Garden Gab

With so many folks returning to gardening as a favorite hobby, it’s really not such a big surprise that in the past year the number one special request for new homebuyers has been for the addition of a potting room.  There is so much equipment: tools, seeds, soils, compost bins, etcetera, that potting, even for indoor plants has become a major part of gardening enjoyment.

Gardeners, like all artists, enjoy a creative space seperate from everyday chores and hassles.  A potting room is not an extravagant addon as it requires little space and only a few special features, so it makes sense that even in tough times, this little luxury is a much appreciated escape.

But for those homeowners who are not planning any renovations or additions, a potting room is still within your grasp.  One of the beauties of a potting room is that it can be comfortably housed in a multipurpose room like a craft or laundry room, garage, shed or even outdoors.

The main items you will want to highlight in any potting room are:

• Light.  Since you will probably be starting seedlings in your space, ample light, whether from a sunny window or provided artificially, is crucial.
• Shelf, bin and work table space.  Be creative: you don’t need a large sprawling area, utilise trellises to hang gardening tools or build pot shelves, create deep cabinets beneath your work station to roll large bins of soil, fertilizer or even your compost heap in and out.  If you are in a larger area, such as a garage or laundry room where the wall space is all full, build a rolling island instead, so you can easily move your station when needed.
• Non permeable floor.  This might be a challenge in older houses, but you have many options available.  A garage will most likely have a cement floor that only needs to be painted with a sealer so it can be quickly hosed off.  An indoor space can be tiled or laid with linoleum to provide a quick water proof floor for heavy duty use.
• Access to water.  Whether indoors or out, access to a sink or hose are crucial, and the closer you can bring the water source to your work station, the better.

These four simple things can create  a gardening oasis for you.  Most potting rooms center around the sink or water source, since it is usually the most immovable factor due to plumbing requirements.  Start with a large one- you will want one that you can submerge most of your pots in for quick watering or cleaning.  In the long run, a stainless steel sink will serve you better for heavy duty garden projects than other materials, but don’t skimp.  If you choose one extravagant thing about your potting room, let it be your sink- you’re going to be spending a lot of time there, so make it comfortable and attractive for yourself.

We like this utility sink from http://www.remodelista.com especially for it's width and double faucet feature (one for the hose, one for the sink!)

Build your room around this feature, adding shelf and storage spaces around it and in the same style.  Don’t forget the ceiling!  Hanging pots, shelving ladders or drying flowers and herbs from the ceiling can save you much needed ground space.  Remember, this is a creative space and needs to reflect your style and comfort level so you will want to come in and enjoy it.  Add a nice chair or stool (patio furniture works great for this, it’s a snap to clean up) and decorate your surroundings with garden tiles, photos from your garden, or vintage seed packets (we found some like these at an auction, but they are also available online).

Vintage Seed packets highlight beautiful artistic renderings of fruit and flowers

Finally, add a small cork board and magazine rack to keep your seed catalogs, future plans, a planting calendar and other bits of inspiration to keep your gardening art thriving.

Taking cuttings from your plants or dividing perennials to make a personal, thoughtful gift for friends can seem daunting but it is actually very simple and can be done with just a few basic tools and a few minutes of preparation.

Taking Cuttings

To take cuttings you will need:

• Seeding soil (this is the best mix to give young cuttings for quick growth and to eliminate the risk of disease)
• Sharp garden clippers (dull clippers will crush the plant rather than making a clean cut)
• A warm, moist container such as a terrarium or cloche

If you are new to cuttings, start with either a houseplant that has long thrived under your care or a plant with a semi-woody stem, as these will give you the most success. A plant that is losing its leaves or is long and lanky rather than bushy probably will suffer if you take a cutting or the cutting could be malnourished or diseased. Woody stems are harder to crush and usually snip easily.

Look at the top or newest leaves of your plant. About 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch below the leaf node, or where the leaf seperates from the stem, snip the plant stem. This is your cutting. You can place it in a glass of warm water for a few hours to stimulate it, but don’t leave it longer, as new roots formed in water will experience root shock and collapse when planted. Plant your cutting in loose, very damp soil. Place in a warm sunny place and cover with a cloche (or plant inside a terrarium).

