Winter Garden Experiments and Tips

Well first off I want to say that I'm no expert gardener, I've only grown a few small gardens in my time and I'm always learning new things, mostly through my own trial and error. My latest experiment is growing my own sweet potato slips. The process is simple: you select a few healthy potatoes and put the bottom half in water in a sunny spot until the slips are large enough to transplant.

I used potatoes from my garden last year. If you want to use potatoes from the store you should find out if they are a vine or bush variety first. Anyway, if you didn't know, sweet potatoes aren't grown from a seed, but from a "slip" or green shoot off of another sweet potato. It's suppose to take around 6-8 weeks before you can transplant them. So far I have no growth, but it's only been a few days.

Also, I learned that you can place your green onion ends in water and they will grow!! This one has been in the water for around four days and it already has new growth. Can you see the green tip? I'm sure you can only do this once or twice per bulb because the nutritional value would probably be poorer each time. Maybe I should plant them in soil instead of just water? Has anyone done this indoors before?

On another note, has anyone ever heard of or tried winter sowing seeds? The process seems simple you just plant your seeds outside somewhere between Jan-March inside plastic jugs and begin watering them once germination has occurred. I'm thinking of growing my flowers this way this year just to see how they turn out, because it would be much easier than starting indoors. To learn more about winter sowing you can go here.

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Lastly, I thought I'd list some winter gardening tips for beginners, because I know last year I was clueless about most things due to lack of experience and I had to just learn as I went. Here goes:

1. It's never too early to start planning your garden, especially if you plan on starting from seed.

2. Now is the time to sit down and plan out your garden on paper (or computer). Figure out how much space you have, what you want to grow (only grow what you will eat!), and what seeds and supplies you will need come spring.

3. Be diligent about where you spend your money because if your not careful gardening can be EXPENSIVE!! It can also be very cheap and cost effective if you take the time to research and plan. We spent quite a bit on "start up costs" last year (top soil, wood, seeds, grow lights, etc.), but you can make it as cheap as buying seeds and a shovel if you want. I don't think we will have to spend any (or much) money this year if we're careful about things.

4. Find out what growing "zone" you live in and organize a planting schedule so you know what plants should go into the ground when.

5. Be prepared for set backs! Gardening is dependant on many factors that are are out of your control (weather, bugs, etc) so just remember it's all a learning experience and process. There's always next year!!

6. Research what you can now before you start. There are plenty of resources on gardening at your local library or extension office. There's also a vast array of info on the internet so use it!!

7. Don't be afraid to throw caution to the wind and get your hands dirty! Learning comes through experience so don't worry whether you know what your doing or not, seeds will grow if you give them nutrients, sunlight, and water so just do it!

I hope some of these tips have helped! 

Does anyone else have any wisdom to add? 

Happy garden planning!


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