Warding of Winter Doldrums

[productivegardener]

Here in zone 6a a couple mornings below 20 degrees have pretty much finished off even my hardy fall veggies. Now I must settle back and wait for spring. Seed catalogues are beginning to trickle in as a reminder of the upcoming gardening season.

What are you guys doing related to gardening to ward off the winter doldrums?

I'm considering growing microgreens indoors under artificial lighting. I'd love to hear what you do to keep you thumbs green.

 

[MoonShadows]

I have an indoor kitchen garden that I grow lettuce and spinach in during the winter. I also insulated and built cold frames in my greenhouse....but, am still not finished with everything, so I don't have a crop in there yet. Here are a couple of pics of my winter kitchen garden, and you can see what I am doing in my greenhouse at https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/roof-vents-vs-exhaust-fan.12390/

 

[productivegardener]

Kudos to you on both winter projects. I definitely need to try indoor greens this year. The greenhouse will have to wait for a few years.

I'd be interested in follow-up on what you can achieve over winter in your greenhouse as I am in the same zone as you.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Related to gardening in the winter I actually do very little due to our climate but I do enjoy myself in my workshop repairing/rebuilding machines and lots of assorted projects. Last winter I finally got around to sorting out water ingress into the garage; I removed a section of base wall at a time installing a plastic drain at the very base of the cavity then replacing sodden bricks with engineering bricks bedded in waterproof mortar adding a new DPC; this involved about 14' of foundation bricks; the plastic drain will now discharge any water entering the cavity into the driveway but I also located the water entry and made good the mortar joints so no water since and this is just another of one of my solutions to a tricky problem costing very little indeed other than a lot of grafting.

With the water ingress now sorted and the new Yeti sleeping out I set about converting the garage into a full time workshop adding new benches and cupboards; I also completely rebuilt the DeWalt RAS and Shopsmith installing new bearings and electrics as required.

Small jobs I get dropped in for by neighbours like our immediate neighbour who was most upset having spilled nail varnish remover onto one of her nest tables completely ruining the top. I took it back to bare timber; stained then finished it as seen in the pictures; this neighbour lives on her own so Bron and I help out.

Tomorrow I plan to sharpen my petrol hedge trimmer blades then I'll possibly resume work on a home made router table so although I do little in the garden during winter I do plenty in the workshop.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[marlingardener]

Winter doldrums? My husband does much work like Colin--repair, refurbish, and tidy up the workshop. I clean, de-clutter, try to tidy up the barn, and bake breads. We usually have something going in the garden, even if it's only broccoli and lettuces. I also prune like crazy--our shrubs get overgrown really fast!

 

[Tjohn]

I plant lettuce and basil in my Aerogarden just for fun....

 

[MoonShadows]

We got rid of our chickens this year. Their run (10' x 16') has become an area where we planted grapes. Their coop (10' x 8') has become our garden shed. The old garden/tool shed....I hope to convert to a wood workshop over this winter.

 

[alp]

Will sow some more salad leaves and might even leave the LED lights on to see if I can have a better harvest.