Cabin fever can be a serious affliction in the middle of a Chicago winter. Fight it by keeping busy with indoor and outdoor tasks to prepare for your spring garden.
“The new growing season will be here in just a couple of months,” said Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist in the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “There’s plenty to do to get ready.”
Here are some suggestions from the Plant Clinic for midwinter gardening tasks:
Scan for breakage. If any branches on trees or shrubs have been broken by the weight of heavy snow or ice, use sharp pruners or loppers or a sharp saw to prune the stubs cleanly back to a main stem or the ground.
Check summer bulbs. If you lifted bulbs or tubers of tender plants such as dahlias, cannas, begonias or elephant ears and stored them in a cool, dry place for the winter, check the bulbs now to make sure they have not dried out or sprouted. “Discard any bulbs that are soft or dried out or look moldy,” Yiesla said.
Order seeds. Browse catalogs and websites for interesting varieties. “Just be realistic about how many vegetables or flowers you have space for,” she said.
Plan for planting. Using May 15 as a rule of thumb for the average last frost date, sketch out your schedule for indoor seed-starting, outdoor seed-sowing and setting out transplants. Cool-season vegetables such as cabbage, beets and lettuce can be planted outside in early spring even when frosts or freezes are still expected. Warm-season vegetables such as tomatoes and most annual flowers must wait until after the risk of frost is over. Use the seed packet as a guide to figure out how many weeks before the last frost date you should start seeds indoors under lights.
Cut back grasses. Start cutting ornamental grasses back in late February, just before new growth begins. Cool-season grasses such as feather reed grass and blue fescue will be among the earliest to actively grow. They may need only minor trimming. Warm-season grasses, which grow best in the warmer weather of summer, include switchgrass, prairie dropseed and big bluestem. They will take longer to sprout. “Cut them down within a few inches of the ground, but don’t cut into the base of the plant,” Yiesla said.
Plan and build raised beds. Choose a spot for vegetable beds that will be in full sun for at least eight hours a day. Allow space around each bed for a wheelbarrow to pass. Make beds no more than 4 feet across so you can reach in to weed and harvest. “You can find plenty of plans available online for build-it-yourself raised beds, or you can buy kits,” she said. Beds that are 8 inches deep can accommodate shallow-rooted crops such as spinach, lettuce and radishes. Tomatoes, peppers, carrots and other plants with deep roots need at least 12 inches of soil depth.
Check perennials for heaving. On warm spring days, look for perennials that have been heaved out of the ground by the freeze-and-thaw cycle. “Shallow-rooted plants, such as those that were just planted in fall, are most vulnerable,” Yiesla said. If the ground has thawed, gently push roots back into the soil. Cover the root system with a 3- to 4-inch layer of mulch to insulate against future weather swings.
Clean, sharpen and sterilize garden tools. A small diamond file or pruner sharpening stick, available at hardware stores, can sharpen the blades of pruners and loppers. Use a coarse 10-inch file to sharpen shovels and hoes. Wash tools in water and use steel wool to remove any rust. Wipe them thoroughly with 70% rubbing alcohol to sterilize them. Lubricate pruners with a light household oil. Use the same oil to wipe tools all over to deter rust.
Bring springtime indoors. Force branches of flowering shrubs such as forsythia, crabapple or lilac. Make a clean cut at the base of each branch and place it in a vase of warm water in a cool room, away from direct sunlight. Cuttings can take from two to three weeks to force indoors. “Then you’ll have blooms for an early touch of springtime,” Yiesla said.
For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, mortonarb.org/plant-clinic, or plantclinic@mortonarb.org). Beth Botts is a staff writer at the Arboretum.