Winter-ish Garden Planning for Spring

Like many parts of the US, winter here in Northern NJ has been unusually warm and oddly snow-free (tonight is supposed to be our first snow storm of the season!). Other than the battering ram of seasonal winter illnesses that have hit our family, I could have easily mistaken January and February for March and April. It's chilly and damp, it's mild and sunny, it's mild and rainy, the bulbs are coming up, the crocus is blooming across the backyard, the trees are budding way too early. We've had a few quick frigid blasts but they haven't lasted very long. Winter just hasn't been nearly as painful as other years. Even tonight's snow should melt quickly - it's expected to be almost 60 on Thursday. 

The greenhouse has been a wild ride. Too hot during a sunny warm spell hitting 90+. Too cold during a polar vortex. Mike brilliantly realized that an old wool rug from the basement (previously chewed up by a vengeful french bulldog on one side) is a fantastic greenhouse insulator on the roof during a brutal cold snap when the heater can't keep up with 7 degrees and 60 mph winds. The plants inside though are surviving, some are straggly but others doing surprisingly well. I have had little bouquets of snapdragons and geraniums on and off all winter. 

Spring and the garden are on my mind of course as February draws to a close. Things are busy and only going to ramp up... My year of "yes" has been catching up with me, for better and worse. Mostly for the better - it's been a year of new experiences, new places, more fun, more quality time, more people and projects and all the things we missed during COVID isolation. However as spring nears, a lot of my yeses are coming home to roost. And that's on top of our annual crazy of birthday season (most of our family birthdays are crammed together in May and June) and double sports for two kids. Did I mention I'm a double room parent and on the PTO board? This spring I'm also running my first fundraiser, chairing science day in two schools and helping to set up an outdoor classroom at Oliver's school. It's all amazing stuff... but it's also A LOT. I just might have overextended myself a bit this year. (Before anyone sends me helpful information on the "power of no" ...I wanted this. I like being involved in their schools, classes and interests. I like sharing my expertise. I want to support the boys' sports passions. Oliver also heads off to Middle School next year, so this is a last hurrah for me in this arena with him). 

Spring will be all about Prioritizing. 

I don't want to give up anything that's important to our family at home, like setting up the pool as early as possible. Luckily I think the heavy lift was done last year building the base and it's held up great all winter. It just needs some raking and a few bags of sand to level everything off before setup. After that it's just the regular pool maintenance. 

I also don't want to give up anything that's important to me, like the garden and flowers. It's a lot of prep work in the spring, but the outdoor oasis brings me so much joy. Our plan this year is to keep things as simple as possible. Minimal new challenges and do what has worked well previously. 

• Mulching early was a game changer last year, getting it out of the way in late March and early April before true schedule chaos hit. I plan to do the same this year if the weather allows. 
• I'll be seed starting in mid-March - the plants get leggy if I start my seeds too early. I'm pre-starting 8 tomatoes, flowers and a few herbs.  
• I want to try to get the dahlias potted up in mid March as well, so they have a good head start. I love that they bloom earlier this way. 
• The raised bed garden will be planted as soon as the weather and schedule allows in early May.
• Pots and the front yard flowers will be planted after the garden is done, with annuals and dahlias in early to mid-May. 
• The fundraiser I'm running is a native plant sale for the school, I admit I intend to buy a few native perennials to support a good cause and fill out key spots in our yard. 
• I will replace the thujas that died along the fence with either new thujas or something similar 

This is a low stakes, low maintenance year in the garden. The appeal of the native plants is that they should do fine on their own and work in parts of the yard I'm finding challenging. I also decided on no new/replacement dahlias, which was a hard decision - even though I really want to replace the dahlias I lost last year, I'm taking a gap year from purchasing any to see how things go this summer, the mites last year were brutal. And I still have a lot of bulbs in the basement. It's not like I'm going to have gaps that need filling!