winter | The Bent Trowel
Hygge and Gardeners
In a way, I feel I have missed the boat on writing this post tonight. It’s more of a winter post of sorts, and since it certainly does not feel like winter in my part of the world, I feel like the timeliness of this blog post could be questioned. Haha!
However, it still is, technically, winter, so I am going say that I got it in just in time! And it’s really interesting to me that there is an actual word for something that seems to be not a “thing”, but a regular way of life. Boy, was I wrong!
Hygge, (pronounced hue-gah), is the Scandinavian concept of coziness, and taking pleasure in the ordinary, day to day things in life, including:
Warm blankets, socks
Hot cup of liquid– tea, coffee, hot chocolate
Enjoying good people around you
Hygge originated with the Danish, and it was their way of coping with long, dark winters. Now, I don’t know about you– but I think I have been living the Hygge way all along! Western New York winters can be brutal, and I love my big, warm socks and blankets for sure! And most winter nights, you will find us playing board games, or going bowling with friends or family. When it’s REALLY cold, I am drinking tea like there is no tomorrow!
So, that’s nice, but how does this pertain to gardening? Well, that’s where the “Bringing Outdoors In” comes in to play. Buy some houseplants, try indoor gardening, make a terrarium, you get the point. We as gardeners are constantly thinking about spring and the start of the new growing season. Winter tends to stymie the average gardener, but as I blogged about almost 3 years ago, houseplants can fill that void nicely!
Here are some houseplants that I am “wintering” — some belong on my patio. A fake reindeer pelt makes everything nice and cozy. It almost makes a great cat bed!
So, how do you “hygge”? What little things make you happy?
A little Saturday “Snow”ledge
The temperature at my house currently reads 2 degrees. It is awful, and you can barely step outside. If any of you are worried about your plants being harmed by the snow and cold, have no fear.
Snow is an insulator, a mulch of sorts. It protects your plants from winter’s harshness. It allows water to move efficiently through the root system. Bottom line: you want snow in winter, it does wonders for your garden!
Don’t worry, this little guy is going to be OK!
Have a great President’s weekend!
Winter Gardening: Zone Specific
February 9, 2016 February 10, 2016 / The Bent Trowel	/ 4 Comments
I hope everyone is having a great week. I just got my seed catalog in the mail the other day, and I am having a blast looking through it! Even though it really hasn’t felt like winter this year at all– no cross country skiing or snowshoeing — I don’t mind– the mild temperatures and actually being able to go outside and walk has been a plus for sure!
I am always looking for and researching topics that are informational and helpful to not only me, but you as a gardener. One of my first few posts I ever wrote was about growing zones. Even though we are on the home stretch and spring is right around the corner, I thought this article about winter gardening and your grow zones would be something to get you thinking about next year.
I would like to thank the people from over at fix.com with this great article that explains things a lot better than I could right now!
February 3, 2016 / The Bent Trowel	/ 1 Comment
Afternoon walks can be beautiful. Enjoy.
Ringing in the New Year with Indoor Projects
January 3, 2016 / The Bent Trowel	/ 10 Comments
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope your holiday season was wonderful! As always, it’s over as fast it comes. It was a whirlwind December at work, (as usual–always choatic at the end of the year), and with pretty much the first half of the year supposedly just as crazy, I thought I would concentrate on some small indoor projects that hopefully keep my sanity in check!
Christmas in our household was wonderful. My daughter got everything on her list from Santa. The only thing we didn’t get was snow.
After 8 weeks of germination, the apple seed my daughter brought home from school has finally been repotted. I hope it becomes a seedling in a couple of weeks.
Here’s hoping something starts sprouting soon!
I also purchased two amaryllis bulbs on clearance at the store right before Christmas, so I decided to try and see if they will blossom for me now. These two were a little different from the amaryllis I potted last year. I had a disc of dry medium in the box, and I had to add two and a half cups of water. It became dirt right before my eyes! LOL
Warning: This is not brownie mix!
So, here’s hoping they bloom for me!
The weather was warm right up until Christmas, and then this past New Year’s weekend, it became cold, snowy and windy. We really only have a dusting on the ground, but the wind chill really gets you!
Now is the time to start sketching out your garden plans. What do you have in mind? What are some of the projects you would like to complete this year? Stay tuned for my list!
On Saturday afternoon, I took advantage of the opportunity to do some snowshoeing while my daughter took her nap. As I lapped the little park I have all of my winter fun in, I noticed a small rainbow in the sky. It’s a special treat to see a winter rainbow, mainly because you don’t associate rainbows with winter. It takes you back to warm and rainy summer days that we are all longing for at this point in the season! Enjoy.
A small rainbow in a dusky sky made my day!
En”Deer”ing Friends and Your Garden – Winter Version
Another cold, winter week goes by, and I have noticed that hats, gloves, coats, mittens and boots wet with puddles dominate the landscape of my whole house. Scarves in the bedroom and living room, coats hung on the dining room chairs — you get the idea. I love winter, I love the change of scenery, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. My daughter loves it too, and plays in it with style:
She couldn’t help herself when we got back from the doctor’s the other day. Had to play on a snowy swing set!
The two aspects I don’t like about winter? Driving in it and deer.
Well, in my neighborhood, we have a severe deer problem. Overpopulation at its finest. They are a year round nuisance, (spring/summer versions will be coming), but they have been proving to be the most destructive in winter for my garden.
Every hunter’s dream — to have this big guy in your back yard!
–It’s winter, and food sources are scarce. If it’s a particularly cold winter, they will pretty much eat ANYTHING. Even the “deer resistant” plants that you purchase. They are so hungry, they will eat anything, including thorn bushes at times. They have massacred my holly bush, and that is supposed to be “deer resistant”. I even have chicken wire around it!
–You have a bird feeder around. Yes, I have a bird feeder, and this is where I found this “deer” friend 5 o’clock at night on Thanksgiving:
This grainy photo is evidence that my “deer” friends like eating out of my bird feeder.
They will eat your bird seed and then start scoping out the rest of your yard.
What I have learned about bird seed and deer. They tend to like the super cheap stuff you can get in the 20lb. bag for $6 bucks at any store. I have the pricier sunflower seed in my feeders now, and they don’t like that as much. They also do not like thistle seed either. I put some in last year to attract more finches.
So, how do you protect your plants against deer in the winter?
– Cover up. Burlap or any other full covering is the best protection in my opinion. I have fenced some other plants, including my holly bush, and they will avoid it as long as they can find other food. Once they can’t find anymore food, they will become aggressive and make their way into the wire. Now, fencing works for bigger things such as trees. Lesson Learned for me: burlap all of the smaller plants and bushes!
– If all else fails, just deal with it. If you have done everything on your part to keep the deer away, and they still are making problems for you, just worry about it in the spring when you can actually do something about it. The damage will be minimal if you have covered it up for the most part. Winter itself can do serious damage to your plants, so it’s a trade-off at one point or another. It will grow back, and if it doesn’t, you can always get a new one!
Disclaimer: Deer are really wonderful animals, but they are also very destructive when it comes to your landscape. As a gardener, you spend a lot of time and money trying to make your home and yard look beautiful. The intention of this post is to give you tips on how to deal and live with the deer you have in your neighborhood, without harming them.