Winter Indoor Gardening Ideas, Part 1

Hello & welcome if this is your first visit. Welcome back if you've stopped by before!

In addition to growing delicious sprouts for your salads, there are lots of other indoor gardening projects you can work on over the winter months. One of the things I've really enjoyed over the years is "forcing" spring flowering bulbs to bloom inside the house much earlier than they would if outside in a flower bed.

This picture above was taken in bright sun on January 31, 2010. I took the planter box outside for the day and placed it at the kitchen window.

 Many of the "big box" stores display tulip, daffodil, hyacinth and other spring flowering bulbs in late summer for fall planting. By mid to late October, it's time for them to clear space for the holiday season and the bulbs are reduced in price for quick sale. I look for bags of bulbs at least 50% of the original retail price. Leave the bulbs in their bag or box. Put them in a corner of your refrigerator. Keep the bulbs in the refrigerator for six to eight weeks.  Have one of your outside garden planter boxes filled with soil and ready for the bulbs. Take the bulbs out of the refrigerator in late December or January and plant them about 75% down in the box. Plant with the pointed end of the bulb up. It doesn't matter if a little of it is above the soil line. Put the box in the sunniest place in your house and put them outside on bright days when you know the temperatures are not going to go below 40 f.  Keep the soil moist, but not wet. You don't want your bulbs to rot. If conditions are right, your bulbs will sprout, grow and bloom in four to six weeks.

WARNING: Many plants are poisonous for cats, dogs and kids. Daffodils are one of those plants. Use great caution if you have pets or small children in the house who might be prone to trying to eat them.

Next: Winter Indoor Gardening Ideas, Part 2