5 Things to do During the Winter to Ease your Gardening Blues

1. Take inventory-  go through last years seeds and take an inventory, see what you've got and what needs to be ordered. I make a list of the seeds I have and how many are left so I know what needs to get ordered and also so I know what needs to get planted first before any new seeds.

2.  Order seeds-  one of my favorite things to do is go through the all of the gorgeous seed catalogs with a sharpie and circle all of the seeds I want to try out. I always go over board and more than half of the 6 catalogs have been circled and then I've got to go back and narrow it down some and still way over order, there could be worse things I suppose. 

3.  Organize seeds-  This was one project that my OCD was craving for quite some time now. For the past few years my seed packets have been unceremoniously been jammed into the paper bag in which I purchased them from and stored that way, making it very hard to see what I had for seeds and how much was left. Not to mention it definitely is not the best way to store seeds leaving them open to the elements.  So I've decided to organize and label them in a sealed Tupperware container to make them less susceptible to the surrounding atmosphere. I also color coded them to the time they need to be started and planted and organized them alphabetically and by type, veggie, fruit, or flower. Now my mind is at ease knowing exactly what I have for seeds and where they are and how much I have of them and when they need to be started and planted, it's pretty great.

4.  Create a garden plan-  This one is actually not my fortes. Every year I make one by the time it actually comes to planting it all goes out the window. The one thing that I have stuck to however is the planning of my raised beds and the placement of my garden beds, the placement of plants is a different story. I always inter-plant differing species and find the by the time everything is to its true size that I've planted things far to close to one another. So this year I'm going to actively try and plan out my spacing better and figure out some more companion planting to help minimize pest issues. We're also adding some more beds and getting a new fence so putting it on paper will be helpful to see the whole picture. You can do this the old fashioned way like I usually do on paper or there are some pretty cool garden planing apps for your phone or tablet out there now that you can always check out too.

5.  Start seeds-  Starting your own seeds indoors is a great way to ease those gardening blues and help you save money. Buying plants that have been starting can add up real fast and let's face it there really isn't much variety usually out there for them either. When you start your own you choose what varieties to plant and you know exactly where they came from and what was used when starting them. Plus you get to put your hands in the dirt and have the joy of watching them grow. Starting them indoors without a greenhouse can be somewhat of a challenge and can leave your starts off to a bad start because without proper light they can become spindly and can die due to dampening off. So having adequate lighting, humidity levels, air circulation, and not over watering are key to healthy plant starts but are a small price to pay.

Hope this gets you through till spring!!

~Megan~