You have joined "The Art of Resilience: Seasonal Gardening" - an online garden resource for the Great Lakes region. The Art of Resilience is a resilience media project started by the Trillium Center. The project includes free online resources and a podcast at http://www.trilliumcenter.org/resilience.

As you go through, pay more attention to the seasonal indicators in your area than the month we list, because every place is a little different and every year is a little different.

With the ground covered in snow and winter temperatures perhaps hitting some seasonal lows, February is actually the perfect time to begin some hands-on garden preparation. Key seasonal indicators, garden tasks, and seed starting suggestions are listed here with more information at the link below. 

Seasonal Indicators

• Days noticeably longer with about ten hours and twenty minutes of light

• Nice views of the constellation Orion at nightfall

• Perhaps the coldest and snowiest conditions of the year

• Look for winter bird migrants such as snow goose, tundra swan; redhead, canvasback, common goldeneye, and bufflehead ducks; snow bunting, tree sparrow, and dark-eyed junco; snowy owl

• Wildlife tracks in snow

• Dropped deer antlers and deer browse on woody plants

Garden Tasks 

• Get growing area and containers set up

• Purchase or exchange any additional seeds you may want

• If you’re into planning, draw out your garden beds so you know how many seeds to start

Seeds to Start Indoors

• Rosemary

• Thyme

• Oregano

• Savory

• Bulb onions and shallots

  
  

Seeds to Stratify

• Echinacea 

• Common Milkweed

• Apple

• Lavender

"Getting the sugar shack ready! We tapped on February 22 and it's time!" ~ Leah Wolfe, Conneaut, OH

For gardeners (and many other people who can’t wait for the end of winter) early March is full of anticipation. Indoor seed starting and care will be ramping up in the next couple months so it’s a good time to get organized before the flurry of garden activities begins. Key seasonal indicators, garden tasks, and seed starting suggestions are listed here with more information at the link below. Our schedule is set up so that we are sending you info at least a week ahead of time so that you actually have time to plan for each step.

• Daylength increases quickly, gaining about 2 minutes and 45 seconds everyday 
• It still feels like winter with cold temperatures and snow
• Red maple buds are swelling
• Sap run
• Skunk cabbage flowers
• Wood ducks become active; several duck species, such as green winged teal and American wigeon begin migrating through to their nesting areas
• Continued signs of “starvation diet” for woodland mammals

• Organize seeds
• Make a list of plants (or seeds) needed
• Start sowing seeds in earnest!

• Slow-growing herbs if you haven’t already started (rosemary, thyme, oregano, savory)
• Leeks and bunching onions
• Artichoke and Cardoon
• Celery

• Around 12-hours of daylight 
• Returning bird migrants: Red-winged blackbirds, turkey vultures, robins, timberdoodle
• Bird behaviors change
• Tree buds swelling
• More wildlife (and human) activity
• More farm animals out

• Don’t clean up your garden yet
• Gather greens
• Mulch
• Last chance for tree pruning
• Spring greens!

• Peppers
• Eggplant & maybe Tomatoes
• Broccoli & other Brassicas
• Sage
• Flowers with small seeds like florist’s blue balloon flower, petunia, bee balms, yarrow 

• Fava beans
• Peas
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Spring garlic
• Dill 
• Arugula

• Trees are blooming: red and silver maples, hazelnuts, willow family trees
• Spring bulbs coming up or flowering: crocus, daffodil, tulip, hyacinth, puschkinia, Star of Bethlehem 
• Weeds - purple dead nettle, ground ivy, yellow rocket, hairy bittercress, black medic, docks, dandelion 
• Wood frogs and spring peepers
• Birds are staking out territories and nesting. House wren is back, chimney swifts and swallows; water/shore birds: greater and lesser yellow legs, green herons, black-crowned night herons; first warblers: yellow-rumped, palm, yellow, common yellowthroat

• Start hardening off seed starts
• Spread compost
• Mulch
• Set up trellises and structures for climbing plants
• Early weeding

• Tomatoes
• Basil
• Brassicas: kale, collards, cabbage, etc.
• Calendula, marigolds, Mexican mint marigold
• Other larger seeded flowers like borage, nasturtiums, zinnias, love-in-a-mist, nicotiana, coreopsis, daisies 

• Potatoes
• Peas
• Brassicas
• Beets
• Carrots
• Onion sets
• Spinach
• Cilantro
• Arugula
• Radish

 

• Trees/shrubs are blooming: forsythia, cherries, peach, plums, magnolias, pear; apples look ready to bloom very soon 
• Forest trees are partially leafed out
• Woodland spring ephemeral wildflowers: ramps, spring beauties, trout lily, cut-leaf toothwort, mayapples
• Weeds - cool season grasses, dandelions flowering on sunny days, violets, lambs quarters sprouted 
• Gray tree frogs have started singing
• Birds arrivals: white-throated sparrow, chipping sparrow, eastern phoebe, osprey
• Turkey breeding

• Transplant cold-weather crops started in February and March: artichokes, celery, onions, cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower
• Continue to harden off frost-sensitive plants
• Harvest greens, asparagus, brassica flower heads, green onions, chives
• Early weeding and bed preparation

• Indoor seed sowing is mostly finished, but it can still be worthwhile to start perennials