Roots should begin to form within 1-2 weeks, but slow growing plants may not be ready for transplant for a month.

Dividing Perennials

To divide perennials you will need:

• A flower pot filled with soil or a hole in the garden for the new plant to go (do this before everything else, you want to get the plant into soil as quickly as possible
• A cutting or prying tool, such as a hand axe, saw or pitchfork
• A sharp spade or shovel

When a perennial has outgrown a pot or space in your garden, or when it develops a dead space in the center of the plant, it is time to divide it. Not only does this make another plant, it also helps both halves survive longer and be more healthy. The day before you decide to divide the plant, cut back the leaves about halfway (this will make the newly divided plant do less work to maintain itself. This is also why some gardeners prefer fall as a dividing time, because they will be cutting back leaves and tidying up anyway) and really soak the roots.

On the division day, try to start in the morning when the day is still cool, the exposed roots will dry out much slower than in the afternoon (even crisp fall days can turn hot in the afternoon). Starting in a wide circle around the base of the plant, roughly 4 inches out from the base, cut the soil about six inches with a sharp spade or shovel. Once you have completed cutting the circle, gently insert the shovel on an angle and try to lift the plant. If it is somewhat loose, work it out of the ground and lift the plant clean to the top of the soil. If the plant really resists, try digging the circle a little deeper, you want to get as much of the root ball as possible. Don’t shake out the roots, try to keep as much soil as possible around the roots to keep it from drying out.

When the plant is out of the ground it’s time to cut it in half. If the plant has especially woody roots, you may want to chop it with an axe or saw it in half. Plants with softer root balls can be prized apart with your hands or with a pitchfork. You may want to get a partner to hold one side while you pry the other side away. This process may take some time, but be patient, it will come apart. When your plant has been divided into as many pieces as you like, immediately replant or repot both plants and water. If you are doing this in fall, covering with a small layer of mulch can keep the moisture in the root system, if in fall, starting the plant in a shady area and then transplanting to a more sunny location can help the perennial regenerate faster.

By now, most folks who are involved in gardening, farming or ecology have heard about the disappearance of honey bees.  Along with disease, parasite and privation, honey bees are also experiencing massive die offs due to Colony Collapse Disorder,  a process scientists are still studying.  Most of America’s wild bee population has disappeared and even domestic hives raised by beekeepers all over the world are taking heavy hits.  While the average gardener may not be able to do much about Colony Collapse Disorder until more research is made public, there are many things we can do to eliminate or reduce other stressors on the bee population.

What value does the honey bee have?  Why should we care what happens to them?  Besides the products of wax, honey, even medicinal uses of both their products and the very stings we fear, honey bees are the primary pollinator for over a third of the crops that make up the world’s food supply.  No other insect or animal can do this as well as the honey bee does, nor can any of our technology do it as efficiently as the honey bee. 

So here are some steps to help the honey bees thrive in our new, urbanised world.  First, starvation is a very big problem for honey bees.  Their primary food comes from wildflowers.  As meadows are cut or cultivated and lawns are sprayed to kill weeds, these wildflowers disappear.  Find a ground cover that you can live with in your garden that also feeds the honey bee.  Dandelions are an excellent choice, but if you find these too invasive, clover or daisies are also good options.  You can also purchase a wild flower mix in your region to scatter on the edges of the garden if you want to maintain that clean look in the center. 

Leave a far corner of your space undisturbed, especially if it contains a mulch pile or old wood.  Make sure that children don’t go near by erecting a barrier (such as a small fence) and mark it so it doesn’t get run over by the lawn mower.  Bees will be attracted to undisturbed areas as a place to build a hive.  Honey bees will not sting unless provoked.  If you feel more comfortable you can purchase supplies to keep a domestic hive instead.  Conversely, if you have small children, are allergic, or simply don’t feel comfortable with a hive in your space and you spot one, call animal control rather than trying to deal with it yourself.  Animal control will collect the hive and bees safely and move them to a new home or give them to an established keeper where they can thrive.  The good news is, when honey bees move in, the yellow jackets move out since they enjoy different flowers.

