Fussy Plant and New Container with Sweat Peas
With the blast of cold air last week, my tender outdoor plants are coming inside for the winter, so my attention has turned toward container gardening for the winter. Apart from the large tropical plants, I have some sweet pea seeds and some lettuce that I think will work well in containers if I can get them sufficient light.
My plan right now is to sow the seeds and let them germinate inside, then in the mild weather that generally follows the first cold snap, I will put them out onto the sunny deck. I truly think that fresh breezes and natural rainfall are much better for plants than the sometimes stale air that is prevalent in many homes during the winter, so if they can stay outside for another week or two we will all keep our sanity.
The beauty of container gardening is that you can bring the container in when foul weather occurs and take it back outside when mild weather returns. Of course this can only be done if the container is not too large. To help move the larger containers around I want to buy one of those plastic crates on wheels and put the larger containers into that.
In general I have found that light is the biggest problem. Some areas where we have lived, the number of sunny days is depressingly low, so extra light was needed. Now that we are in the south, I hope to find a window that will give sufficient light without using plant lights. Growing sweet peas and salad greens will also help because neither of these need the 12-plus hours of direct sunshine that some plants need. Less than ideal conditions lead to weak plants which tend to be more susceptible to bug and health problems, so using plants that cope with low light and keeping everything outside as long as possible, should help me get some color and a few fresh salad greens throughout the winter months. Container gardening in winter is a challenge, but the results will be worth it.
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