Winter goals

As the weather has gradually gotten cooler, I've been plotting out what to do over the winter to be ready for when the Northern Hemisphere inevitably turns back toward the sun. I'm not planning on heating the greenhouse past mid-November, so for anything that can't tolerate freezing, I need to use our garage, which is heated to 50 degrees.

I already have basil, oregano and a few houseplants in the garage windows, and we have a garage closet that is now my seed starting area. I hung an LED light and have been trying to sprout rosemary, thyme, parsley and mint as houseplants. The first attempt started mid-September using small clay pots, and failed completely. I tried again with plastic pots Sept. 28 and now have little sprouts of rosemary, thyme and parsley, but no mint yet. Finally, on Oct. 16 I went all-in, using a 12-cell seed starter tray (3 cells each), official Miracle Gro seed starting potting mix, and a heating mat.

Also on Oct. 16, I took cuttings from each of the four greenhouse geraniums. There are two identical reds and two unrelated pinks. I stuck those in plastic pots and put them in the seed starting room under the light but not on the heating mat.

I deadheaded the mums about three weeks ago hoping the buds underneath would produce a new crop of flowers, but they really haven't. In a few weeks I will trim them back to see if they will go dormant and overwinter in the greenhouse.

We have three pots of chives, and the smaller one might end up in the garage window. The larger two will get trimmed back and stuck in a dim part of the greenhouse. Previous winters they spent in our unheated shed and have always bounced back in the spring.

The seed starting closet in our garage. Clockwise from top, geranium cuttings, rosemary, mint (not yet), the seed starter tray, thyme, parsley.

I have four more 12-cell starter trays and another heating mat. When spring arrives, I will try to start broccoli, pepper, tomato, zinnia and sunflower seeds. As May rolls around I might devote some of the baskets to cucumbers. I am undecided on whether to sprout marigolds and nasturtiums with seed trays, or just direct seed. I'll probably do some of both. The Supertunias and other mutant petunias mentioned in the previous post have to be bought as plants.

I will direct seed green onions, beets, carrots, peas, radishes and cilantro when the time comes. I'm not sure when to turn the greenhouse heat back on, maybe April 15 give or take a few weeks. There is a plan, and we will see how it comes together.

Speaking of peas, I really need to start writing down when I plant stuff. I planted peas in September, what date I'm not sure. They all sprouted nicely and maybe 10 days ago started producing flowers. No pods yet, but there is still plenty of time. The peas are in the northeast corner, and the other photo is shot through the window facing west. For the chaotic way the greenhouse layout evolved after getting a very, very late start on planting, I'm happy with it.

Except for this one bloom, the mums have not bounced back after deadheading three weeks ago.

Oct. 23: I thought I labeled the seed starter tray. I did not. Two of the four rows have sprouts after one week on the warming pad. I'm guessing they are thyme and rosemary, but will have to wait until they get bigger. If this guess is correct, I'm not getting any mint to sprout. I want some to plant outside next year because I think the deer will not eat it, so I would really like to get this to work.

Three of the geranium cuttings look like crap with yellowing leaves, and one looks pretty good. I did label those, so I know the good cutting is from the one that I overwintered in a pot in my garage last year. The bad ones are from the donated hanging baskets. I might just do more cuttings from the good plant. My petunias look so good that I'm thinking of doing cuttings from them also.