Use bee friendly insecticide and weed killers.  Many of these products are available in bee-friendly form and are just as effective as the more toxic alternatives.

Add fresh water to your space.  If you don’t already have a shallow birdbath, you can help three types of animals by planting one in your garden.  Butterflies, birds and bees all appreciate fresh water.

Of course, most of these steps will help many different forms of wildlife in your space, since many animals and insects face the same dangers, disappearing habitats and food supplies, scarcity of water and removal (accidental or otherwise) from human neighborhoods.

Some climbing plants would not survive a harsh winter without help.  When the climbers you have worked so hard to entwine and encourage to grow up your trellis structures need to be protected, how should you proceed? In this post we’ll discuss the steps you can take to preserve your plants.

More than the actually cold temperatures, hungry rodents and dehydration are your plant’s enemies.  You have two optioons to deal with dehydration and freezing cold.  For dealing with rodents, any young trees or woody climbing plants (such as rosebushes or grapevine) should be protected with a circle of wire mesh or flexible, sturdy plastic.  Many greenhouses and garden stores will carry plast sleeves to protect tree trunks and any hard ware store should have wire mesh (the net needs to be close enough that  a small mouse or mole can’t fit through.  Either mesh or plastic sleeve should be long enough to circle your plant’s trunk and leave about an inch of space between it and the plant.  It should also be about 6 to 8 inches tall. Dig a small ring around your plant’s trunk.  It doesn’t have to be wide but should be 2-3 inches deep.   Place your protective sleeve inside the ring and fill in the trench to bury and anchor the bottom part of your sleeve.  This should prevent hungry rodents from resorting to your plant’s vulnerable trunk for winter food.

To deal with cold and dehydration, you can choose between two options.  The first is to get a large sheet of clear plastic, the same thickness as you would used to winterize your exterior windows (this can be found at many hardware stores).  Leaving the climbing plant in place on the trellis, wrap your trellis and plant with the plastic.  You should tightly secure the plastic with wall staples or tightly tied rope.  Make sure there are no big gaps as the arid winter air will draw moisture away from the plant through these gaps. Cover any exposed branches or roots with soil or mulch to further prevent dehydration and freezing. This plastic can be easily cut away when spring comes and will not require you to retrain your plant to the trellis.  If you are expecting a very cold, dry winter with little snow, you may want to consider the other option.  This requires a little more work but will protect your plant from severe winters much better than the first method.  You will need to remove the plant from your trellis, so the first step is to unwind or cut any clinging tendrils from the trellis.  Many climbing plants enjoy better growth after fall pruning, so don’t worry if you need to cut several vines.  After removing the plant from the trellis, gently lower it to the ground.  Cover the entire plant, root to tip with 2-4 inches of soil.  You can use soil from your garden, compost or potting soil is also fine.  The point is not necessarily to nourish the plant but to hold moisture in.  After you have covered the plant with soil add another 2-4 inches of mulch or straw.  If you remove the trellis for winter storage, remember to mark the spot where you have covered the plant so you don’t accidentally mow or plow over it in springtime.

Migrating birds face ever increasing dangers and their numbers diminish every year, largely due to losses during winter and spring migrations.  The spread of developed land has greatly reduced the number of resting spots birds on migration can find, so many weaker or younger individuals become stragglers and eventually perish on their long trip.  You can help these stragglers take a break, rest up and catch up on the great migration.   Make your outdoor space an hospitable rest stop for birds with just a few simple changes.  

The first thing to think about is shelter.  Most birds feel safest in a place that offers many retreat options and is hidden from plain sight.  A good way to create this effect even if you have few or no trees in your yard, is to create a bracken pile, plant full, healthy shrubs, or to create a rockery.   A bracken pile should have a variety of logs, branches and twigs as well as being covered with a layer of leaves, pine needles or dirt to cover the larger holes and offer some camouflage.  If you prefer a tidier look to your space, berry bushes provide ample cover and fruit for migrating birds while maintaining an orderly, pretty appearance.  A rockery, too can be very pretty adding plants will add more cover for your birds or a fountain will give your birds plenty of water.  Just remember to leave lots of space between the rocks for birds to hide, and if you live in an area with snakes that prey on birds, make sure your rockery doesn’t abut a hill where snakes can dig deeper dens under the cover of your rockery.  All three of these options will also provide habitats for worms and bugs that some birds love to eat.

