The Cold Weather is a Great Time to Plan Your Garden!

February is the month to plan your garden.  Shop early for seeds from catalogs and garden stores and follow these planning tips to help extend your gardening season.

Your garden will warm up during the day if it slopes toward the sun.  Residual heat in plants and soil may determine whether your garden sustains frost damage during the night.  Cool air, which is dense and heavy, will flow away from plants growing on a slope – what the experts call “drainage”.

A garden on a south-facing slope offers two advantages; more exposure to the sun, and better drainage of cold air.  In deep valleys, nighttime temperatures may be as much as 18 degrees F lower than the temperature on the surrounding hills.

Trees surrounding your garden act like a blanket and reduce the amount of heat radiating from the soil, perhaps keeping the temperature high enough to protect your plants from early fall frosts.

A stone wall benefits the garden by acting as a heat sink, absorbing warmth from the sun during the day and radiating it slowly at night.  The water in a nearby lake or pond (if it is one acre or larger) does the same.

Moisture is also a player in determining whether frost will nip your tomatoes.  When moisture in the air condenses on plants and soil, heat is produced, sometimes raising the temperature enough to save the plants.  On the other hand, if the air is dry, moisture in the soil will evaporate, removing some heat.

Good soil, full of organic matter, retains moisture, reducing the rate of evaporation.  Mulch also helps prevent evaporation.

Plants themselves can modify cooling.  Dark ones with a maroon or bronze cast may absorb more heat during the day.  And those that have been planted close together create a canopy that entraps heat from the soil.  More important, a plant’s cold-hardiness determines its ability to withstand colder temperatures.

The early shopper gets the best choice of seed varieties.  Start onions from seed now.  They’ll be ready for setting out in April.  Onions from seed are generally firmer and longer lasting than from sets.  Start parsley indoors now, too.  You may think you have successfully wintered-over the plant, but it is a biennial and will soon go to seed.

So, settle into your comfortable chair with a nice warm drink and start planning!

Information gathered from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.