
- Cover all tender roses (David Austin and hybrid tea types) with cones of compost as frozen bare ground emerges between snow storms
- Cover heaths, heathers, and lavender with evergreen boughs to prevent winter desiccation (the discarded Christmas tree is perfect)
- Dress exposed perennial beds with salt marsh hay once the ground is frozen to prevent heaving and potential loss
- Explore ideas for design changes to your own garden in 2020 through reading, attending lectures, and talking with a designer on our staff, <deanna@pumpkinbrookorganicgardening.com>
- Inventory leftover seeds and place your 2020 seed order
- Inventory garden tools, plan repairs and replacements
- Start amaryllis and paperwhite bulbs and bring into the warmth of a partly sunny window
- Force hyacinth bulbs on water in a small vase with narrow neck, at 45 degrees
- Remove dead or discolored leaves from houseplants when seen
- Water houseplants sparingly until new growth begins in February
- Take a walk outdoors to rejuvenate and relax
- Check yourself, children and pets for ticks after time outdoors, as ticks are active year-round whenever temperatures are above 32 degrees
- Do not pull splayed branches of shrubs or trees out of the snow as they are brittle in the cold temperatures and split easily