2024 December 26 The Off-Season

I played sports, primarily soccer, my whole childhood into college. My coaches always emphasized that what you do in the "off-season" is just as important or even more important that sport season. I spent summers running hills and distances and sprints to be ready for soccer. 

As a teacher, I had a natural off-season in the summertime. For fifteen summers, my off season was full of relaxation and gardening. My gardening pace was relaxed and even meditative.

This year was very different. My summer at the zoo was high-energy and intense. We mulched, and composted, and weeded, and planted, and dug holes, and filled up ten hour shifts with continual energy. Most days I walked more than 20,000 steps. It was awesome. I felt healthier than ever.

Now that the zoo season has come to an end, I am figuring out what the "off-season" means to a seasonal horticulturist. The year-round staff at the zoo are in charge of winter cleanup, plowing, and shoveling snow. They maintain the greenhouses and they still blow leaves too, since some trees hold on this long. I would love to be employed year-round there. 

Currently, I am working twice a week in an office. My Spring Propagation class at LCCC starts in February. The holidays are keeping me busy for now. I have started my daily writing and reading morning routines again, which feels good. I'd like to add long walks to the routine, along with some art and music. Winter days are great for hobbies.

Wild Ones is national nonprofit organization that promotes native landscapes through education, advocacy and collaborative action. Link

Wild Ones Greater Cleveland (link here) is full of opportunities for the off-season. We offer winter sowing workshops, seed swaps and other informational events related to native plant landscaping and local ecology. I will be co-presenting winter sowing at least twice this season. Winter sowing is definitely a big part of my garden preparation. I will do another post about winter sowing, but here is a link for the basic process. 

My list so far for my gardening off season:

• Read my Plant Propagation book by the American Horticultural Society
• Teach Winter Sowing
• Do my own Winter Sowing, focusing on trees
• Organize and catalog my seeds
• Order seeds for both perennial gardens and vegetable garden
• Compost
• Start a vermiculture bin