In the next post we will share recipes for both suet balls and peanut butter treats to help your birds.

The large, striking copper Seville Bird Feeder is easy to maintain and a gorgeous element in your garden www.theshopperslink.com

Providing habitats for wildlife in your garden

Meeting all four basic needs of the wildlife you intend to attract (food, water, shelter and escape routes) will encourage habitual visitors.  While food and escape routes may vary wildly depending on the variety of species you want to encourage, something that is basically similar to most species is some form of shelter within your space. 

Many small birds and mammals prefer to nest in close, grassy thickets where they are protected from harsh storms and predators are less likely to reach them.  There are two good ways to simulate these thickets in your yard.   The first method is to drag fallen branches from surrounding woods into a brush pile in a corner of your yard, preferably in a sunny area.   It is important that the brush pile remain undisturbed after being created so animals will feel safe building their homes inside.  Adding fallen leaves or grass clippings to the pile will help animals line their nests and holes.   This method is a good option for those gardeners on the east coast of the U.S., but for those who live in central and southwestern regions of the country, a brush pile ought to be avoided in favor of other methods.   The brown recluse and black widow spiders favor undisturbed wood piles as ideal habitats and using this technique could bring unwanted and dangerous pests into your space.  Instead, consider low growing hedges or a rockery. 

Hedges will encourage birds and small mammals to nest and are much tidier and more pleasant looking for formal gardens than woodpiles may be.  Again, make sure to lay your hedges out in the sunnier parts of your space and bank the base of the hedges with dead leaves or mulch to add cover for your nesting wildlife.  Hedges can be kept trimmed without disturbing any occupants as long as the heart of the shrub is left intact.

A rockery is a good alternative for gardens with water features or for desert spaces.  Rockeries will attract frogs and newts or reptiles like small lizards or garter snakes.  They can also provide cover for small mammals like shrews, field mice and ermine when surrounded by tall ornamental or field grasses.  Many birds will be attracted to rockeries, sometimes to nest, but more often because it will provide a habitat for the insects that songbirds especially, love to eat.   When you build a rockery, it is important to have an idea of what kind of animals you most want to attract.  A gravel base near a water feature is important when trying to attract amphibians so that the rocks may be moist without allowing the whole thing to sink in a muddy mess.   Reptiles, however, prefer a dry sandy base in a sunny spot with lots of gaps between the rocks, and mammals may prefer a rockery that’s built out from a dirt mound, allowing them to tunnel farther in during winter months.  The most important part, no matter which you are trying to attract, is not to make the rocks too tight.  A rockery should not be like a stone wall but should have many gaps and crevices for animals to escape into.  There are several ways to make your rockery fit with your gardening style or to make it blend in with its landscape.  The quickest way to achieve growth on your rockery is to encourage lichens and moss by painting your rocks with milk, yoghurt or sugar water and seeding these areas with small slivers of lichen from wild sources.  You will also need to fill some of the gaps with potting mix or mulch to add plants with shallow root systems.  Ground crawlers work best, but you can even plant dwarf trees and shrubs like junipers or tea roses successfully.  When you are trying to attract wildlife, native plants are always best since they are more familiar and are more likely to bear the food your wildlife needs.  However, rockery plants are a booming industry and many greenhouses specialize in rockery friendly species

Like many Americans this week, I’ve been thinking about the history of Thanksgiving.  But not the feast part of the story, instead, I was thinking specifically of the gardening part of the story.   No matter whose version of history you choose to believe, the act of teaching someone how to produce their own food is about the most valuable gift that can be given.

We think we are in an era of unprecedented technology, where knowledge is worth more than anything else we can have access to.  But this week, as I think of that humble crop that kept the settlers going, of the knowledge it took, the generations of experimentation and risk to create what we know as corn, and of the effect that just this one crop has had on the entire world, I can’t help but think that the technology and knowledge passed between peoples almost 10,000 years ago is as impressive, or more so, than what we have in the computer age.

