13 Easy Winter Gardening Ideas to Try

Winter gardening isn’t looked forward to with such enthusiasm as spring or summer gardening, but it is nonetheless still a great time of the year for gardeners and green thumbs!

But, what to do in the winter, garden-wise, when the ground is all frozen and it’s too cold for most plants to be outside?

Read on below and explore these easy winter gardening ideas to try this year!

13 Easy Winter Gardening Ideas to Try This Year

The winter time is cold, and often snowy, rainy, or freezing. There are harsh winds and temperatures far too low for the average garden variety plants to grow outside during this time of the year.

But, have no fear, there are several easy ideas you can do this year to get your fill of gardening even in the winter. Our favorite ones are:

1. Work on Your Garden’s Landscaping

Where there is a garden (outdoors), there is work to be done. Whether the rows need tidying, or the compost pile needs turned, there is always some landscaping work to do in the garden. This could also include expanding new ground for next year, building raised beds, or planting trees or hedges.

2. Apply Compost and/or Manure

Speaking of putting in work on the landscaping aspect of your garden during the winter, applying compost or manure is a smooth move. Once applies, the compost and manure may be mixed in with the soil and revitalize the ground for the next growing season.

3. Grow Some Herbs in the Kitchen (or Living Room)

The kitchen, living room, or any spot in the house that has a window that lets plenty of light in all winter long, is a great place to grow some herbs. Herbal gardening kits for indoors can be found on the internet, or you can even do your own DIY mason jar setup (or something similar) that takes up very little room.

4. Plan a Bigger or Better Garden for the Spring

Another great way to get some “gardening” time in during the winter, without freezing your butt off out there in the cold is by planning a garden for the following season. Gardens that are well planned out in advance, including crop rotations for each season, and all the nitty gritty little details, tend to be the most successful.

5. Try DIY Indoor Hydroponics

There is no better time to try your hand at hydroponic gardening than in the winter when it is too cold outside to grow much. Hydroponics doesn’t require soil, or to be outside, so you’re good to go in the wintertime. If you don’t know anything about hydroponics, don’t be afraid to read up on at-home hydroponics and give it a try (it’s way easier than it seems).

6, Set up an Indoor Grow Area

Setting up an indoor grow area is way easier than you might think. All you really need is light, a growing medium for plants to anchor themselves (be it soil, leca, water, or otherwise), water, and nutrients! You can even get all of it in a single kit (or shopping trip, in person, or online). A basic indoor setup with a tent takes an hour or so to put together, while something like a DIY DWC system requires a bit more time and money.

7. Build or Set Up a Greenhouse

Greenhouse gardening is one of the most popular and effective ways to grow crops during the winter time without doing it indoors under hanging grow lights. Thankfully, there are greenhouse kits and DIY greenhouse designs that fit all ranges of budgets. The best part is most greenhouses take very little time and almost no skill or tools to set up.

8. Work on Gardening Supplies for Next Season

If you don’t have the time or budget for indoor gardening, you can always spend your gardening time this winter working on supplies for the next growing season. Whether that is crafting handmade garden signs for your crops, putting together a scarecrow, or working on DIY planters is up to you (the sky is the limit).

9. Focus on House Plants

The winter time is also a great time to focus or refocus, on house plants. If you are an avid gardener, there is a great chance that you have neglected the house plants (even just a bit) for other plants popular to grow and care for outside during the nice warm gardening seasons of spring, summer, and possibly autumn (depending on where you live). So, during the winter, you can pot, repot, fertilize, and/or give a little TLC to house plants.

10. Plant Indoor Trees (in Pots, of course)

Planting indoor trees in pots is one of the best gardening activities for winter you can do if you don’t have much time (or money for LED plant lights) but want to grow some fruit indoors. All you need is a large pot, soil (or leca and gravel for semi-ponic setups), a bit of mulch, water, and the tree itself. A window with light is also necessary for many indoor trees.

11. Turn the Ground Over / Till the Soil

During the early winter or the late winter, it is a perfect time for turning the ground (whether by hand or by tiller). Both turning the ground manually and tilling your garden plots, aerates the ground and allow it to breathe (you only need to do one). This gardening task also allows you to mix in compost and organic matter to increase the nutritional value of the soil.

12. Organize Your Gardening Tools (and Space)

The wintertime is just too cold for many of us to be fooling around outside. But, when there is a really nice afternoon, and we feel like getting our hands dirty, organizing the tools and garden hose if you haven’t already done so (be it in a shed, greenhouse, or otherwise) is a fantastic idea.

13. Grow Flowers with Window Boxes

When all else fails, grow flowers. That isn’t what my grandmother old told me, but I imagine someones’ did… because it is excellent advice. If you can’t find anything else to do during the wintertime, you can always start some flowers like marigolds or widow’s trill from seeds, or bulbs, in your windows. Heck, you can even buy flower boxes with plants already growing in them for your windows!

A Final Word About Winter Gardening Ideas

All of the easy winter gardening ideas above should keep you going until the spring with no problem! Space the list of ideas out just once per week and you’ve got a gardening task for each week of the entire winter (you’re welcome!).

How do you spend your winter gardening time? Do you have an idea that you’d like to share with our audience? If so, let us know about it in the comments section below! Thanks for reading.

Suggested Reading: 7 Winter Gardening Hacks You Must Try