Winter Gardening
I guess I’m not really a gardening nut. I just have a few small flower beds and I haven’t even planted a veggie garden yet (although I hope to do that someday soon). But I sure do enjoy my time in the garden. It’s a form of relaxation/exercise that combines many of the things that I enjoy into one hobby.
During the winter months, that hobby is dramatically reduced. Dramatically. Toward January/February, I begin to feel quite forlorn. Especially when a couple of feet of snow cover the ground, and I have to put on my hubbies’ big boots just to take veggie scraps out to the compost heap (which I built with my own two hands last fall – thank you very much!).
At this time of year, indoor gardening, although not quite as fulfilling as the sink-your-hands-into-the-earth, dirt-under-the-fingernails, get-an-aching-back involvement of the outdoor variety, is definitely a lifesaver, and can do a good job of tiding me over until the next growing season (or at least until I’m growing some seedlings to plant in the spring).
Enter (tum ta da tum!) – windowsill herbs!
Ali and Brett, my sister-in-law and her hubby, gave me a little windowsill herb kit for my birthday (thanks, guys! I’ll send you a real thank-you note soon!). They bought the cutest windowsill pot set – 3 pots with a shared tray – and sent them along with three garden in a bag herb kits.
These things make great gifts! I should know :) You can give them on their own (the bag can act as the “pot”), or with a pretty pot. The bags contain the soil and a packet of seeds, as well as what they call “drainage discs”, which confused me until I realized they were talking about the packing peanuts that were in the bag (since the bags don’t have holes in the bottom, I guess this helps keep the soil from getting soggy if you overwater a bit).
In addition to my windowsill garden, my little bonsai tree (Buddie), has helped with the appeasement of my green(ish) thumb.
Buddie was also a gift – from my brother and sister-in-law. He likes to be pampered. And since that’s what I like to do, well, I think we have a match! I give Buddie a little spray bath once a week to help him humidify (sometimes more since our house gets so dry in the winter). I also check him once a day or so to make sure that his soil is moist. There isn’t a lot of it so it gets dried out easily.
How about you? Do you get antsy for green things during the winter months? How do you cope?
I got a seed catalog last week. I don’t know if I’ll order anything, but it’s nice to look at the pictures! Also I read today about giving indoor plants a “bath” in the sink. Hold them upside down in mild soapy water, turn them upright and let them sit a few minutes before rinsing them off. Seems like a good idea. But, a lot of my plants are heavy!
Also you can put up a bird feeder. Birds need food this time of year and in the summer they’ll help eat bugs for you. :)
— Amy Jan 14, 04:43 PM #Ah, yes! Browsing is the best! And bathing plants sounds like a great idea, too – at least for smallish ones.
— Anna Jan 14, 07:36 PM #I put up a little “feeder” (it’s really just a bag with holes for the food to poke out), but I think it might have the wrong kind of seed. I got some thistle seed, hoping to attract some finches, but maybe there aren’t many finches around here, because I have yet to see a bird enjoying it. I’ve seen some seed scattered on the snow under the feeder a couple of times, though, so maybe they just wait until I’m not looking. I’d like to get a real bird feeder though.
Awwww… Buddy is very cool looking. It’s good we didn’t get buddy for ourselves, because we would have killed him by now.
And at least you get snow. I am pretty jealous of all the snow you get up there. We haven’t had a lick or snow (or even ice!) yet. On the bright side, It really hasn’t gotten that cold here yet either.
But I’m with you, I hate waiting on projects I want to do.
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