Genetically modified crops are older than you think

From Teosinte, smaller than a human pinky and containing barely enough grain to be worth gathering, our ancestors, over thousands of years of selective breeding led to modern day corn.  It’s one of the oldest genetically engineered crops in the world.  Its a long story, how a crop becomes domesticated, but it starts slow: a community eats the sweetest, fattest, most tasty fruits of a plant and plants the seeds (either purposely in gardens or fields or opportunistically in middens or other waste piles) so that the best of the crop has a better chance to grow than the weaker plants.  At first this may be unintentional, but at some point, humans start to notice and plan, being ever more picky about which plants they will take seeds from.  Big deal, you might say, how hard is it to pick the best ones and replant them?  But it took thousands of years and many, many trades of knowledge and seeds to get to the settlers on Thanksgiving Day.

Give it to Mikey.  He’ll eat anything.

You also might consider originally poisonous species, such as almonds.  Wild almonds are fatal if consumed, carrying tannins that make them bitter and dangerous.  Yet we have domestic, safe, sweet almonds today.  How did it happen?  Someone, somewhere had to experiment and slowly breed the less poisonous seeds, every generation of trees having fewer and fewer tannins in them until today.  In this case, not only did it take thousands of years, it most probably took several lives to create the crop we enjoy now.

Consider then, the many lifetimes worth of knowledge that gets traded when gardeners exchange simple tips, a packet of seeds, a plant clipping.  If you tried to do that with anything else, with secret family recipes, manufacturing processes, new bits of technology people would think you were crazy if you didn’t get any monetary gain from it.

No matter which version of the pilgrim’s story you read, no matter where you stand on the morality of the interactions between indigenous people and English settlers, the natives who taught the pilgrims how to plant corn and survive that winter so long ago, did it primarily out of kindness.

Late one night on NPR I heard an interview with a songwriter who was talking about love (I wish I could remember who it was, if anyone knows, shoot me a note!) and he said, “Deep down, we all know we don’t deserve love, not one of us.  But then someone comes along and gives it to us anyway.”

Seeds of Love

Gardening is a lot like love.  There is nothing you can give back that will be equal in value to the millenia of sweat and heartache and hard living that went into that tiny seed in your palm.  It lies there cool and silent, not asking anything because it knows you haven’t got anything close to it’s actual value.  And if you’re lucky it grows anyway.  Teaching someone to plant or fish or hunt or otherwise provide for themselves will always be an act of pure charity from the kindest part of the heart.  It means that whoever you just taught will be equal to you in the most basic human way.  When you’ve been given that piece of knowledge or seed or clipping the only way to pay it back is to pass it on.  Don’t be stingy with your gardening advice, don’t hold back that great planting technique.  Not only did it take thousands of miles and lives to get to you, you never know how the next person will improve it, what the next generation will do with it.

So, for all the gardeners I’ve ever gotten advice from, all the kind farming souls who’ve passed down those little shards of love I plant every year in my garden, that feed my family and my friends- I say thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody.  Don’t forget to pass it on.

Go here to donate a cup of food to the hungry. It costs nothing but a few short seconds.

There is something beautiful and soft about a meadow with knee deep grass and wildflowers- at least to me, something natural that not even the best gardener or landscaper can truly replicate.  But my dad likes short grass, he even makes good points about it.  It’s tidier, it doesn’t grow into a rough mix of hay and straw and grass, and above all, it doesn’t let ticks hide in it. 

He always thought I didn’t want to mow the field because I was lazy.  But I secretly love mowing the lawn (it’s the whole power tool thing- we’ve been over my issues with god-like abilities on yard and garden), it’s very relaxing to me, as long as no one’s left their shoes in the way and I don’t run over a hornet’s nest.  But my dad was a man obsessed.  He was like a military barber for the lawn.  I swear he challenges himself to lower the blade another centimeter every time he mows, just to see if the lawn can take it.  I always knew if I let him have his way with the field, we’d be living on a dirt patch one day instead of grass.  So we battled for years, reaching uneasy compromises on the field, wherein half of it got mowed to the quick and the other half straggled into straw and weed where my dad had run out of time to mow it and I (and my siblings) refused, “ran out of gas” or became mysteriously and suddenly occupied with other yardwork when it was time to mow that half.

