Winter Gardening Indoors
by Roger Tagg

Description: Tips for gardening indoors during the winter months.

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Gardening doesn't mean that you have to limit your green thumb to the spring, summer, and fall months of the year. When it comes to growing things you can just as easily garden in the winter as you can at any other time of the year. Winter gardening means that you can enjoy green plants on your window sill even while there is snow on the ground. True, most plants go into a period of sleep during the colder winter months. Blossoms fall off and leaves turn brown. But there are several things that you can do so that you enjoy green foliage and blossoms throughout the winter months. All it takes is a few tips and a bit of patience.

It's important to remember not to over-water your plants. When plants are in a dormant (a resting period) they need less water, even if they appear brown and dry. Over- watering indoor winter plants result in dropping leaves. When you winter garden, you have to adapt the way you water your plants.

Release some moisture into your home air if at all possible. This will help both your houseplants and you. Ways to accomplish this are with a humidifier, or boiling a pot of water and letting it simmer on the stovetop. Moist air ensures that your plants won't become too dry.

There are some plants that just won't make it through a winter. Some of these are Gloxinia, Chrysanthemum, and Cyclamen. Instead of trying to change mother nature, focus on other plants that will like the winter better. When you buy a new plant, learn all that you can about it. Look for how much water and light will make it happy and healthy, so that you can care for it correctly. The more you do right, the better your chances are for having beautiful blossoms in winter.

You may find that there is more of a bug problem during winter gardening than during the other months of the year. If you find bugs on your indoor plants make sure you find out what measures you need to take for each particular plant before applying just any kind of chemical. Try to encourage as much light in your home as possible when you are winter gardening. For plants that require a lot of sunlight make sure to find a window that gets the most winter sun during the shorter days.

If you find that you are having little luck when it comes to winter gardening and producing the blooms that you want you can always resort to a terrarium. A terrarium will be easy to keep with cacti and other plants such as herbs, ferns, orchids, and other plants with green foliage.

Reprinted with permission.

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