Happy 2016, everyone! Here in New York’s Hudson Valley, we’re having a “hit-and-miss” winter. I’m talking about 71°F on Christmas Eve, and a modest snowstorm 4 days later. Weird weather or not, this month I’m tending houseplants, winter-sowing seeds, and cooking up some savory feasts.
Gardening Indoors and Out
Seeds. Order these from catalogs now, especially if you have specific colors or varieties of plants in mind. I order most of my seeds from these reliable online sellers.
Winter-Sowing. Plant your perennial and hardy annual seeds outdoors in containers now, and in spring you’ll have enough plants to furnish your entire neighborhood. This nifty method of seed-sowing is fun, fun, fun! The details.
Forsythia. It’s not too early to force the dormant stems. Cut sprays at varying lengths, mash the ends with a hammer, and then plunk them in a vase of water. Set before a bright but cool window, a bouquet of goldenrod-yellow will emerge in about 21 days. As pictured above, I like to display forsythia with pink Begonia semperflorens and purple and white Primula obconica in my parlor window.
Design a Window Garden. Outfit a window with glass shelves and a broad sill, and you can have all kinds of fun creating seasonal plant-pictures. The easy-peazy directions are here.
African Violets. As usual, I have way too many of these Saintpaulia ionantha. But they are perfect for the glass shelves of my window gardens, and their flowers make my smile. To ensure constant bloom, I care for the plants this way.
Amaryllis. Has the flower bud emerged on your new plant? If so, move it gradually to light and sun and heat (not more than 70°F, please), and increase water as need indicates. Check your older stored amaryllis for signs of growth. Then renew the top layer of soil and provide water. Keep cool and dim until the flower-stalk is about three inches high.
Cyclamen (above, in blue pots). Keep water in the saucer (or bowl) beneath this always-thirsty plant. Provide food, too, if you intend to rebloom the tuber next year.
Zonal Geraniums (Pelargoniums). Give them full sun, and they will flower with increasing frequency as the days lengthen. The pink and white zonals I propagated last August are now in various stages of bud and bloom. I encourage them with a low-nitrogen, high-phosphorous plant food.
Hardy Bulbs. Did you pot up a few tulips, hyacinths, or other “Dutch” bulbs last October? Bring them out of cold storage now, and place them in a sunny but cool window. And if you wish to save them for outdoor planting after their flowers fade, provide food and water until the foliage withers. More details here.
In the Kitchen
Did you max out on sweets over the December holidays? You’re not alone. Here are three savory mains for wintry days (click highlighted text for recipes):
Kevin’s Red Bell Pepper Soup. I created this soup for my not-yet-published cookbook. It’s a healthful puree of ripe, Vitamin C-rich bell peppers, plus zingy garlic, fragrant thyme, and creamy russet potatoes. And Lawd A-Mighty — it’s delicious! Here’s the recipe.
Low-Carb Cottage Cheese Pancakes. How can I eat cottage cheese pancakes and still maintain, at the age of 107, an Adonis-like figure? I’m so glad you asked! Let me share a few secrets with you:
Bubble and Squeak with Mushroom Gravy. I made Bubble and Squeak the other day, and it comforted my soul. It comforted Brenda Johnson’s soul, too, because I made up a plate for her to taste-test. Here’s my version of this British classic, along with the answer to your burning question: “What the heck is Bubble and Squeak?”
Enjoy this feature? Be sure to leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to sign up for my email updates.
Love ya –
KLJ
Mary in Iowa says
Happy New Year, Kevin!
It’s such a joy to the eyes and heart here in the white, frozen tundra to gaze at all your beautiful photographs and let the greens, pinks, purples lift the spirits. Besides the usual pelargoniums, African violets, amaryllis, clivia and potted Meyer lemons, most of my window and plant light space is taken up by about 50 potted cuttings of Plectranthus and English ivy headed for the garden next spring. The ivy gets to tumble over the dry stone (actually broken up sidewalk slabs) enclosure I built this fall to contain massive amounts of horse doo-doo. Ivy league poop! Sixteen winter-sown jugs are out in the snow, 35 more are labelled and ready to go. Ran out of duct tape, so progress is stalled until I walk to the store to get more. Who the heck runs out of duct tape? It’s the little things that frustrate the bejabbers out of a person. Still have sweets around, and have tried to calculate how many oatmeal cookies must be eaten for breakfast to equal a bowl of oatmeal. Have roasted butternut squash in the fridge to make your sauce for either linguine or pumpkin ravioli, with browned butter drizzled over the whole delicious mess. Thinking about pouring some concrete steppingstones (dragons) to cure in the basement and be ready for spring placement in the “Garden of Magical Creatures”. 🙂
“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ~~Roald Dahl
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Mary – In my no-nonsense world, 2 dozen oatmeal cookies equals 1 small serving of oatmeal. Enjoy ’em in good health!
