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So, the weekend comes, you've got a gardening To Do List as long as your arm...and it's raining, snowing or maybe even both. Fortunately for gardeners, there's always a side project waiting or an inside chore that needs doing. Here are ten ways to pass the time if you can't spend it outside gardening:
1. Clean your Tools:
First, use a stiff brush to remove excess dirt, and then scrub off rust with steel wool. Spray or wipe on lubricating oil before storing in a dry area.
2. Clean your pots:
If you're like me, your garage and patio are littered with empty plant pots of varying sizes. Dump the excess dirt into the compost pile, rinse the pots with water (or a mild bleach solution, if you suspect fungal disease was present in the pot), scrub with a stiff brush and allow to air dry. Arrange and stack pots according to size, and store.
3. Tend to your houseplants:
Polish large leaved-plants with a soft cloth soaked in a mild solution of water and stale beer. If you want leaves to really shine, use a commercial plant-polishing product. Waxes and oils tend to block plant pores and attract dust, though, so watch out for those. Repot those plants that need it. Keep all indoor plants away from cold drafts and hot furnace vents during the winter.
4. Clean out old chemicals:
Determine which pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, etc., are ready to be thrown out. (Most will last about two years.) Check with your local solid waste management authority, environmental agency, or health department to find out whether your community has a household hazardous waste collection program or a similar program for getting rid of unwanted, leftover pesticides. Whatever you do, please DON'T pour products -- even organic ones -- down the sink, into the toilet, or down a sewer or street drain. And don't re-use empty containers - just throw them away.
5. Go through your seeds:
Seeds more than two years old should probably be thrown away. If you're not sure, test their viability by folding a few seeds in a wet paper towel and laying the towel someplace warm for a few days, ensuring it remains damp. If the seeds germinate, they're obviously still ok. The best way to store seeds is in screw-lid jars or in zip-top plastic baggies.
6. Start a scrapbook:
Go through old gardening magazines and cut out favorite pictures, articles, growing tips, etc., then organize them and paste in a scrapbook. This can actually be a winter-long project if you've got stacks and stacks of gardening magazines like I do.
7. Learn something new:
Interested in making a hypertufa container but not sure where to start? Want to learn the basics of designing an attractive container arrangement? Get on the Internet and do some searching. There's a world of resources out there.
8. Feed the Birds:
Be sure your backyard friends are taken care of. Make your own suet cakes by mixing bacon grease with peanut butter and birdseed. Participate in the Christmas Bird Count this year, which starts on December 14. Visit the Audubon website for more details:
9. Start a garden journal:
Keeping records of what works and what doesn't is invaluable in gardening. Taking pictures of your landscape throughout the seasons is also helpful in determining how to tweak here and there. Online gardening journals and blogs are becoming more and more popular, not only for keeping track of your own garden, but to share it with other gardeners across the planet. Most blogging sites make it easy to compose and post entries, as well as pictures.
10. Visit your local nursery:
Treat yourself to a new houseplant, garden book or some new gardening tools. You know you've worked hard all year...go for it! Or, spread the joy of gardening and buy something garden-related for a loved one. Plants make great gifts for any occasion.
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About Tamara Galbraith
I am an avid organic gardener and certified Master Gardener for Collin County, Texas (that's North Dallas).
Despite those lofty titles, I still manage to kill stuff on a regular basis. My gardening experiences are periodically chronicled on my blog at: http://can-u-dig-it.blogspot.com
Posted by CompostR (from south central, PA) on January 14, 2008 at 1:55 PM:
Thanks for your list of good stuff to do - it helps fill that hungry gardener gap when the wait for spring seems eternal.
But I'm a little worried about your bird suggestion - isn't bacon grease too salty? I would think peanut butter is a little better, but that has some extra sodium also. Just wondering.
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Posted by TexasTam (from Plano, TX) on January 15, 2008 at 2:43 PM:
Hi CompostR - That's a great question. I've not seen anything about bacon grease being bad for birds due to salt, but I'll look around the Web to see if that's addressed anywhere. For myself, I only cook reduced salt bacon and I do mix it with pb when making my suet, but others may not.
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Subject: Something forgotten
Posted by CountryGardens (from Lewisville, MN) on January 12, 2008 at 2:24 PM:
Least we forget looking through the pretty seed catalogs, (or online), & ordering way to many things. LOL!
Bernie
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Posted by TexasTam (from Plano, TX) on January 12, 2008 at 3:03 PM:
I hear ya Bernie. I always feel sorry for the postman this time of year - I am being inundated with wonderfully fat plant and seed catalogs!
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Posted by planolinda (from Plano, TX) on January 12, 2008 at 5:22 PM:
texas tam--i live in plano too! this nice weather so far has made it hard not to just continue gardening this year!! i guess the one thing i would add is tending to a compost pile--getting that rich compost ready for planting time! thanks for a good article
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Posted by TexasTam (from Plano, TX) on January 15, 2008 at 2:39 PM:
I know it, Linda - I would love if every winter was like this one...although we usually have it pretty good down here on average. Thanks for the compost reminder - I need to give my pile a few pokes! :)
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Subject: Great reminders, thanks!
Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on January 12, 2008 at 12:26 PM:
Boy, there are a lot of tasks on that list I need to catch up on! In particular, my "plant pharmacy" shelf needs a good overhaul!
I do keep seeds longer than two years. With a few exceptions (parsnips, I think, are an example), seeds remain viable for quite a few years as long as they're stored properly (dry, at controlled room temp), although germination percentages may decline. Testing germination as you suggest is an excellent idea! That way, you're not scrambling to find fresh seed if something fails to come up.
For anybody interested in making suet cakes, I put my favorite all-season peanut butter suet recipe in this article, [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]
Thanks for a good article to get us through those rainy, rather-be-gardening days!
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Posted by Islandshari (from Kwajalein
(Marshall Islands)) on January 12, 2008 at 2:45 PM:
Good reminders! These are things that always need to be done, but they're not the "fun" part of gardening. Well timed article.
Yokwe,
Shari
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Posted by Sofonisba (from Putnam County, NY) on January 14, 2008 at 12:21 PM:
I agree! Great reminders!
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Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on January 14, 2008 at 12:29 PM:
Today's article about making a rain barrel gives us yet another good "rainy day" project! As a bonus, you'll need to go to a place like Home Depot for those plumbing fittings... and I'm sure you'll manage to walk through the plant department on your way to the plumbing department... who knows what else may jump into your cart?
:-)
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Subject: Fun ideas
Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on January 12, 2008 at 2:43 AM:
This is a nice article. I particularly like the scrapbook idea since I spend a lot of winter days looking at gardens in magazines and wondering if I could do something similar. By the time spring rolls around, I have forgotten what I was planning. If I had kept these ideas all together in a scrapbook I would not have had that problem.
Thank you.
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Posted by doccat5 (from Fredericksburg, VA) on January 12, 2008 at 7:30 AM:
Great article. I too like the idea of a scrapbook. Great way to keep track of the yes-no-maybesoes in the garden. Thanks for sharing :)
