What to Plant in Winter: November to February in an Irish Climate

November to February is the best planting window of the year for anything that goes into the ground dormant: fruit and nut trees, hedging, berry bushes, rhubarb and asparagus crowns, garlic, and from late winter the first tubers. Most people treat these months as a gap between seasons. In a climate like Ireland's, with mild wet winters and ground that rarely freezes deep, they are the season. This guide goes month by month, with what to plant, what to prune and what to leave until spring. The timings are Irish; in the UK, northern France and the Low Countries they are the same within a week or two, and in a colder continental winter you shift the January and February jobs a few weeks later.

Short on time? Bare-root fruit trees are the single best thing to plant this winter, and the earlier in the season they go in, the better they establish.

Why Winter Is Planting Season

A deciduous tree or shrub planted while dormant does not know it has been moved. There are no leaves to lose water, so the root system has no demand on it, and roots keep growing slowly in any soil above about 5 °C. In Ireland and Britain, soil at planting depth sits above that figure for most of the winter. By the time the buds open in April, a tree planted in November has had five months to anchor itself and is ready to support its own leaves. The same tree planted in May spends its first summer in a state of stress, drinking from a root ball that cannot keep up.

Dormant planting is also when bare-root stock is available. A bare-root tree is dug from the nursery field with no pot and no compost, which makes it cheaper, lighter to post, and quicker to root out into the surrounding soil because there is no change of texture at the edge of a root ball. Our guide to planting a fruit tree covers the method step by step.

The one real limit is the ground itself. You cannot plant into soil that is waterlogged or frozen solid. Both happen in a wet Irish winter, but rarely for long, and a bare-root plant will wait a week or two heeled into a spare corner or kept in its packaging in a cold shed.

Five Rules for Winter Planting

• The squelch test. If water rises into your footprint when you stand on the bed, wait. Planting into saturated soil smears the sides of the hole and suffocates the roots.

• Never into frozen ground. A thin crust of frost is fine once broken through; a frozen hole is not.

• No fertiliser in the hole. Dormant roots cannot use it and strong feed can burn them. Mulch on top instead, and feed in spring if the soil is poor.

• Stake trees, not shrubs. A short stake on the windward side, angled at 45 degrees, holds the roots still while they knit. Remove it after two years.

• Water in once, then leave it. One full watering can settles the soil round the roots. After that, winter rain does the job.

November

November opens the bare-root season, and it is the best month of the four for trees because the soil is still warm from summer. Plant apples, plums, damsons, hazels, chestnuts and walnuts now, along with native hedging and windbreaks. Berry bushes go in the same way: black, red and white currants, gooseberries, blackberries, tayberries and aronia all establish faster from a November planting than a March one. Our edible hedge guide covers spacing for a mixed hedge.

Garlic goes in this month too. Ordinary garlic cloves and elephant garlic need a spell of cold to split into bulbs, and a November planting gives them the longest season. Egyptian walking onions can be planted from their top bulbils now as well, and they will be the first green onion you pick in March.

Rhubarb crowns are sold dormant from now until March. A rhubarb crown planted in November with a barrow of compost round it will give a light picking next spring and a full crop the year after. November is also the start of the hardwood cuttings season for currants, gooseberries and elder, and the month to bag fallen leaves for leaf mould.

December

December is a planting month in Ireland whenever the ground is workable, which is most of it. Everything listed for November still applies. The difference is that this is when the pruning season starts for apples, pears, currants and gooseberries. Prune these while fully dormant, from now until the end of February, following our guides to fruit tree pruning and pruning currants and gooseberries.

Do not prune plums, damsons, cherries or any other stone fruit in winter. They are pruned in summer, because winter cuts let in silver leaf disease. Grapes are the one wall fruit to prune now, in December or January, because they bleed sap if cut once growth starts. Figs wait until spring, and kiwis are pruned in late winter and again in summer.