Dent says
How do you sign up for your newsletter
Briana from Minnesota (zone 4) says
Hi Kevin, I found your website through Pinterest a few months ago, and I really appreciate your writing and photographs. Thank you for sharing with us.
I planted my first winter-sowing milk jugs yesterday: 6 gallon jugs and 3 half-gallon jugs. I harvested most of the seeds from my grandmother’s and mother’s established flowers: daylily, black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, bachelor buttons. There were a few flowers we couldn’t identify, but we decided they were pretty enough to try planting the seeds anyway. I also planted hollyhock, sweet William and Canterbury bells from seed packets left from my mother’s garden last year.
From others’ comments, it sounds like some places carry seeds out of planting season, but I looked in quite a few stores in my town, but couldn’t find any. Guess I will have to keep an eye out in the spring. This is my first experience planting flower seeds, so hopefully some of them will germinate!
How many seeds do you generally plant per container? My apologies if you’ve explained it in one of your posts; I read through everything on winter-sowing and didn’t see it (unless maybe it was in the comments section; I didn’t read all the way to the end of the comments on every post). Thank you in advance!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Dent – At the end of the above post, click the highlighted text that reads “sign up for my email updates.” Enter your email address, and voila — you’re subscribed!
Hi Briana – Nice to meet you. Regarding winter-sown seeds, my own policy is to scatter fine, dust-like subjects (petunia, nicotiana, alyssum, and etc.) as thinly as possible on the surface of the soil. I limit large(ish) seeds (i.e., lupine, morning glory, bachelor buttons) to just 6 or 9 per gallon-size container. Have fun with your project!
Beverly, zone 6, eastern PA says
Our extended family wrapped up 2015 with no less than four calamities: a car accident with a badly broken wrist and impending surgery, a bicycle fall with a broken hip and scapula with impending surgery, a mild heart attack with congestive heart failure, and saddest of all, an accidental death from falling out of a tree.
We are ready for a NEW YEAR without large doses grief, stress, pain and heartache one after another.
How comforting it is to peruse this blog, see beautiful images and look ahead to spring. Thank you Kevin. You never know just how much you are appreciated.
Mary in Iowa says
Oh, Beverly, what sad news. You comment very often and are always so interesting and positive. I wish you and your family complete recoveries, and all the best in 2016. Close your eyes and take yourself mentally to the Serpentine Garden, sit on the stone bench under the cherry tree, breathe in the fragrance, and let your mind relax and be comforted in Nature.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Beverly – What Mary in Iowa said. Only good things for you in 2016.
John says
Happy New Year, Kevin! I’m visiting friends in upstate NY, and was hoping for those temps in the 70s, but I think you’re now colder than back home in Minnesota. I brought some hyacinth bulbs as part of a hostess gift, and it made me smile to see your photo. (I think I’ll show it to my friends when I present them the bulbs). I so enjoy your blog and look forward to each new post.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi John – Yes, cold here now, but not as frigid as a “typical” January. Enjoy your Hudson Valley visit!
Linda says
I just wanted to tell Mary in Iowa how beautiful I think she is. I love her “spirit” and beautiful ideas. Kevin, you draw wonderful people to your blog. I have one question I have always wondered , ” After you force the bulbs and they bloom out -what do you do with them then???
Nelly NY7a says
Chop chop with the book Kevin! Stop teasing us!
Now that you mentioned bulbs I remember I dig out some yellow tulips bulbs (they’re like shallots size and some very small) I found at the front of the house buried under nasty red mulch. I wanted to plant them in the back at the bottom of the slope. Winter seems to have arrived in yonkers with temp in the high 30’s and low 40’s. Anyway I put them in a paper bag in the shed. If they aren’t soft, should I try to plant them? Or should I better put vermiculite that I have in the bag and keep them in the unheated garage until next fall? My native soil is sandy and I have green happy weeds making fun of me on that slope
Tracy says
Hi Kevin,
Inspired by past posts on the subject, I’ve become a certified champion of winter sowing. I can’t tell you how many perennial and annuals I’ve grown and planted out into my mixed borders. I now have 36 (I know, I know…I need a 12-step program) gallon jugs prepped for planting. Here’s my question: I live in lower Westchester County, NY, depending on the source, that means I’m in zone 6. But you know what the weather has been like this fall and I have new tender growth on so many cut back perennials, bulbs are sprouting, etc. so, I haven’t yet planted any seeds and set them out in their jugs, because we keep being hit with warm days and I’m afraid it will trigger germination too early.
Would you risk sowing now, or wait a bit longer here? And thank you again for giving me the gift of knowledge on how to winter sow, I have so much fun with it.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Nelly NY7a – Cookbook coming December, 2016. I hope. Regarding your bulbs… my best advice is to plant them now. They might rot if you hold them for autumn.
Hi Tracy – I’m so glad that winter-sowing has worked out for you. You can plant perennial and hardy annual seeds now. In my experience, these types always recover from frost.