So why am I telling you all of this?  I know it seems like I’m going to draw a big parallel between my father’s ideas in other areas like politics and religion and my opposing views as a teenager, but honestly, my dad and I never fought, still never fight about anything except mowing the lawn or when to cut back the raspberry patch (same fight, different plant).  No, our landscaping arguments weren’t hints at larger conflicts in our lives, they were simply the different ways we felt about caring for our piece of the world.  Thinking about it made me think about the other gardeners I’ve known, the advice I’ve taken from so many people, and the passion each has had about their little plot. 

Why the world is filled with zucchini

Reading anthropology has taught me a lot about how people feel about property, why they build fences, have planting and harvest rituals, even why they fight wars over land.  But I think gardening and talking to other gardeners has taught me vastly more about all of these things than any anthropology course ever will.  When you talk to a gardener about their vegetables, their flowers, their trees, it’s a little like talking about their kids.  People take and give gardening advice almost as often as they take and give parenting advice.  And with about as much good will (that is, unasked for advice is always received badly, even when it’s given with the best intentions).  We trade pictures of our plants and expect the appropriate appreciation for our efforts, we trade clippings and expect others not to kill them (even if we cut the plant wrong), we trade zucchinis and expect people to smile and say thanks even if it’s the fifth zucchini they’ve received this week and they don’t know what the heck to do with a zucchini in the first place.

There’s politics in there too, not just environmental politics about what sprays we’re using either.  There are arguments about heirloom seeds and fair trade agreements on seed patenting.  There are arguments about fresh food allotments for elderly folks who can’t grow their own any more and haven’t got the funds even to pick up vegetables at the roadside farm stand.  And of course, there’s the ever popular neighbor’s tree overhang/ravaging dog/lax borrowing habits issues as well.

Do good fences really make good neighbors?

We may bicker and extend advice, but we know when we go home behind our fence or stone wall or property line, we’ll live how we want.  We’ll let the field lie or we’ll mow it into order.  Just like I know the field is probably bald as a cueball by now and my dad is in bliss.  Just like he knows my field will be rampant with flowers and straw and I’ll be happily swearing up a storm in spring trying to get the rototiller through it all.  And that would be okay.  Except that I found that tick the other day.  And I started thinking about my daughter walking in fields of long grass and came home panicked and searching for a picture of deer ticks.  And I started to wonder if my dad wasn’t right after all.   Is it age or parenting that’s changed me?  Or is it that I have my own little piece of the world to take care of now, my own field to mow or let lie?

p.s. here is a picture of a deer tick if you ever need to know

You think this is weird? You should have seen when I tried to stuff a pumpkin in too.

Don’t think I don’t appreciate a post-apocalyptic survival scenario as much as the next gal, but if that’s all you are using your root cellar (or plain old ordinary cellar) for, then you are missing out on great storage space for your surplus vegetables and fruits. 

Storing produce has always been a sort of countdown for me, a crossing off of days (or potatoes) until spring.  By the time you get to March, even the best potatoes will start to look shrunken and feel a little soft, and your apples are going to be wrinkly and maybe a tiny bit dry.  If you’ve never stored garden surplus all winter, you’re probably thinking, “Oh that’s disgusting! Why would I eat that . . . unless it was the end of the world.  Which of course is what root cellars are for, which is why I need a stack of twinkies, canned meat and bottled water, not fresh produce.”

But it’s not true.  And if you are serious about preparing for the end of the world (or a power outage) you should always keep bottled water, good thinking.  But forget the twinkies, properly cured squash, jarred preserves and pickles will last much longer.  And it’s not disgusting, those extra sweet, wrinkled apples and extra soft baked potatoes tell me it’s almost spring during those dreaded ides of March, when I most desperately need to be reminded that, yes, spring will come around again.

