Winter Gardening in Cary NC

/in , /by

Story and photo by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – Our good friends over at Garden Supply Company here in Cary just published a great post about January Gardening. With the weather unseasonably warm this year, I’d thought I’d add my two cents.

Winter Gardening – Planning

Winter in North Carolina can be unpredictable – it’s either four inches of snow or you’re washing the car in a pair of shorts.

One thing that’s reliable – you can use the winter to plan for the warm season in the garden.

Consider your whole property and ask yourself two questions:

  • What’s overgrown and needs to be pruned back?
  • What areas are under-utilized?

Think also about the succession in your garden. Do you get a good show in spring but not much in autumn? Consider your garden from the perspective of time – how does it look over the course of the seasons?

Do you want more edibles in your garden? Lettuce, peppers, cabbages and carrots all make nice ornamentals and can also add food to your table. Consider as well herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage and basil.

Winter is the best time to do your garden planning. Think ahead and make a list of things to do and things you’ll need and your Cary garden will improve every year.

Winter Gardening – Shrubs, Trees and Bulbs

You can take advantage of warm January days in Cary to continue planting trees, shrubs and bulbs.

Watch Video: How to Properly Plant a Tree, a project we shot a while back, for some expert advice from Keith Ramsey of Garden Supply about planting trees and shrubs..

Winter Clean Up

By all means clean up anything dead from last season that’s still in garden.

You can also take a look at Gardening: Winter Clean-Up from last year.