Gardeners Checklist: Here Is What to Do on the Week of Jan. 27

By Ron Kujawski

Despite last week’s well-below-zero temperature, this hasn’t been the toughest of winters in terms of weather. Yet, it is still easy to succumb to that pervasive ailment known in the chronicles of the medical profession as “mid-winter blues.”  I’m not a medical doctor but that is not going to stop me from writing this prescription for curing the blues:

* Take three seeds, one from a grapefruit, one from an orange, and one from a lemon.  Plant each in a pot of moistened potting soil.  Stare at the pots each day until seedlings appear.  Then place the pots in bright light and grow as you would any house plant.  In a few years, the resulting grove of citrus trees in your living room will be a constant reminder that spending the winter in Florida may be better for your health than another winter in New England.

* Mix one tablespoon of a water-soluble fertilizer in one gallon of water.  Apply this solution to flowering houseplants such as amaryllis, cyclamen, poinsettia, African violets, gloxinias, and potted azaleas.  All that bloom will convince you that spring is just around the corner…or not.

* Start an exercise program by taking a daily walk around town and make a note of trees and shrubs with winter interest, that is, colorful fruit or bark, interesting branching patterns, and attractive shapes or forms.  Also, take notes on what your neighbors are up to.  That will make for interesting conversation and take your mind off your own problems.

* Try a little surgery on some of your houseplants.  Using a scalpel or sharp knife, carefully remove some shoots from potted geraniums, coleus, begonias, etc.  Root these in moist sand, vermiculite or in water.

* Pause and take deep breaths of purified air. However, before you start breathing, purify the air in your home by placing air-cleaning plants throughout the house.  Some of the best air-purifying plants are: spider plants, palms, Boston fern, English ivy, peace lily, weeping fig, and rubber plant.  Hmmm, it’s probably not a good idea to delay breathing before buying these air-purifying plants.

* Spend some time alone with plant catalogs and gardening books and draw up a plan for a new flower garden, one with a particular theme.  It may be a butterfly garden, a fragrant garden, a single-color garden, e.g. one with only white flowers, a garden of miniature or dwarf plants, or a memory garden, that is, one with plants you remember from your childhood.  However, the best theme may be a garden of medicinal herbs, ones that will cure the winter blues. 

It just occurred to me that I should have taken out some malpractice insurance before writing this column.

Ron Kujawski began gardening at an early age on his family's onion farm in upstate New York. Although now retired, he spent most of his career teaching at the UMass Extension Service. He serves on Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Advisory Committee. His book, Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, is available here.