• Peas
• Brussels sprouts and cabbage
• Beets
• Carrots
• Spinach
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Arugula
• Radish

• Days are really long with about 15 hours of light
• Most trees are just about fully leafed out
• Night time temperatures are now consistently above 50°F
• Bird activity: Baltimore and orchard orioles at backyard feeders; peak time to see over 20 species of warblers; new bird songs in the woods and backyard: gray catbird, wood peewee, wood thrush, red-eyed vireo
• Deer fawns are out foraging
• Mayfly emergence and associated bird activity  
• Green frogs and bull frogs have added their songs to the chorus of gray tree frogs
• Rhododendrons, azaleas, hawthorns, and lilacs flowering
• Weeds - annual ragweed, daisy fleabane, lambs quarters, wood sorrel, sheep’s sorrel, red clover
• Overwintered kale, bok choy, arugula, mustards, bunching onions, and chives flowering
• Strawberries are flowering and buds swollen on blackberries and raspberries
• Buds on roses, peonies, 

• Transplant plant seedlings!
• Petal-fall applications of neem and kaolin clay to fruit trees
• Water 1st-year trees and garden plants through dry spells

• Bush and pole beans
• Cucurbits: cucumbers, squashes, zucchini, melons, etc.
• Corn
• Basil
• Sunflowers
• Carrots
• Beets
• Cilantro and dill

• Day length is less than 15 hours and will drop below 14 hours before the second week of August
• Daytime humidity very high and hot temperatures (when it’s not raining) 
• Huge diversity and abundance of insects in yards, gardens, natural areas, indoors
• Unmowed areas are high, and weedy wildflowers are blooming: chicory, Queen Anne’s lace, buttercups, yarrow, thistles, daisies, milkweeds, St. John’s wort
• In less disturbed fields or restored prairies many species blooming: black-eyed Susans, purple and green-headed coneflowers, compass plant, coreopsis, bee balm and wild bergamot, blazing star
• Insectivorous birds very active: swallows, chimney swifts, kingbirds, flycatchers
• Male deer antlers almost full size
• Time for ripe blackberries, blueberries, peaches

• Harvest!
• Collect and clean seeds
• Weed and mulch
• Fertilizing heavy feeders
• Continue pruning and training tomatoes
• Sow fall crops
• Water during dry spells

• Bush and pole beans, it’s not too late!
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Cabbage
• Kale
• Spinach
• Arugula
• Broccoli
• Peas
• Beets
• Turnips
• Bunching onions
• Fall radish: daikon, watermelon
• Cool season herbs: dill, cilantro, fennel

September Sunset over Lake Erie. Photo by Leah Wolfe.

It’s hard to believe summer is coming to an end, but shorter days are a welcome relief from the sultry dog days of summer for some of us. Others may experience an occasional pang of melancholy for the cold, dark days to come. Soon we’ll be able to slow down and enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of our labors long into the colder months. 

• Autumn equinox: equal parts day and night (12 hrs) with day length continuing to decrease. This is the beginning of the period of time when the veil between "reality" and the spirit world is thin with the holidays of Halloween, Samhain, All Hallow's Eve, and Day of the Dead coming in the next months. 
• Cooler days, and especially nights, with less humidity
• Cool season plants starting to thrive again: kale, mustards, fall radish, other Brassica species; peas and fava beans; dandelions start blooming again
• Fall wildflowers: goldenrods (did you know there are 30+ goldenrod species in NE Ohio?), New England asters, several species of white asters in fields, white snakeroot, horse balm, and large-leaved aster in the woods 
• Seed and berry eating birds very active: goldfinches, cardinals, sparrows, cedar waxwings 
• Beginning of deer mating season: look for tree rubbing, and be careful on the road - when hunters begin staking out their haunts, deer and other animals are more active and using unusual routes.
• First leaves starting to turn red on tupelos and some maples, while others begin to bleach
• Late summer edible mushrooms: chicken-of-the-woods (aka sulfur shelf), hen-of-the-woods (aka maitake), lion’s mane 

• Harvest and preserve
• Collect and clean seeds
• Prepare garlic beds
• Find a balance between mulching and leaving standing vegetation

• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Arugula
• Mustards
• Dill
• Cilantro

• More hours of darkness than daylight
• Night temperatures getting low enough to damage tender plants like basil
• Fall colors are reaching their peak vibrancy 
• Oak, beech, hickory, and walnut trees beginning to drop fruits in large numbers - deer, squirrels, chipmunks, wild turkey are feasting
• Black birds “massing” in preparation for migration
• Many duck and songbird species that breed in Canada are returning to overwinter or are passing through on the way to southern overwintering grounds - many summer breeding species are migrating south
• Deer mating season: more deer on the move and buck sightings more common
• Armillaria (aka honey mushrooms) and giant puffballs are fruiting

• Plant garlic
• Harvest certain fall crops like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, daikon/watermelon radish, turnips after a light frost or two
• Pumpkins and squash are ready to set out on porches to ripen and later move to shelves to store through the coming months 
• Gather dandelion flowers for a high potassium tea, dig up roots like yellow dock, dandelion, and burdock to use for high mineral teas  
• Sheet mulch new beds, mulch existing beds and perennials