How much will you miss outdoor gardening in the next few months?

I like to get the beds cleared up and mulched before the daffodils start flowering. I start pruning roses in January if it isn't too cold and wet. I have 2 gardens, mine in France and OH's in Norfolk so I have to fit them in when I'm there.

 

I won't miss it at all! There's plenty to be done in the garden between now and early February when the spring bulbs start to show. I leave most of the cutting-back of dead stems etc until January or so, but any that fall over or turn into a soggy mass might get done before then. Then there's winter /early spring pruning. I also rearrange the pots beside the front door (evergreens in, salvias etc out) and I've some cyclamen to pot up - outdoor hybrid types so they might not be long-term planting, but they were 5 for £10 which seems good value even if they only give me colour for one winter. Last time I had similar ones they lasted three years I think.
If the weather gets too wet or cold I've plenty of non-gardening indoor things to do.

 

If I clear away too much in autumn, there's a regrettable tendency to think I've got gaps to fill as it's so easy to forget how the borders suddenly burst into life in spring.

 

Other than leaf gathering, I'm pretty much done outside until April. This time next month, the ground will be frozen down to about 3" and by February a minimum of 12" down.

 

Gosh @CanadianLori it always amazes me how different your climate is from mine! I'm going to be checking over my greenhouse insulation today, because it's meant to go below zero for a couple of nights - and then back to a minimum of 5c!
You and @redstar both have seriously extreme weather - only our Scottish forumites(is that a word?) come close - though I'm sure others will tell me something different

 

I do not enjoy gardening in the rain, when it is blowing a hooley or it is freezing cold. When there is a good gardening weather day, by the time I have sat with a coffee and cogitated about what I might do outside the short daylight hours have flown by and it is too late to begin anything! So not a lot gets done.

 

I still have a tiny bit of gardening during winter time. Plants in pots outside and in the greenhouse need checking and watering. I didn't finish yet bringing borders in order. With full time job I get to do something during the weekends only. Getting dark too early. In February I'll empty the bottom part of the composter. Otherwise I have an indoor gardening all year round with 100+ houseplants

 

@CarolineL it all comes down to your having a lovely gulf stream. When you look at it, I'm at a lower altitude than most of you over there and not only do we not have the gulf stream coming up our coasts, I'm 1,500 miles from the ocean anyway.

The people in the south west coast province of British Columbia get all of the benefits of the Pacific ocean's warmness and the mountains between them and Alberta trap that mildness to give them rainy winters. If they get any snow, there are panic stations!

Anyone please: If your cuttings get big do you just keep taking cuttings from the cuttings throughout the winter and discard the original cuttings? This is quite a puzzle for me as most of my spring plantings are from seeds.

 

Hi @CanadianLori if my cuttings do actually grow over winter (they don't much) I pinch them out, and have been known to use those bits as further cuttings! But I prefer to keep the original so it can build up a decent root system before it goes outside otherwise my slugs eat them completely.

 

I don't get the opportunity to do much in the winter. My garden is square shaped and North facing so there's little to no sun in winter, and the lawn gets too wet to walk on without causing damage that I'll then have to spend time fixing in spring.

I've also decided not to tidy up/cut back until spring anyway, as I'm hoping to attract more wildlife and a greater variety of birds. So even if I could get out there I'd have very little to do!

There are quite a few pots on both patios, so I can do anything that needs doing with those. I've done bulb planting etc, but winter will mostly be focused on bird feeding and wildlife watch. I do miss being out there and getting on with stuff though!

 

@CanadianLori Friends of ours live near Kingston, Ontario and are moving to the UK soon. He's a Brit who has never got used to the extreme cold of the winters despite living out there for 25 years or more. We met up with them about 18 months ago when they were in the UK and he was saying they get very little use from their garden. In his words (politely modified), they get about 2 months when they can use it. The rest of the time it's either covered in snow or covered with masses of midges or blackfly. For those in the UK, Canadian blackfly aren't like ours. They are big and bite! Imagine midges on steroids and you get the idea.

 

Actually as long as there is no snow, we can get out and do something, just put extra clothes on. right now its removing leaves from lawn areas. we have a ton. or pruning up some shrubs, respecting winter interest. We get very little snow here. one good blizzard we should get. today will be 60 degrees.

 

@KT53 your friend must be quite a bit north of the lake. All along the lake (Ontario) there are midges, little weaklings, in early spring only and black flies do not venture down from the north below about 80 miles north of me. And Kingston is almost parallel with me. Albeit a couple hundred miles to the east. It is pleasant country down there but I would not want to live there. Too "country" for me.

And he was being naughty by exaggerating about how short our growing season is, in southern Ontario. I can start gardening/planting out- from about May 24 and don't need to start ripping out the poorly annuals until late October. That's 5 months. But we go from bitterly cold winters to sometimes blistering hot summers. I stretch the season slightly with my wee greenhouses and I have grow tents down in the cellar that are fully equipped with lights, fans and capillary water set up. I start some of my seeds on Boxing day

If we can get some more global warming, who knows, we might get up to 6 months

 

That said, I'm going out this afternoon to figure out a way to adapt some fittings to the low flow irrigation system to see if I can get it to "inhale" fertilizer when I want to pump things up. I think I've figured out how to make quick fittings to swap it in and out. And I'm going to play with a storage pipe set up to accommodate the bird feeder during the summer months when I force the birds to forage nature for breakfast.

Then I'm going to rake leaves. Always fun!

 

For me, I will miss being outside in general. I like to start my day with a cuppa and wander in the garden as I find it grounds me for the day, then a potter after work to relax. That’s what I miss more than gardening itself. I will go out in the cold but it’s not the same.