Rosemary Winter Bliss

Rosemary is always a struggle here in New England. It thrives in the summer and then we shock the poor plant by bringing it indoors and asking it to survive for months until Spring comes again.

I get frequent questions at the store about where to keep it, how to care for it and many laments about how it "always dies". I've had those years as well where everything seems to be going fine and then the telltale dropping of leaves. I've been known to beg the rosemary to just stay alive for a little longer!

But this year I seemed to have found the perfect spot with good temperatures and moisture. I came home from Florida at the end of January to find my large rosemary in bloom. It bloomed all through February, bringing a smile to my face every day as I walked by and is still blooming. I've never had my rosemary bloom over the winter so this is a real treat for me.

So here are my tips on how to keep the rosemary going.

1. Preparing it to be brought inside.

This is important. I generally repot and trim back the rosemary, and then gradually accustom it to less light by keeping it outside but moving to a more shaded spot. Once I bring it indoors, I will occasionally put it outside on a nice day, which I consider over 50 degrees.

2. Location.

As they say in real estate, location, location, location. I look for a place that gets as much natural light as possible. Since my rosemary is very large and heavy, I'm limited by places it can go. This year it is in an unheated, glassed in sunroom which seems to be working.

3. Temperature.

Rosemary can be kept cool, and I find this seems to help it through the winter. An unheated room is fine. Since mine is against a glass pane I do lightly cover it if the temperatures are in the teens or below.

4. Moisture.

This is a tricky one. Rosemary likes to be fairly dry, but cannot be left to dry out completely. Especially when it is in a fairly cold temperature location it can be difficult to know when and how much to water. I water once a week or week and a half, lightly so the soil is moist but not wet.

5. Humidity.

One of the things that does seem to keep the rosemary happy over the winter is a high humidity level. If your rosemary is in the house, the liklihood of it drying out just from the heating in the house is high. I mist the plant to keep it moist or it can be put on a tray filled with water and rocks. Just make sure the rosemary is on the rocks and not sitting in the water and the evaporation of the winter will help keep it moist.

So let me know, what tips do you have and how does your rosemary grow?

Seeds, Glorious Seeds

Sometimes I just love snowstorms. I started this blog a week ago, but have been too busy to sit down and finish it. But snow days make me stop running around, stay in and I finally have some time to get some things done. Like this blog! And I find the garden breathtaking in the snow. I leave some echinacea heads purposely for winter interest (and the birds) and the hawthorn tree, fence and woods all look lovely covered with snow. Sitting by the fire, gazing at the snow covered garden with the snow falling is very peaceful and calming.

But this blog was about seeds. I put in the store seed order last week, a bit late (I left all my order info at home by mistake when I went to Florida) but in plenty of time for starting indoors. It's always a dilema - what to buy, how many, and trying to predict what people will want to grow this year. On the upside, it's wonderful to be able to order freely not having to think about what will fit in my garden or how many seedlings can I fit under the grow lights. For the store, I can buy everything I want. On the downside, it's hard to know what will sell and to make sure not to have too many left at the end of the season (which become my personal stash for next year).

But there are limits to how much I can buy, so I have to make the tough decision such as what types of basil (there are so many) and why didn't people seem interested in purple basil last year? It's so beautiful in the garden, delicious and makes a great herb vinegar in a beautiful red color. I like to have different things along with the usual parsley, cilantro, etc. so I'm trying a purple throated mullein this year and a Hopi ceremonial tobacco. Will others think these sound as interesting to try in the garden as me? Sure hope so!

I started selling more vegetable seeds last year and they were very popular. I primarily stock the heirloom and rarer types. I get all my seeds from Seeds of Change they are certified organic, well packaged and I appreciate the company's efforts to preserve biodiversity and support sustainable organic agriculture. And if people don't buy all these great heirloom seeds, they won't keep offering them I'm sure so I see it as my little part in keeping these alive.

So what did I order this year? Several bush beans - Jacob's cattle, a traditional heirloom and Tendergreen, another heirloom with purple specks that is purported to be "a great mainstay for the home garden". The usual rainbow colored chards, a rare medicinal burdock, Takinogawa Gobo, and Shiraz Tall Top beets with great tops and roots. How to pick among so many cucumbers? When in doubt, I pick what I would like to have in my garden (and will have) and picked a Lemon cucumber, Satsuki Madori, a rare Asian variety with few seeds and Smart Pickle, an early maturing pickling cuke. Same with tomatoes, so many choices so I picked a few heirloom cherries and slicing tomatoes. I rounded it out with some pumpkins, spinach, squash, kale, peas, watermelon, peppers, chicory and eggplant. A good selection of greens with lettuces, arugula, komatsuna, mizuna and mesclun mix rounded out the veggies.

And then there's the flowers. I stick to the edibles pretty much with a good selection of nasturiums, including a new Peach Melba which looks so pretty in the picture, an edible sunflower and lemon and tangerine gem marigolds. Calendula and foxglove round out the flowers with one of my old fashioned favorites, Love Lies Bleeding.

So I'm anxiously waiting for them to arrive and get some started. I try not to start my seeds too early and am already feeling the itch to get some going. But I'm holding back and getting my supplies all set. How many times have I had seedings too large for their little pots ready to go in the garden in April? One too many so I have learned to wait and work on the garden layout for the year. Maybe the topic of the next blog!