Rebecca Park Totilo

Gardening Is Not Just For The Summer



Posted: Thursday, May 22, 2008

by
Rebecca at the Well & Heal With Essential Oils

Like anything that is worth doing, growing a healthy garden takes dedication. To help you stay on course (and not let those uninvited weeds get the best of you), it's a good idea to keep track of all your gardening chores on a calendar. This will, at a glance, let you will know whether it's time for seeding, feeding, pruning or mulching. Below is a sample list of tasks to help you schedule the chores you will need to do to keep your garden pleasant to the eye year- round.

January

Scan new catalogs for seeds and ideas.

Save fireplace wood ashes for plants.

Take inventory of supplies and tools.

February

Plant slow-growing annuals indoors late this month.

Draw plans for the garden.

Save newspapers for mulch.

March

Prepare garden beds.

Weed and mulch beds.

Sow vegetable seeds, such as peppers and celery.

April

Plant hardy plants.

Complete soil preparation and planting.

Plant cool-season crops.

May

Plant hardy annuals.

Weed and apply mulch around plants.

Cut flowers for arrangements.

Pinch dead blooms off of flowers.

Plant beans, radishes, lettuce and spinach.

Transplant seedlings.

Sow beans, corn and pumpkins.

June

Plant annuals to fill in gaps in beds.

Apply mulch and fertilize.

Sow seeds for fall crops.

Plant herbs, if you haven't already.

July

Harvest herbs before they flower.

Cut flowers for drying.

Harvest vegetables.

August

Cut back dead flowers.

Harvest crops as they mature.

Plant for a fall crop.

September

Take cuttings indoors.

Collect seeds.

Select flowers and herbs for drying.

Cut back tired annuals.

Plant cool-season vegetables.

Pot herbs for growing indoors.

October

Clean up flower and vegetable beds.

Add debris to the compost pile.

Plant garlic.

November

Clean garden.

Turn compost pile.

Repair tools.

Prepare the soil for early spring planting.

Mulch around perennial crops.

Plant all spring-blooming bulbs.

December

Prune back dead branches.

Turn compost pile.

Mulch leftover herbs.

Harvest leftover vegetables.

Plant cool-season herbs like parsley and cilantro.

Think about garden successes and failures.

Plan next year's garden.

Order seeds for catalogs.

Don't forget to include some family-fun garden activities like making plant markers or a toad house while listing all the chores on your calendar. Kids love to dig in the dirt and it's a great way to grow together. For more great ideas of cool things you can make and grow, please visit my website at: Http://www.rebeccatotilo.com or purchase a copy of my book, The Christian Kids Gardening Guide at any local Christian bookstore or Amazon.com.

Rebecca Park Totilo’s flair and passion for life bursts into living color when she writes. As an award-winning publisher author of over 34 books, she has been spoken to millions via television, radio and live appearances. Her credits include working as a contributor writer on two best-selling series ("Quiet Moments with God" and “Stories for the Teen’s Heart”) which sold over one million and five million copies respectively.  She is also a freelance writer for several national magazines including Christian Parenting Today, Discipleship Journal and Woman’s World. Rebecca's photography work has appeared in numerous national magazines such as Woman’s World, Sports Spectrum, Evangel, and Sharing the Victory.

Rebecca is a homeschool mom for 20 years and serves as president of Rebecca at the Well Foundation. Please visit her websites at: http://RebeccaAtTheWell.org and http://HealWithOil.com.
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