The Beauty of Postapocalyptic Pickles

Besides, your produce only gets shriveled at the end.  An entire winter stretches out before you with only dull, flavorless grocery store greenhouse produce to look forward to.  If you shove your canned meats and protein bars into the corner of your cellar though, and put off thinking about the end of the world until springtime, you can have delicious, homegrown produce and preserves (and lets not forget the pickles.  The longer they stew, the better they taste! I think I actually have a jar on the back shelf of my root cellar my mother made the year she was pregnant with me.  And no, I don’t know how they escaped this long) well into the winter months. 

There are all sorts of experts on building root cellars, in fact there is a very good article here on how to convert your cellar into a good storage space for your produce.  But the basic things you need are actually very simple:

• A space that stays cool but does not freeze
• Some kind of exhaust vent or release
• Storage bins, hooks and shelves for your produce

If you have a finished basement, you will probably not want to use it for storing your produce, because it will be too warm and your produce will rot.  But the basic idea of a cellar is key.  Underground spaces stay cool year round, but are insulated enough that they will not freeze.  You can use some above ground structures too as long as they are insulated.  A garage, a screened in porch (winterized with window plastic) or even a shed can all be good spots for your root cellar.  My favorite is the shed.  Since I keep wood for the woodstove in my shed, quarters are cramped with extra vegetables, but the firewood makes a natural insulation and it doesn’t freeze even in February.  You can also use stacks of straw or hay or you can use standard fiberglas insulation.  The key is not to let your veggies freeze. 

Moonshine is still illegal you know

The reason for the vent is that try as you might, some veggies and fruit are going to slowly ferment in storage.  If the ethylene gas that this process releases is not removed, it will speed the deterioration of all of your produce.  Ventilation can be as simple as a fan aimed out a small window, two pvc pipes exiting an exterior wall to as complex as an exhaust structure similar to those found in restaurant storages.

And by the way, if you were planning on spending the end of the world in your root cellar, you should probably have some ventilation anyway.

Why Banana Hammocks aren’t as stupid as they sound

Lastly, the issue of how to store what.  At first this can seem really complicated and a lot of hard work, but really there are only a few simple “rules” to help you sort it out.  Preserves, pickles and wines or ciders all need to be turned (that is, their containers need to be rotated) every six months, so any kind of wide shelving so you can reach each jar or bottle is going to help you immensely (by the way, not turning them will lead to separation and decay of your hard work, i.e. wine and cider turn sour, jams and jellies get a crust of sugar at the top while the fruit ferments and rankles at the bottom.  Except for pickles.  I don’t think anything can kill pickles).  Root vegetables, like potatoes, carrots, turnips do best in their own element.  That means don’t wash them (I know it’s hard to resist, you want a clean cellar and all, but really, they will last much longer in their own dirt) and don’t expose them to sunlight.  In potatoes sunlight exposure can actually be dangerous, as it produces a toxin.  If your potatoes have been out for a while and are turning green, it’s time to toss them.  You can keep your root vegetables in bins of sand or you can give them a well ventilated, airy bin or crate.  The important thing is that you don’t want too much moisture building up on their skins.  Some moisture is good, but if your produce starts feeling slimy, you’ve got too much, stop breathing so hard.  You’re going to fog up the end of the world shelter.

Garlic and onions need to be left out for a few weeks before storing them in the cellar.  People love the braided look of onions and garlic.  I love it too.  I’ve just never been able to manage to do it correctly.  If you can do it, more power to you, come teach me how so I can have pretty strings in my kitchen too.  I just throw them in an onion basket or even one of the storebought onion bags.  After 2-3 weeks, they will be ready to put in the cellar.

Squash, zucchini (and seriously, how much do you have anyway?) and pumpkins will go bad quickly if they are placed on hard surfaces.  You can make a pumpkin pillow with one of those eggcrate thingies you use to delude yourself that the ground isn’t hard while you are camping.  Or you can hang them in old pantyhose from a hook.  And yes, I got weird looks from a friend while I was taking this picture.  You are welcome.

Fruit needs to be preserved through canning, pressing or drying.  Hard fruits, like pears or apples can be stored over the winter, but they need lots of air.  Milk crates work very well.  I was thinking of trying to use my old hammock now that it’s inside and throwing the apples in there to see if that will work too, but I’ve never tried.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Periodically, you need to check for any rotting produce and remove it.  You know that saying, one bad apple ruins the barrel?  It came from someone storing produce in a root cellar.  As your produce supply dwindles and eventually grows sprouts or wrinkles and drys up, try to realize a life truth in both it’s positive and negative light: Spring will always come again and nothing (not even potatoes) last forever.  Except for pickles.

