Alive and green. At this time of year, all I want is a plant that’s alive and green. I’m desperate for an actual leaf (not a conifer’s needle). Flowers would be nice too.
January is a hard time for gardeners. Planning and ordering seeds and plants, spiffing up the garden tools and flower pots—it’s all necessary, but almost none of it involves actual plants. Sometimes you just want to touch a leaf, admire a flower. It’s for January that I grow so many houseplants.
Our gardens are sleeping, waiting for the warmth of spring. Here in Colorado there’s not much a gardener can do this time of year—or is there? If gardening is your passion, you can always find something garden-y to feed your soul!
Travel. It’s hard to leave our flowers and veggies during the growing season. Weeds put on a growth spurt the moment we leave town, zucchini grows to humongous size, and our favorite perennial blooms and fades while we’re gone. In winter, the garden lingers in a state of suspended animation. We’re free to leave knowing everything will be more or less the same when we get back.
The holidays are over, winter has settled in. The reawakening of spring is so far away, it might as well be never. In spite of our best attempts at landscaping for “winter interest,” let’s face reality. A garden full of dead grass, dried stems, and bare limbs is drab, boring, and gloomy.
Sure, winter isn’t all bad. It’s nice to have time to relax while the weeds sleep. The mower is idle, pots are empty, and not a whole lot needs doing. Still, if you’re as enthusiastic about gardening as I am, January can be a bit depressing.
Brrrrr. I woke up this morning to -17 degrees (that’s Fahrenheit!), and the weather folks are predicting cold and more cold. While I ventured out to refill the bird feeders, and I need to dig out the car later (something about mailing Christmas gifts), for the most part I can snuggle up at home, with the thermostat in the 60s and a cup of warm tea defrosting me from the inside out.
The birds aren’t so lucky.
To refresh your memory, here is the photo from November’s Bird Quiz. It was taken in Colorado during the month of December. Don’t read any further if you want one last chance to identify this bird.
As nighttime temperatures dip into the teens, I have to face the fact that I won’t be outside gardening any time soon. Happily, a good part of my garden lives in my house with me. After a busy summer (punctuated by fire, hail, and floods), I finally have time to give my houseplants the attention they deserve.
Unless the plants are in dire straits, I prefer to wait on repotting until spring. Then, the longer days, larger pot, and fresh potting mix combine to encourage new growth. Except for the plants that are winter bloomers (Christmas cactus, some orchids), at this time of year I give my plants a rest by cutting back on fertilizer and watering just enough to keep the soil moist.
To refresh your memory, here is the photo from February’s Bird Quiz. It was taken in Texas during the month of January. Don’t read any further if you want one last chance to identify this bird.
Now that the winter’s first hard freezes have arrived, fresh homegrown produce is in short supply. The season my be over for frost-tender summer squash, vine-ripened tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, but with some preparation, you can enjoy at least one crop that can be harvested from mid-summer through fall and winter, until the days start to warm again. There’s nothing like going out to the garden in December, brushing off some snow, carefully digging into the cold soil, and pulling up some crisp, bright orange carrots!
It’s the beginning of a new year, and time to dream about the upcoming growing season. Do you want to add some permanent plantings? Are you imagining flower beds brimming with annuals? Will you be buying from catalogs? (Get that order in early before they run out of that must-have variety.)
With the Christmas decorations packed away for another year, I finally have time to take a deep breath, brew a cup of tea, and begin to think about spring. I start by making a list of topics, and then mark down what will need doing, and when.
With the bustle of Christmas over and the new year just ahead, it’s time to take stock of our lives, and that includes our gardens. Now, when the ground is frozen, plants dormant, and hopefully under an insulating blanket of snow, we have time to catch our collective breath and consider our garden from a broader perspective.
Let’s start with the positive. What worked this year? What do we want to do again? In my garden, I trialed a new variety of carrot (my old standby was no longer available). It was an unqualified success. ‘Prodigy’ is a terrific carrot, a uniform bright orange and amazingly tender considering how huge each root is. I cooked the ones I’ve pulled so far (the rest are tucked under mulch in the garden, waiting their turn), and they were tender and delicious. I intend to grow it again.
Mountain Plover 