Gardening in the Winter: Don’t Allow the Cold to Stop You from Gardening

The winter months can feel bleak as we long for the sunny days of summer and beautiful days of spring. However, just because you won’t be outside sweating in the garden and listening to the birds chirp doesn’t mean you can’t work on your garden while it snows!

There are many advantages of having plants indoors during the winter. Plants keep the air clean, consume carbon dioxide and creating more oxygen. Having a plant in your bedroom will refresh the air while you sleep. Not to mention, having plants indoors have been known to reduce stress, improve health, and sharpen focus. There have even been studies which proved that hospital patients with plants in their bedrooms have speedier recoveries. That sounds like a sure fire way to beat the winter blues.

While planning for which plants to select for inside, you need to keep a few things in mind. Each plant is different and calls for a different amount of sunlight, temperature, and some have different watering requirements. Make sure you’re keeping this in mind as you pick the plants and place them around your home. Place your plants away from windows and doors to avoid the drafts coming in that could be detrimental to your plant’s health. You also should keep them away from any intense heat sources as well. The days are shorter in the winter and the suns comes in at a lower angle so be weary of plant placement to ensure that they are away from the stove and fireplace but also are getting light. 

Temperatures inside of your home should stay at about 60-70 degrees F.  When purchasing your plants be sure that the container provides adequate drainage holes. Smaller pots with adequate drainage holes could be inserted into ceramic containers or pots that do not have drainage holes. Plants, by nature, are meant to spread out and grow into the ground. During winter months they will be inside in pots so therefore you will need to be careful so that they do not become root bound. A root bound plant is literally a plant whose roots are “bound” by some kind of barrier. Eventually, the leaves will wilt, and then fall off. It will stop producing new leaves and eventually the plant will dry up. 

In order to prevent this, you will need to buy new containers that are about 1.5 larger than the temporary pots that the plants came in originally to allow the plant to grow so as not to become root bound in the container. Soil is a major ingredient while planning for your plantings, you need to be sure to do your research to see if your plants need to be in regular potting soil or if they need to be in special blended potting soil. 

When the plant looks crowded or you see that the roots are extending up to the soil level or through drainage holes you need to re-pot it. When transplanting to another container you need to be sure the container is the same depth as the last pot so the soil can dry out between each watering. If there is too much new soil under the existing roots, there is the possibility that the soil can become waterlogged thereby causing your plant to drown in it’s new pot.

Be sure to check your plant container soil every day to be sure it is not dry or powdery, if so be sure to water enough. When watering the container, apply enough water until you see water in the saucer under the container. That way you know you have watered completely.

Check out what You Buy We Plant is up to this winter by checking out our instagram and be sure to contact us with any questions.

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