I used to dream of sitting by an open fire with CF Mhueling

but she seems to have disappeared from my life. ALAS.

Steve in Baltimore County

I read about gardening. Our library has tons of books on gardening and each year I try to pick a topic that I need to know more about. This year it's trees. Sometimes I break down and buy a book or two if it's something I feel I want to have on hand or I add some to my wish list for family to consider as gifts. Plus, there's always the internet for research on different topics. That keeps me sharp and anxious for next season to start so I can put to use what I've learned over the fall and winter.

I work on composting.

It doesn't usually hit me until after the holidays. I guess around February. Then catalogs start coming and I order whatever seeds I "need" and get them started. Sometimes I do ridiculous things like start snapdragon or lisianthus from seed just to be able to start doing _something_ that early. Needless to say I have alot of failures at the seed sowing but it keeps me occupied :).

I used to buy houseplants, check out piles of gardening books from the library, and haunt whatever garden centers were still open just to breathe in the smell of greenhouse. I bought grow lights, and started seeds and cannas way too early in late winter/early spring.

That wasn't enough either, so finally I got a job as an interior landscaper. Now I garden year round. This year has actually been so busy that I'm a bit relieved the outdoor season is winding down.

Starting with the demise of my early summer crops, I transition over to winter-hardy stuff. I grow mache, garlic, parsnips, kale, and carrots. My garden is almost as full now as it was in July, but with fall/winter crops. I will be picking something or the other and puttering in the garden until it's time to get my indoor starts going for tomatoes and peppers. The only down time is when the ground is 100% frozen, which is usually only a few weeks.

It's not too late to start, now is about the right time to plant garlic!

I just planted garlic. I also bought and planted tiny cuttings of shrubs that I've lusted for -- golden cotinus, harlequin glorybower, daphne, vitex, and some evegreens -- that I probably won't get on a plant exchange and can't grow from seed b/c of variety. By next Fall, these should be larger for me to share something at the swap.

I'm planning my annual wintersowing,

and winterizing some houseplants before bringing them in,

and looking at garden magazines (not catalogs),

and going hiking.

Deepti

I actually tune out a bit. I also work for an interior landscaping company and I like to take a break from outdoor plants in the winter.I feed the birds instead.
That way I feel refreshed for spring and eager to start planting things again.

I don't have an off season.

Still harvesting greens and radishes (and hoping for broccoli), planting bulbs, and making compost/preparing beds. My garlic is up. It is really warm enough here to have something from the garden probably 10 months a year. I will set up a cold frame in February or so to get greens and radishes again.

Just started propagating tender perennials (mostly sages) so the plant lights are on. Also have lots of tender plants inside for the winter to tend. In about 8 weeks, seed starting inside and wintersowing begins. The wintersowing forum really starts hopping about now and is lots of fun.

Now it's time to clean collected seeds and pack them away. I'll soon get my Herb and Flower Seed Exchange (part of SSE) request for listed seeds and will fill that out.

I do most of my seed ordering in fall. Already received my cut flower and ornamentals seed order.

This is a good time to organize your seed collection and see what you need for next year and what you can give away. There are rumors that Mary will hold a seed swap and potluck again this year around February.

Wow Annebert,

I'm curiously trying to figure out where in the Mid-Atlantic you are with citing a zone 6 which I am totally in. Since the last frost dates generally aren't until mid-May, I wonder what types of plants you are sowing seed for in January. Even the early bird perennials and annuals that I know of to start weeks ahead wouldn't be until March! :-) Course having a cold frame helps. Got to build me one...

I work in the greenhouse and in my plant room in the house. It's as big a job as the outdoor gardening, just not nearly as enjoyable. DH moved some plants into the GH but they are all lumped together and need to be spread around. I'll also start some winter sowing in a couple months.
Karyn

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Karyn,
I'm picturing your family seated on the floor of your dining room having Thanksgiving surrounded by foliage. You are a hoot!
Sandra

Right now the dining room doesn't have too many plants but I have seeds drying on the table. I'm having about 15 people over for Thanksgiving dinner. Not quite sure what I'm going to do about that yet. lol
Karyn

I'm thinking you could do a nice centerpiece - drying seeds, gourds, dried flowers - it's all the same, right? ;)

I dry my cannas rhizomes on the dining room table too. It's big and gets nice afternoon sun. They are really gross looking. The family does not find this appetizing.

