Ten Minute Gardening

Here we are in the middle of another Canadian winter. The ground is frozen. The snow is at least a foot deep, even deeper in some areas of the yard. The trees are bare, the gardens hidden. As I walk through the yard, I notice the rabbits have been feasting on several of the trees and shrubs. Including the cutleaf Japanese maple we purchased last October! And as always, the roses and japonica have also been pruned by the rabbits. This year though, they seem to have taken a shine to the curly willow growing beside the greenhouse. And that’s okay. Everything will grow back with only a little re-shaping required.

While in the fall, I do remove the spent annuals I do not deadhead perennials. I prefer to leave the seed heads for the birds that visit our yard. As spring grows nearer, we’ll put bird feeders out to help our winged visitors through the nesting season.

Seed catalogues are piling up and I’m forcing myself not to look at them too much lest I be tempted to over spend and over plant. Not that I have the room for overplanting anymore, Economics has made maintaining our hobby greenhouse rather difficult. In other words, heating it throughout late winter and early spring months has become “cost prohibitive”.  Last year I attempted to grow seedlings in a lighted plant stand with mixed results. The lack of humidity was the biggest reason the plants did not fare well. Then there was the light. Or should I say lack of light. Despite the grow lights, the seedlings all became too spindly. Pinching and pruning didn’t help much. The other thing that didn’t work well in the plant stand was vines! I love flowering annual vines such as mina lobata, cardinal vine, canary vine. And no matter how hard I tried to keep them separated, I couldn’t. What a mess!  I will try again this year to grow seedlings in the plant stand. In a pre-emptive move,   I have purchased a roll of clear plastic to make a humidity cover for the stand. That has to help! I’ll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, the houseplants are receiving my attention. They are being watered regularly, fertilized (at half strength), brown tips and leaves are kept to a minimum, and the plants that need some shaping are getting just that. They seem to be pretty grateful for the extra care as they are looking much healthier than when I brought them back into the house after a summer outside. The bougainvillea that hung outdoors all last summer in all its green glory finally decided to show some colour this month.  The spider plant is producing dozens of babies. Not bad considering I purchased three little spider plants for $ .75  last fall  during the season-end clearance sales. They were in 3” pots and all leaves. I potted them together in a 10” hanging basket and waited. My patience has been rewarded.