Rick Durham, Consumer Horticulture Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky
 
Storing vegetable seeds.

If you are an avid gardener then you know that seed catalogues will soon be showing up in the mail box. But if you are like most people, you will have many seeds left over from the previous season. Are these seeds still viable? Is there a good chance they will germinate if planted? You bet. Most vegetable seeds remain viable or able to germinate for three years or more when stored properly. A few vegetables such as spinach, onion, and sweet corn, produce seeds that remain viable for a shorter period of time. In any case, storage conditions are very important. It's best to keep seeds as dry as possible. Enclosing them in a glass jar or other airtight container may be helpful. This will also protect against insect infestation and feeding by rodents. Although refrigeration is not necessary, keeping seeds as cool as possible, but not freezing, will also prolong their life. It's easy to check the germination ability of stored seeds and this might even be a fun family project. Simply remove a set of 20-30 seeds from each stored packet, wrap them in moist paper towels, place them in a zip-lock bag, and keep them in a warm place (70-80F). They should germinate in a week to 10 days. If half or more of the seeds germinated, it should be fine to sow them in the garden. Just increase the planting density accordingly to account for less than 100% germination. If germination is low, discard the seed lot and order or buy fresh seeds.
 

It's time to think about perennial vegetables and small fruits.

March is the best time for planting many perennial vegetables and small fruits. So go ahead and place your orders as those seed and nursery catalogs begin arriving. Here are some recommended varieties that should do well in Kentucky:

• Asparagus: Jersey King, Jersey Knight, Jersey giant, Jersey Prince
• Rhubarb: Canada Red, MacDonald, Valentine
• June Bearing Strawberries: Earliglow, Delmarvel, Redchief, Guardian, Allstar, Jewel, Darrow
• Everbearing Strawberries: Tristar, Tribute
• Black Raspberries: Bristol, Jewel, Haut
• Red Raspberries: Redwing, Autumn Bliss, Heritage (all are fall bearing)
• Purple Raspberries: Royalty
• Yellow Raspberries: Fall Gold (fall bearing)
• Blackberries-erect: Thorny: Shawnee, Cherokee, and Cheyenne (all three for warmer sites), and Kiowa.  Thornless: Arapaho, Navaho, Apache
• Blackberries-semi-erect: Hull Thornless, Triple Crown, Chester (all thornless)
• Currents: Crandall, Red Lake, Rovada, Primus
• Gooseberries: Poorman, Pixwell, Hinnomaki Red, Invicta
• Grapes (for fresh fruit): Black: Buffalo, McCampbell, Steuben, Fredonia, Concord, Sunbelt, Mars (seedless), Glenora (seedless): White: Niagara, Marquis (seedless); Red: Delaware, Alden, Catawba, Reliance (seedless)
• Grapes (for wine): White: Seyval Blanc, Vignoles, Vidal Blanc, Villard Blanc (also for fresh fruit); Black: Foch, Baco Noir, Chancellor, Villard Noir

As soils temperatures fluctuate resulting in cycles of freezing and thawing, herbaceous perennials such as daylilies, iris, strawberries, and others, may be partially lifted out of the ground. This can usually be prevented by applying two-three inches of mulch around perennials. The mulch helps to stabilize soil temperatures and prevents the drastic fluctuations of temperatures exhibited by bare soils. If plants are not mulched, check them during periods of thaw to see if any heaving has occurred. If so, firmly push the plants back into the ground to their previous depth and cover with at least two inches of mulch.
 

Woody plant care for the winter.

During periods of warm weather, continue to water newly planted trees and shrubs as well as established evergreens. This is especially true for plants on the south and west side of the house since they receive more winter sun than the rest of the landscape. This brings up another situation. If you are making plans now to transplant trees or shrubs in early spring, consider that the light situations in your landscape may differ between summer and winter. Areas that seem bright and sunny now may not be during the summer.
    Remember your evergreens during snow storms. Accumulating snow, especially when wet, may seriously damage branches. A broom can be used to sweep off snow on lower branches. An upward sweeping motion is best, and be sure to watch out for power lines. It's better to prop up ice laden branches than to try to physically remove the ice. Such branches tend to be brittle in cold weather and may be damaged in the removal process. In other words, don't beat the ice off of branches with a stick! If severe winter damage occurs to limbs and branches, pruning can be done at any time to remove the damaged parts. Otherwise, wait until severe winter weather is over before doing maintenance pruning. In this way one can better judge and remove other branches that may have been damaged during winter.
 
Other gardening activities for winter.

• Clean and sterilize tools, pots, and other items you use around plants. You can use a 10% solution of household bleach (1 part bleach to 9 parts water) or rubbing alcohol (straight from the bottle) for this purpose. Soak or allow the bleach to stay on the item for about 15 minutes, then rinse with water and let dry. The alcohol will evaporate quickly so rinsing is unnecessary. If salt deposits have accumulated on clay pots, soak them for a few hours in a solution of 1 cup household vinegar and 1 cup household bleach added to 1 gallon of warm water. Some scrubbing with iron wool may be required to remove heavier deposits.
• If you have decorative pottery in the landscape, move it to the garage or basement to prevent damage during cold weather. If containers are too large to move, cover them with plastic or turn them upside down to prevent water from collecting and freezing during the winter.
• Check out your garden sprayer to see if rubber/leather washers or the plunger needs to be replaced. It may take some time to locate replacement parts. By doing this in winter your sprayer will be ready when you need it.
• Make festive arrangements from evergreen foliage, dormant branches with various textures, and seed pods. When kept watered, such arrangements will last for several weeks indoors.