Every year I experience the phenomenon of the gardening turning point. It is that moment when I no longer love Jack Frost for bringing the season to an end (my knees were achy, my tomatoes full of blight) and I begin to get jazzed about what next season will bring.
I believe the turning point has begun within me, perhaps a little earlier than usual.
Usually it kicks in around the first or second week of January when the seed catalogs (Gurney’s, Burpee, Jung, Seeds of Change, to name a few) start pouring in my mail slot, but I have yet to see the whites of any of their eyes. And on that note, I’m vowing not to order from any of them this year. I vow to not be tempted by their tempting $20 off and their robust photos. Don’t get me wrong, seed catalogs are fabulous and serve their purpose, but after maybe 20 years I have finally accepted that I need to have the plants in pots and visually arrange them in my gardens. I could quite possibly order some seeds.
But the turning point is here. Has it arrived for you?
Categories: Winter Gardening · gardening · northern gardening · seed catalogs
Tagged: gardening, northern gardening, seed catalogs, Winter Gardening
I’ve always wanted to overwinter a geranium plant. While growing up, the minister of our church did in the sunny windows of the Sunday school. The barber shop down the street has big, bountiful blooms in its sun-soaked window. Overwintering a geranium has an old-fashioned charm to it, like hollyhocks and bleeding hearts.
Experts suggest cutting back your plants by one-third to half. I couldn’t do this- too chopped off for interior viewing. I wanted my geraniums to look good on Thanksgiving. So I am taking the vigilant indoor gardening approach. On a nearly daily basis I pick off yellowing leaves or any leaves that are etoliating themselves too high toward the distant sky. I will continue to do so to help in forming a fat, bushy fellow.
And I have my babies in the sunniest window I have- a south facing trio on my dining room buffet. Thus far I am erring on the damp side. I re-potted the plants in a new soil and pots and created a very well-drained situation.
I am witnessing noticeable daily growth and the process is really keeping my gardening spirit alive. As a matter of fact, sometimes I think how nice and manageable it would be to tend this tiny of a plot in the summer.
It will be nice to move these old friends outside next spring.
Categories: Geraniums · Winter Gardening
Tagged: gardening, Geraniums, houseplants, northern gardening, overwintering geraniums
