Going for the Greens

With changes in all kinds of circumstances at home, I needed to be creative in my garden plans this year. I decided to give planting indoors from seeds and then transplanting outside in May or June another try. I punched holes in the bottoms of 12 clean yogurt containers, then slipped them into hole-less containers for proper drainage. I filled each with soil and dug out my stash seeds.

I used up all the tomato seeds (five varieties) in my stash. I didn't even know if any of them would grow. I think only one package was from last year; most were from up to a decade ago. My baby tomato plants might now be sold for at least $2.99 apiece in a garden center! Look how much money I'm saving!

I could not believe I didn't have a single pepper seed anywhere. I actually had to order fresh seeds. That cost almost as much as buying a couple of mature pepper plants in May! (And I should have enough seeds to last at least five years!) My new seeds arrived Saturday, so they're a bit later start than the tomato seeds, but I've never had trouble growing peppers from seeds. I'm not worried at all.

I, meanwhile, have been planting all my potato eyes all winter long, and I've been planting the bottoms of every onion I've used for the last year. Last year's seeds from onions I allowed to go to seed are coming up, also, and, tee hee hee, onions deter critters. A couple of carrots went to seed last year (as did some cilantro, basil, oregano and dill), and the seeds are beginning to sprout in the outdoor raised-bed gardens, even though we got more snow last week! My herbs perturb bunnies, and that's a joy to my soul. My volunteer rhubarb from last year is already making a raised-bed garden appearance, and it's keeping bunnies away from that box. The lavender, mint and sage are all starting to show fresh new green, and they deter critters. My indoor microgreens have been going strong for several months now. It's going to be a fresh, homegrown salad summer!

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Pretty as a Pumpkin

I've long said the pumpkin spice I make at home is so much better than any pumpkin spice item I buy at the store. But I buy fresh pumpkins only around Halloween. And I've yet to successfully grow a pumpkin.

On Halloween Day, we found half-price pumpkins at the home improvement store we had to visit for light bulbs. I bought the three ugliest pumpkins, and I put them on our porch in time for trick-or-treaters. I'm not sure anyone noticed, but I liked having them.

Now the pink one has been sliced, baked, blended and spiced. I even added mango habanero spice to the third batch. YUM!

I forgot to snap a photo of the pink pumpkin, which actually wasn't so ugly. I did snap the blue one, and it will be the next pumpkin in my oven!

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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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