It’s the first week of December and while astronomically it’s still autumn, a look out the kitchen window tells me it’s really winter.  There’s 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and the low last night was 17°F.  I’m burning up the last week of my vacation (use it or lose it).  That makes it the perfect time to do some gardening.  Well, at least some garden planning and preparation for next year.

Here in West Michigan, we’re about 24 weeks ahead of our last freeze date (32.0°F), May of 2025. When the snow is flying and temperatures are below 40°F it’s hard to imagine thinking about gardening, but now is when you need to start planning and preparing for the coming growing season.

If you haven’t been gardening long, or at all, seeding, transplanting, harvesting, and well just about everything is all based on weeks before the last frost date and before the first frost date.  In case you’re unaware the last frost date is the average date in the spring, for your locale, when a frost occurs at night.  The first frost date is the average date in the fall, again for your locale, when a frost occurs in the fall.

Most gardening happens between these two dates.  The number of days between the first frost date and the first frost date is the length of the growing season.  When you begin selecting seeds and crops that’s one of the first things most people look at.  If your growing season is 98 days, there’s little possibility of you succeeding if you select a crop with 130 days to maturity.

A quick aside on days to maturity:  This is the approximate number of days it will take for the plant to grow and be ready for harvest. However, the starting point for counting those days can vary depending on the type of plant.  For seeds planted directly into the ground, the count begins from the day the seeds are sown in the soil.  Of course, this is an estimate as soil nutrients, temperature, rain, and sunlight will impact the plant.

So, with all that said, what can you do now to help you prepare for the best garden ever in 2025 if you live in a snowy northern location?

• It’s a banner time to review and plan.  If you gardened last year, at all, reflect on the past year’s experience.  Start a garden notebook, journal, or any kind of record system.  Identify the plant varieties that thrived and those that you faced challenges with.  Document pest, disease, and soil difficulties.  Are there any garden adjacent projects you need to plan on and begin acquiring materials for.
• If you’d like to have your soil professionally tested, late fall and early winter are ideal times because the labs are generally less busy.  This also allows you to possibly pick up any necessary amendments you uncover through the testing at possible end of year closeout prices.  It also permits you to work these into the soil if the ground hasn’t frozen yet.
• Review your current supply of seeds.  You are saving your own seeds.  Right?  If you’ve built up decent supply spanning more than the previous year’s harvest, December is the perfect time to run some germination tests.  Why?  Because that gives you plenty of opportunity to order commercial seeds if your germination rate drops below your desired output level.
• If you have a heated shop or the weather is mild enough, December is the perfect time for tool maintenance.  Inspect your gardening tools for any wear or damage. Clean, sharpen, and repair them as needed. Properly maintained tools will be more effective and last longer.
• Begin planning for seed starting.  Gather supplies.  Clean and sterilize all those plastic pots you’ve been hiding in the back of the garage from your spouse that just wants to throw them away.  Test the output on any grow lights that might be getting a bit long in the tooth.  Pick up any clearance potting soils you can find at garden centers that are pushing trees, Christmas Cactus, and poinsettias.
• Start growing some indoor herbs.  Most grow just fine in a window and will often thrive in a south facing window.  While learning to grow some medicinal herbs is a plus, start simply with a small selection of culinary herbs.  Chives, basil, and oregano are three easy ones to get you started.  Be warned, this is a gateway herb and you will have no window sill space in a year.