Use the quiet weeks to order. The best bare-root trees sell out by January, and a tree ordered in December is planted in the best conditions of the year.

January

January is the peak of bare-root season and the month most nurseries lift the bulk of their stock. Trees and hedging planted now still have three months of root growth before leaf-out. If a cold snap freezes the ground, heel plants into a trench of loose soil at an angle, cover the roots, and plant properly when it thaws.

Indoors, January is the start of the growing year. Set seed potatoes, including our purple potato, in egg boxes on a cool windowsill to chit for a March planting. Clean and sharpen tools, and wash pots and trays before the sowing rush in March. In the garden, finish winter pruning of apples and pears, and cut autumn-fruiting raspberries to the ground.

It is also the month to plan. A food forest or a perennial bed laid out on paper in January, with the plants ordered in February, will be in the ground by March. If you want the full design method, from site plan to plant list, it is all in The Complete Food Forest Blueprint.

February

February is the last reliable month for bare-root trees and the first month for crowns and tubers. Plant the last of the fruit trees and hedging early in the month. From mid February, as the soil starts to warm, plant asparagus crowns in a trench, Jerusalem artichoke tubers 15 cm deep, and rhubarb if you have not already. Our Jerusalem artichoke guide covers spacing and containing them.

Perennial vegetables sold as plants can go in from late February on a mild day: perennial kale, skirret, Good King Henry, sea beet and sorrel. The full list is in our perennial vegetables guide. Horseradish roots and comfrey root cuttings go in from the end of February into March.

Late February is tomato and chilli sowing time on a warm windowsill, eight weeks before they can go into an unheated tunnel. Dark Galaxy tomato seed sown in the last week of February is ready to plant out in late April under cover. Outdoor sowing waits for March.

What to Hold Back Until Spring

Some plants are better left until the soil warms. Yacon, oca and anything frost tender goes in during May. Pot-grown rosemary, thyme, sage and lavender establish better from an April planting, because a wet winter straight after planting can rot them. Strawberries are fine in either autumn or spring. Figs, kiwis, grapes and pomegranates sold in pots are best planted in March or April, so they have a full summer to settle before their first winter.

Seeds sown outdoors in February in Ireland mostly rot. Wait for March, and for the soil to feel warm to the back of your hand, before direct sowing anything.

FAQ: Winter Planting

Can you plant trees in December in Ireland? Yes. Bare-root trees can be planted on any day from November to March when the soil is neither frozen nor waterlogged, and December is often milder and drier than February. The only reason to wait is the state of the ground on the day.

What vegetables can I plant in winter? Garlic and elephant garlic in November, walking onions in autumn, rhubarb crowns from November, and asparagus crowns, Jerusalem artichoke tubers and perennial vegetable plants from mid February. Annual vegetables wait until March, except broad beans and peas sown under cover in late winter.

Is it too late to plant bare-root trees in February? No. February is the last full month of the bare-root season and trees planted then still establish well. Order early in the month, plant within a week of delivery, and water once in dry spells in April and May.

Should I prune fruit trees in winter? Apples, pears, currants, gooseberries and grapes, yes, between December and the end of February. Plums, damsons, cherries and all stone fruit, no: prune those in summer to avoid silver leaf. Figs are pruned lightly in spring once the risk of hard frost has passed.

What if the ground is frozen when my trees arrive? Keep them in their packaging, roots wrapped, in a cold shed or garage out of the wind for up to a week. For longer, heel them into a trench of loose soil at an angle and cover the roots. Plant properly as soon as the ground thaws.

Planting This Winter?

Earthling Plants lifts and ships bare-root fruit trees, nut trees and perennial vegetables from our nursery in Co. Wicklow throughout the dormant season, to Ireland, the UK and the EU. Order the trees first, because they go in earliest, and add the crowns and tubers for February.

Related reading: Planting a fruit tree like a pro · How to take hardwood cuttings · How to grow garlic