Warm weather gives green light for some garden preparation

January just ended this week, but it’s already time to start thinking about buying seeds and – thanks to the warm weather in Saskatchewan – pruning trees.

Jill van Duyvendyk with Dutch Growers, co-host of ‘Garden Talk’ on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME, told Mark Loshack that the first week of February is the time to buy seeds for the upcoming season and even give some of them a head start.

“Get a nice warm place in your soil – that bottom heat and humidity is really important – and get a grow light,” van Duyvendyk recommended.

“You can start growing right now. It’s the perfect time for it.”

Geraniums, begonias, some perennials and even some hot peppers are among those that can start being potted early, she said.

Van Duyvendyk said jiffy pots can be an easy way to start sowing seeds. Those pots contain soil, and seeds can simply be added and then transplanted to a larger pot once they’ve rooted.

She said tree pruning can also start – several months sooner than a typical year. Van Duyvendyk said many trees are still dormant, despite the hot temperatures.

“It’s nice to be able to do it in this warm weather, so why not take advantage of it?” she said.

The only garden preparation van Duyvendyk recommended a slow approach to was fertilizing.

She said some people will spread fertilizer on top of snow to let it sink in later in the season, but she generally recommended waiting.

“We’re having a melt now, but it is Saskatchewan. We don’t know what’s to come,” she said.

Instead, van Duyvendyk recommended bringing snow back to areas with tender perennials planted and padding more snow around those plants to help with insulation and protect them from dramatic temperature changes.

“The freeze-and-thaw … that’s when we see we start losing plants,” van Duyvendyk said.