Too many plants in my dining room and living room too. I have to get the extra junk out of the plant room so the plants can move up there.

Karyn or anyone else, have you ever experimented with predatory insects inside for whiteflies or spider mites? I'm thinking about it this year. Although with no hibiscus, maybe the whiteflies won't be an issue for once.

During the growing season we rely almost completely on beneficial insects as we don't use any pesticides. I've never tried anything specifically for whiteflies. I agree that hibiscus are the biggest whitefly magnets in the world and refuse to keep them in the GH for that reason. We use ladybugs, lacewings and mantises. I also use Bt for my bog gardens.
Karyn

I read in a Ortho Houseplants book that in order to acclimatize indoor plants before bringing them in for winter, one should cover them with clear plastic (like dry cleaning plastic) for 2 weeks so that any bugs on the plants die, and the plant gets used to the lower light inside. They say the plastic creates a mini-greenhouse, so the plants should be ok (which bears with my wintersowing experience).

Any thoughts, anyone?
Deepti

For those inquiring minds, I start geraniums, lisianthus and onions in January. I need the geraniums to be flowering by the time I sell them in May, lisianthus takes a long time to get started, and I want onions that you can't get sets for.

BTW,last frost dates in zone 6 in general are usually end of March - end of April, so I'm not sure why Sujiwan quotes mid May. I'm in the warm pocket near Frederick which is really zone 7 and I usually have plants outside hardening off by late April - and the onions in the ground.

So Anne and KimKa sell plants in the spring.....who else does it and where do you sell?
When the time comes..about how many do you have for sale?
How do you keep them going until they are bought?
Have you winter sown all of your plants?

Bonnie

Hey Anniebert--

To clarify, I do most of my gardening in PA (Adams County) zone 6, north of Frederick by 40+ miles. The rest I do in Westminster, MD.

I've lived here in MD 5 years and have gone by the wisdom of the local plant nursery (Bowmans) more than by Victory Seeds' frost chart--which most of the links on Google guide one to. Here in Westminster, the common wisdom is to wait until May because the last frost of the season is fickle and can occur right up to mid-May. So we wait to put tomatoes in by that date.

Now up in Adams County, also considered in the MidAtlantic zone 6, an examination of the actual last/first frost/freeze records from 1972 to current show that the last frost did not occur sooner than April 20th, but is mostlikely to occur the second week of May--even up to May 20! April is more of a freeze month and we have even had freezes up to May 28!(1994)

So, in either place, I wouldn't dare go by the last frost dates you gave! I hope this explains my position and why I was wondering about your "sanity". Haha. :-)

As for starting plants from seed--every year I tell myself I am going to get the cold loving flowers like Stock begun in time. I hope this year I can break the pattern of not getting to it in time!

Karyn, that's no fair, you have a real greenhouse! (although your 'houseplant' collection is also larger than mine). I have a tiny sunroom, an unheated enclosed porch, that has to expand to take in all the orchids & other stuff that has summered outside, I almost (not really) wished more of them had died, although I have been battling scale for the last year-alcohol, neem, hort oil, systemic, you name it, I've tried it, & I've still lost quite a few plants.
Time to dig up the EE bulbs, & make space in the garage for the larger potted palms, thank goodness the Japanese maples can stay outside...

Gosh, gardening season is year-round for me - this time of year there is lot's to do on those days when it's warm enough to work outside:
- I rake and compost leaves until nearly Christmastime - I have some ornamentals that are late leaf droppers, especially an old japanese maple
- I have endless perennial cleanup to do - I leave many things up for the birds so they can eat the seeds, and then I cut and compost
- This is good time of year to edge the garden beds, because the perennials have died back and you can see the edges better
- This is still a good time to hand-weed the lawn and the beds (I don't use any chemicals on my lawn)
- I cut holly and juniper trimmings and whatnot and bring it inside to decorate the house
- This is good time to clean-out and repaint/repair my birdhouses (I have many of those - I try to encourage wildlife)
- I read garden books...
- I make notes for spring planting...
- Even now (very late november) I am still planting bulbs...
- go visit public gardens in winter - they are beautiful anytime of year and in winter you notice things you never would in spring or summer...
...so, so much to do! - Eric