Timely Gardening Tips for where you live

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New England/Canada Maritimes

All is quiet in the garden. The garlic sleeps under its thick blanket of mulch and the compost pile has cooled. Unless you have a cold frame within a greenhouse where greens still can be picked, not much is happening in the garden. My New Year's resolution is to remember just how busy it gets in May and June. One or two new-projects are OK, but 20 are a lot of work. For holiday gifts, I am putting dried herbs in bottles with homemade labels: tarragon, Thai basil, sweet basil, oregano, garlic powder, summer savory and my own salad herb blend. The fresh flavors are a hit. Make garlic powder by peeling and halving the cloves. Dry them in the oven on very low heat or use a dehydrator. Grind in a food processor, with the finest setting of a meat grinder or with an electric coffee grinder. Homemade garlic powder is very pungent and makes a great tasting substitute for fresh garlic.

Mid-Atlantic

For now, spring gardening is a dream — the only sign of spring is the garden seed catalogs in your mailboxes. Snowy days are perfect for garden planning, or oiling and sharpening garden tools. Make sure the greenhouse is in good repair and you have lots of available cold-frame space to harden off plants when the time comes. When the temperature is above 40 degrees, you can open cold frames to harvest some greens. Be sure to order seed for bulb onions, early lettuce and early peppers right away so you can get them started in mid January. `Thai 88 Oakleaf lettuce and `Early Yellow Globe' onion grow well for us. Make a New Year's resolution to start your transplants from seed this year (if you don't already). It will open up a whole new world of wonderful varieties not otherwise available.

Southern Interior

The last leaves seem to hang on until after Thanksgiving — you can get them all in one raking if you wait. If you are really energetic, shred or mow them with your lawn mower. If you're feeling less than frisky, pile the leaves in a gully or hidden corner of the garden to rot, and come back in a year or so to harvest some rich compost! Here in the South, early December is the perfect time for planting garlic. Sow lettuce and cool-weather greens now for winter salads. Make this the year to try succession planting. For quick reference, write what to plant and when to plant it on the kitchen calendar. If you like mild, only slightly acidic tomatoes, try growing `Razzleberry' next season; its sturdy stems will be loaded with tasty, pink fruit.

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