The Winter Garden Beckons | A Note from Bridge Gardens
January 17, 2024
By Rick Bogusch
For many of us, reading seed and plant catalogs offers great pleasure. January is certainly a good time to indulge this pleasure, but now is also the time to place orders for next season, when selection and availability are greatest.
It’s fun to try new varieties for the vegetable garden, those that offer extra production or improved disease resistance, but it’s also good to have tried-and-true favorites you order every year. Get your seeds now, so you’re ready to start sowing in early spring, if not sooner.
January is also a good time to design any new plantings for 2024 and shop for plants in catalogs and online. Trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and grasses - including natives - are all available in mailable sizes. Look for them in local garden centers, too, when they set out displays in early spring.
If it’s sunny, not windy, and in the 30’s, there is nothing like working outside this time of year. You can finish old business from last season and get a jump on all there is to do when it warms up in spring. It’s often a cold start to the day, but edging, mulching or pruning will soon get your blood going. Watch the video below, to hear more from Rick about mulching roses. As you work, enjoy the winter sun, whether it’s warm enough to melt water in the birdbath or pale and hazy like a Turner painting.
Video loading...Last weekend, a couple of visitors from up island were amazed at how much is still lush and green in the vegetable garden. Arugula, cilantro, parsley, collards, turnips, spinach and radishes all look like it’s spring already. Normally, we cover spinach with frost blankets this time of year, but it’s been so warm for this time of year, we haven’t. Yet.
You should visit, too, to marvel at the crops, enjoy the winter sun, the many shades of green and brown with the occasional pop of red or orange and the shapes and lines of the gardens. I hope to see you here soon.
With great expectations for a new growing season,
~~~ Rick
P.S. Remember, we’re open every day year-round, with free admission. Winter hours are 10 AM – 3PM. See you soon!
Rick Bogusch
Garden Director, Bridge Gardens
rbogusch@peconiclandtrust.org