around plants and grass! Salt leaches moisture from the plants and causes the tissues to dry out. Lay sand down instead of salt around heavily planted areas and around the lawn that needs attention.
Winter can bring devastating storms with lots of damage especially with trees. These trees don’t stand a chance of coming back.
VG Landscape division may slow down in the winter but they never really stop altogether. Have a branch down in your driveway? Call the office and arrange to have it cleared away.
As temperatures warm up and early spring bulbs or annuals begin to bloom, our nursery will open as your island resource for hard goods, soils, & plants. Our nursery has a wide variety of blooming plants all year long. In the meantime, don't hesitate to contact Vineyard Gardens Landscape office for any questions, concerns, or work needed done to your property. We are available and able to check off that seasonal list for you! We send out two lists a year, call our landscape office at 508-693-8512 to get your spring checklist sent.
Vineyard Gardens mission is to provide the best plants, installations and care on Martha’s Vineyard!
Here in mid-Winter we can enjoy the brilliant flowers of Amaryllis in many shades of red, pink and white. So easy to grow too!
Paperwhites bring delicious fragrance to the stale, indoor winter air. Any sunny window will do.
On warm days from here on out the Witchhazels will be unfurling their ribbon-like petals creating brilliant splashes of color in the stark winter landscape.
Winter hikes on the Island will always find unexpected beauty. Here the Heather garden at Mytoi, managed by the Trustees of Reservations on Chappaquiddick.
During mid-winter mild spells we are encouraged to get out and accomplish some neglected garden chores.
Don’t miss the chance to play in the snow!