Casey says
How do you keep your blooming hyacinth bulbs from tumbling over out of the forcing vases? Mine grew so tall that they kept falling over onto the sill.
Missy says
Kevin, your posts make me happy! My mom made your egg crepe manicotti the other day and it was amazing! Your recipe is definitely a keeper! And perfect for winter. Also, my Beagle Scooter says hi to Lily!
Deirdre Merritt says
Hi Kevin,
I just LOVE your window gardens! I’ve been wanting to duplicate them for a few years now. We live in a very old house in Scituate, MA and I’m trying to get my hubby to put up shelves here, there, and everywhere. But our walls are not sturdy enough. Perhaps we can put up some glass shelves in our windows like you have. Where can I get brackets like you’ve used? I’ve seen them at antique shops & they are quite expensive. I also have one of those old fashioned oil lamp holders like the ones you have holding some blue pots with cyclamen in them. I was able to find a fixture (for lack of a better word) to slide it into so I can mount it on the side of the window like yours. However, the opening is too small! I got that at an antique shop up in Maine while on vacation last summer. I paid $20 for it and now can’t use it! I had no idea there were different sizes…ugh. Can you suggest a place where I could find a replacement for something like that (whatever it’s called), and brackets to hold some glass shelves? Also, how do you manage to mount the brackets on the thin wood that separates the window panes without breaking the glass? I think this is going to be a little too tricky for my hubby to handle. Any ideas or thoughts?
Thank you so much,
Deirdre Merritt
Scituate, MA 02066
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Casey – A couple of things you can do to keep vased hyacinths from flopping over. First, give them a quarter turn every day to insure that flowering stalks grow upright. Then make sure the vases are touching the window glass. The window itself seems to brace the flower, and keep it from falling over. Well, this has been my experience!
Hi Missy and Scooter – So glad you enjoyed the Egg Crepe Manicotti!
Hi Deirdre Merritt – My glass shelves rest on common shelf supports that I obtained for $7 each at Tru Value hardware. The old lamp brackets, which came with their original mounting pieces, or “fixtures,” were obtained via auction at Ebay. It took me all of 30 minutes to put the window garden together — and I’m not a “handy” person!
Chris says
Hi Kevin- I noticed in some of the photos of your window gardens you have ferns sitting on the sills. How do you keep them so full and green over the winter months? Are they in your bathroom where they get humidity from the shower? Mine is getting so brown and losing volume, and quite frankly are a mess trying to pick up after. I don’t have room in my bath to house them on a permanent basis. Should I be moistening them with a spray bottle on a regular basis or showering them down on occasion? Thinking of running a humidifier next to them but, dread the thought of maintaining the humidifier throughout the next few months (cleaning, filter changes, etc.). Any different idea as to how to keep them healthy?
Btw, I love your site and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your fun ideas, delicious recipes and all around joy you bring to your readers. And let me say, before the twelve days come to an end with the arrival of Epiphany tomorrow, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and all your readers!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Chris – When my ferns behave badly (fronds wither and drop) I perform a simple surgical procedure on the plants. Be sure to read this post if you have a Boston fern; and this post is your friend is the “Rabbits-foot” variety.
Nelly NY7a says
Thank you for the advice on the bulbs, that’s what I thought. Saturday would be over 40F here. I’m putting the bulbs down and saying a prayer to the Taino goddess of agriculture and starting winter sowing perennials.
Can’t wait for your book, I want mine autographed of course 🙂
Josie says
Hi Kevin, I was wondering if you had any advice on what to do with my Brussel Sprout plant. The poor thing suffered a battle with white fly and had a little damage from cabbage loopers. It still grew string and produced plenty of sprouts. Our winter has been soo warm, but finally got enough frost to make the plant droop. I’m not sure if I should cut the stalk down or just clean the plant up. I am quite new to gardening and there is not much info on growing Brussels on the internet. I do know they are biennials.
Norma Hamilton says
I have a question for you Kevin. The past 2 years I planted from seed over 200 sunflowers. They were all eaten up by the birds. So I decided that I would put cages around them this past year. Of 15 sunflowers only 2 came up. If I were to start them in the winter time in doors, when would I do this? I live in Massachusetts.. I just purchased a 72 seedling grower with a heating pad. I saw your article on using the milk jugs by I couldn’t come up with any large ones. I also want to start morning glories from seed. Any suggestions would be helpful!! Thanks
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Norma Hamilton – I’m afraid that starting sunflower seeds indoors will lead to weak, spindly plants. My best advice: Sow the seeds outdoors in milk or water jugs in early or mid May. The seeds will germinate very quickly once the soil warms. Transplant seedlings to the open garden when they are 4-6 inches tall. You can find gallon-size milk or water jugs at restaurants, coffee shops, and at any recycling facility. (Be sure to punch out drainage holes in the jugs as illustrated in this Winter Sowing post.