January in USDA Hardiness Zone 7a can feel like gardening limbo. The holidays are over, the landscape and wildlife are relatively quiet, and spring feels impossibly far away. After years of gardening in this zone, however, I’ve learned that January is not a time to sit totally still. Instead, it’s a time to set myself and my garden up for an easier start to the growing season.
The work I do now, when the soil is mostly resting and my pace can be thoughtful, pays off in bushels and blooms once the growing season begins. The bare trees and shrubs reveal trimming tasks. An empty patch is a veggie garden waiting to be mapped. A wintry weekend is time well spent with cleaning and maintenance.
