"The Winter Garden"
Getting out in the fresh air blows away cobwebs as well as bugs and germs and where better than your own winter garden to take a few minutes a day to enjoy the open air and clean crisp winter days. As long as its not raining, winter days can be exhilarating and rewarding. If you have started winter vegetables, get them out in the vegetable plot by Ocober. Plant out kale, late brussels sprouts, spring greens and even winter lettuce. All this green stuff will contribute towards your healthy diet throughout the winter months. And all your summer and autumn harvested crops should be collected and stored before you even start thinking about your winter garden. Find out more about harvesting on this page...Harvesting And of course there are some crops that prefer a little frost. Horseradish is much tastier after the first frost. Find out more about horseradish on this page....Horseradish
  During the winter months, at around the shortest day of the year, we hit Christmas of course. If you celebrate Christmas, you'll probably start getting those panic shopping feelings around October time, judging by the merchandise avalable in the shops. But how about changing your way of approaching the celebrations this year and giving home produced gifts and using natural decorations around your home.
This doesn't mean you have to get out the craft table and spend hours making alternative gifts or slaving over a hot stove producing pots and pots of jams and pickles. They are traditional gifts, yes, but what about something different this year....
- Get a few bonsai trees going. Re-pot into pretty containers just before Christmas and tie a bow round them with a name tag. Save on the wrapping paper - doing your bit for the environment - and give a gift that will last for years. - For your gardening friends, wrap a few of your own seeds you have collected through the year in sachets of coloured tissue paper, clearly labelled. Place these coloured sachets in a pot or a glass jar and paint a simple design on the outside. - If you have too many winter greens ready for outside planting in the winter garden, re-pot them into decorative pots and give as Christmas gifts. - To decorate your home, collect dried grasses, pine cones from a local forest and interesting branches with berries, such as holly and mistletoe. In some parts of Europe, mistletoe grows on apple trees, starving the trees of the nutrients they need. If you remove the mistletoe you will be doing the apple trees a favour!
Other gardening gifts that you can buy online to save the nightmare struggle round the shops are:
Books - see Amazon for a wonderful collection of gardening books - there are a few mentioned on almost every page on Flower and Garden Tips!
Seeds and containers - available from a number of wonderful suppliers. Thompson and Morgan supply seeds all around the world, as well as many garden essentials... Thompson and Morgan UK
Tools: hand tools and larger practical gardening items make great and unusual gifts:  Crocus in the UK have some great garden and home gifts, including this practical pot mover. Winter Garden and other gifts at Crocus UK Type 'pot mover' into the searchbox, or browse from the Home & Gifts link on their homepage. and in the US, you can buy this Worm Factory!
 Worm Factory 360 Black Worm Composter® 
Whether you decide to buy or produce your own, winter garden gifts are always welcome. Even if your friends aren't green-fingered a thoughtfully chosen pot plant or a windowsill container of herbs will always be appreciated. NB: You can find more about gardening in November on this page.......November Garden Happy Gardening! Grow Your Own Groceries: Producing your own food is not only rewarding but - in times of economic and environmental changes - increasingly a must! Nature provides everything the human body requires to thrive, and cultivating some of those natural products in your own back garden will not only produce the best food on the planet for you and your loved ones, it is also economical, environmentally friendly and more fun than shopping.
 Gardening is more than a hobby; it's a way of life. Even without a garden, many plants can be grown in containers, on a balcony, and indoors. Order it now direct from the publisher... Grow Your Own Groceries Herb Gardening: Herbs are becoming recognised more and more as superfoods, as if we didn't know that really! 'Herb Gardening' has been beautifully put together by the publisher (Crowood Press) into a well presented book with full colour photos.  Along with growing instructions for forty different herbs, there are lots of great ideas, including culinary delights and medicinal alternatives. You'll also find gardening advice as well as some ideas on planning a herb garden. Order it now direct from the
publisher... Herb Gardening
Grow Your Own Pharmacy: If, like me, you want to be able to eat the best food on the planet, grow your own!  • Clear instructions on planning, planting, growing and harvesting the fruits, vegetables and herbs required for a healthy vitamin intake. • Recipes and menus to help incorporate the fruit and vegetables into your daily diet. Granny's Book Of Good Old Fashioned Common Sense is packed full of great ideas and tips. Granny brings traditional home-making up to date with cooking, gardening, needlecrafts and even games to play with the kids...Click on the link below to order your copy.  Cooking doesn’t have to be a chore and preparing nourishing home cooked meals for the family will certainly keep them away from the goodie shelf. Gardening encourages physical exercise and a good healthy dollop of fresh air. And you can get the kids involved too. Before the days of computer games and electronic pets, children used to have fun without rummaging about in the fridge every five minutes. Enjoy a few rainy-day games and crafts of yesteryear with today’s kids. They’ll love it and so will you!
Back To Gardening Back to Flower and Garden Tips Homepage Click here to subscribe to "Creative Gardening" - Your FREE monthly ezine! http://www.flower-and-garden-tips.com/wintergarden.html |