Gardening in Winter

It may be cold, but it takes more than single-digit temperatures and blankets of white to keep my garden from thriving.


My six pepper plants, including one dual-armed ghost pepper stalk, may not be producing chile for my cuisine right now, but boy, they are a bloomin'! I was pinching the scores of new blossoms every day, but they still fall off after a couple of days of being gorgeous. I was told to try Q-tipping the blossoms instead of pinching and to pull them away from the living room window, which might be a tad too cold for peppers to form. I moved the peppers three feet from the window at Christmas and began using a cotton swab instead of my fingers to help pollinate. Nothing yet, but I keep trying.


Two of the three hoya plants pulled a fast one, too!


The big surprises of this winter, so far, have been the bowl of hyacinths I didn't get a chance to put in the ground before our first big snow (18 inches at our house back in November!), the rosemary plant closest to the living room window, and one of two strawberry plants I rescued from the porch before our first overnight freeze. I didn't expect any of these to produce winter blossoms.


Both strawberry plants bloomed in November, and although I've now surrendered one plant due to indominable spider mites, the second one is busy brewing me another bite-sized breakfast.


The amaryllises are late, but who cares when the blossoms could last well into March???


African daisies have been outshining the traditional larkspur in my living room this year. I've had indoor larkspur almost every year since we bought our house ten years ago. This winter, I can't keep the larkspur alive. The Cape Marigold African daisies have been rubbing my nose in it -- in a good way, of course.


I've tried my hand and failed with clove seedlings. I wish I could keep one clove tree alive. The aroma when lightly touching a leaf is out of this world.


I'm still working on a pineapple direct from Hawaii. My boss who brought the original pineapple to me as a souvenir five years ago keeps asking if I've noticed a blue flower yet. The day I do, there's going to be a huge photographic spread here at Snowcatcher!!!


In 2020, I've added lemon seeds to the collection. I can't believe I'm growing little lemon trees in a plastic cup inside a plastic at work! The first plastic cup has holes poked in the bottom so the soil can drain, and the second cup holds the drainage until the soil gets thirsty again. I will soon transplant them into their own individual terracotta pots. I'm going to try growing one at home, now, too, because watching these little babies sprout has been springtime in my winter!


My first batch of 2020 seeds has arrived, and I'm going to start the corn indoors this year. A late start and a short growing season in 2019 resulted in six Barbie doll-sized ears of corn by first snow.


I've also convinced Lizard to try sprouts and microgreens this winter. I'm going to try to get the hyacinth bulbs into the ground this weekend before our next snow, and then the hyacinth bowl is going to be converted to its original purpose... an indoor salad bowl garden!

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