Why am I posting a picture of some scraggly-looking Pelargoniums? Well, this is my first attempt at overwintering and I wanted to share my progress. I seem to have overcome the worm infestation (you can still see a little of the Dipel powder I hit the plants and worms with). I fed the plants about a month ago and they put out quite a bit of growth. This is the sunniest spot in my basement and the plants, though a bit spindly, seem reasonably happy. Every so often, I do check if they need water and I rotate the plants 90 degrees.
In other basement news, I've started to think about my little seedling nursery. I put together this comically delicate worktable, made out of an old door and some scrap wood. I bought two different kinds of 4 foot flourescents (cool and warm spectrum), as suggested by some helpful Home Depot guy. I also bought a timer this year (instead of mostly forgetting to turn off the lights at night like I did last year) and another shop light fixture (I'm doubling my seedling capacity!). Combined with an old fan, I hope to have the makings of a seedling factory. I've already ordered and received some seeds from Pinetree Gardens, so despite the winter gloom, the gardening will begin again pretty soon!-SG
Hi! I think you will have nice plants in spring. I tried 3 ways of keeping geraniums through winter: 1-in pots, 2-hanging plants in the basement on the wire hangers upside down and 3-just keeping them dry in a basket. In cases 2 and 3, I dig the plants out, shake soil, and let the plants dry. They look pretty dead! I plant them in spring, cut off the branches almost to the ground (leave about 2"), and new grows appear! Success rate is about 80%. Plants in the pots, even big ones - I let them dry, too. Cut in spring, start watering. So, the plants are almost neglected through the winter. Yours take some of your time, but look good, and they'll be established earlier, I think. Happy gardening!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the info. I did read about the other ways to save them, but the way I chose seemed the least risky. Next year, I was thinking I would do the shake-out-and-stick-somewhere method (if this batch makes it through).
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