If you, like many of us, dread being cooped up in winter and experience seasonal blues, you should consider container gardening through the winter.  Just the act of gardening itself, scientists say, has beneficial effects on brain chemistry.  What you grow can have an even bigger impact.

From the Ground up

If you are thinking of gardening with only potting soil or sterilized mixes you might want to reconsider.  As early as 2006, researches found a cheerful little bug that naturally occurs in soil called Mycobacterium Vaccae.  This tiny bacterium literally infects people with happiness.  Once M. Vaccae gets under your skin it boosts your brain’s seratonin level which is one of the chemicals that elevates mood and helps your body’s healing processes.  In fact, M. Vaccae is so effective that it has been used to help cancer patients bounce back from chemotherapy and treating fibromyalgia.

These bacterium are harmless except for infectious good cheer

  Just the normal activity of planting or repotting can help this little bug enter you It exists in soils around the world and has no harmful effects.  But you won’t find it in sterilized soils and potting mixes.  So go get some soil from your yard or garden to mix in with your potting soil.  Right now.  Before it freezes.  And then come back to see what else can help.

Superplants

Lots of depressed moods can come from imbalances in diet.  While all of these items are available at your grocery store, planting them instead will not only infect you with M. Vaccae, but will mean these fruits and veggies will be on hand for those days your bathrobe looks more comfortable than a trip to the store.  Some of them, such as herbs and citrus also do half their anti-depressant work with their pleasant and stimulating odors.  Growing them yourself will give you the benefit of these odors for many days before they are ready to eat or use.  Growing alfalfa, broccoli, green peppers, tomatoes and black beans can all be done in containers indoors.  Tomatoes can be hung in baskets to leave room for other plants while all of these other veggies can be planted in a long window box or deep tray and thrive.  These veggies have the same chemicals that make people reach for carbohydrate complex starches and desserts.  They will lift your mood without making you adjust your belt, which can be the key to avoiding the infamous holiday calories.  You can also grow dwarf citrus trees in a large pot indoors.  While citrus fruit does not directly affect brain chemistry, it helps your body absorb nutrients that do, such as magnesium, iron or thiamin. 

Your indoor herbs can also help adjust your mood while being useful in the kitchen or as an aromatic.  Lavendar, rosemary and basil are all excellent for reducing stress and elevating seratonin.  In fact, studies have shown that mediterranean diets which rely on tomatoes, rosemary and basil in a lot of dishes can have an enormous effect on mood.  Another aromatic that can help is jasmine.  Most jasmine varieties are large and utilize climbing trellises, however, the sambac variety is  easy to grow and manageable indoors, they are also easy to find at garden supply stores.

These are just a few of the beneficial plants you can grow indoors.  Of course, none of these can substitute a regimen planned by your doctor, but if you or your physician notices something lacking in your diet, consider planting a supplement rather than purchasing it.  Not only will your wallet be fatter, you will get the benefit of m. vaccae and lots and lots of sunshine.

Sunshine come on back another day

The third benefit of maintaining an indoor garden is exposure to sunlight.  Sunlight is one of very few ways our body absorbs vitamin D.  Lack of vitamin D can make us feel a little down or can be serious enough to cause seasonal affective disorder.  In the winter, even enthusiasts aren’t spending as much time outdoors as we do in summer.  So every bit of extra sun can help.  An indoor garden means you will be spending more time in front of sunny windows, inside a bright sunroom or greenhouse.  Take time not only to work on your indoor garden but to relax in it too.  If at all possible make it into a comfortable spot.  Add a chair or sofa, some blankets if it gets chilly, even a small breakfast table.  Make your indoor garden the new leisure center for you and your family so you will get the full benefit of aromatic plants and extra sunshine. 

An indoor garden need not be huge or complex, it can be just a few key plants, but it will help make  a happier, healthier you even in the greyest, coldest days of winter.