10 Tricks to Surviving Gardening Withdrawal During the Winter

Gardening has been in my blood since before I was born. As a child, I grew up in the fields. My grandparents used to fight over who got the most dirt to plant in. Grandpa always won. He had acres of vegetables, an apple orchard, and the neighbor's back yard. Grandma got the flower beds and a little patch by the back door. Spring was always an adventure in the sun.

Many a family problem was solved while elbow deep in the rich, brown earth. The aroma of freshly upturned dirt seemed to calm everyone. There was always some new plant or hybrid to watch and tend to. Summer was spent fighting with weeds instead of my uncles. We learned to drive on tractors instead of fancy sports cars. It was the best childhood anyone could have. Until winter.

As the days grew shorter so did the tempers. With four teenage boys and one spoiled little girl, Grandma had to come up with something to keep everyone occupied. Her relief came in the form of seed catalogs. She used to put us at the kitchen table and give us a goal. Who could come up with the best garden plan. Simple really, but it kept us occupied for hours. There were others things we did to alleviate the stress. All of them were centered around gardening.

1) Locate every seed company we could order a catalog from. We took turns calling or writing and requesting the next year's edition. Credit was given for being the most professional or the neatest. The phone orders became a fun contest when the boy's voices started changing.

2) Plan the garden. We would design gardens any landscape artist would be proud of. Proud until everything started growing. At that point there would not be enough room for everything! We didn't care. We knew our family could make it work. Proud bunch we were.

3) Label collected seeds. Each year the kids were given the job of gathering certain seeds for the next growing season. There were certain seeds which always seemed to make it into the can that just were not supposed to be there. We were in Ohio and there were always orange seeds or lemon seeds. In the winter we were to make sure the seeds were in separate envelopes and labeled properly. This painstaking labeling tradition started when Grandma planted bells peppers only to have them come up red hots! We never did figure out the culprit, but our money was on Ken!

4) Design a new flower bed arrangement. Threaten anyone to plant anything but flowers in it. My grandmother was very proud of her flower beds. They were planted so the tall flowers were in the back with the shorter ones up front. Each flower had a different growing cycle so there were blooms from spring til the first frost. The only problem was my grandfather and my uncle Doug. These two would sit on the front porch and spit watermelon and cantaloupe seeds into the flower bed. Every year there would be one or two plants that survived the rigorous weeding. The best prank came when the boys decided to grow sunflowers. It took Grandma two months to determine what they were. I don't think she would have been so upset if they had not been planted in the front row. By the time they were done growing, there was no other bloom to be seen!

5) Line up fertilizer for spring. This was important to us. We had to call local farmers to make sure we could come collect the natural growth hormone when it was time to till up the gardens. There was always an argument as to which was better, horse, cow, chicken, sheep, and so forth. Grandpa always settled it by telling us which farmer we were to call. Still, it was fun trying to prove your point to four boys who thought I looked better covered in the stuff than discussing it!

6) Pour over seed catalogs from last year until the new ones arrive. We would spend hours deciding which corn or beans should be planted. There was talk of which produced better and which seeds lasted longer. Arguments would ensue concerning how much ground we were actually allowed to dig up for our gardens. Grandpa came to the rescue again with a simple philosophy. He would just ask how much time did we want to spend weeding? Point taken.

7) Come up with new ways to save space in the garden. We always thought we had the best systems. Growing cucumbers on a trellis. Running beans up the poles. Go Vertical! The boxed garden was not new to us. The bubbles were burst when it was pointed out, again by grandpa, pumpkins just wouldn't grow upright.

8) Start the indoor salad garden. There was a huge bay window in the old house. Plenty of sunshine came through. With leaf lettuce being so easy to grow, there was always two or three planters with it growing. We had fresh lettuce most of the winter. Jim got the idea we could do it with tomatoes. It wasn't pretty. We did give him an A for effort.

9) Did I mention plan the garden? It seems we spent more time doing that than anything else. You would have thought we had thousands of acres with all the things we KNEW we could grow. We would put lines on paper with little squares and circles to indicate patches of radishes, onions, or other not too popular vegetables. Jim never had green beans in his garden plans. I never had beets. Now those have become staples.

10) Fight over the new catalogs. When the seed catalogs started coming in there was always a fight to see who got to check the mail. I never did figure why we did this. Grandpa would always take the books and stash them until evening. Then the fun began all over again. Gardens were drawn, boundaries were set, and planning started all over again.

Growing a garden is one of the most enjoyable family activities we still enjoy. We each have our own techniques we use. Each year there is more than enough to feed, freeze, and can. The new tradition is growing extra and donating it to the local food bank. We enjoy the time in the garden and it helps someone else who is less fortunate. I hope these little tips get you through the hibernation period. Don't worry. Spring is coming!