What do you do to prepare your home or garden or yard for winter?

With one exception. I've got one geranium that I've managed to keep alive for five years now. I bring it inside each fall and baby it through the long winter. Between the limited natural sunlight of short days and the artificial sunlight from a specialty bulb, the geranium may not thrive but it survives. That month after I bring it in, however, while it's still in full bloom, is enough of a reward for the extra effort.

I normally put in one tomato plant each year. Because I don't start to get tomatoes until September, it doesn't make sense to to put in more. As it is, before the first frost, I end up harvesting all the tomatoes with even a hint of red color, wrapping them in newspaper and putting them in a dark place. That allows most of them to ripen (over several weeks) to a point where they can be enjoyed. (If you've never done this, the trick is to check the tomatoes every few day and catch them before they are fully ripened. You can finish them up on a windowsill if you have one. You want to make sure and use them before they start to rot,)
Depending upon the year and the weather, I might need to mow the yard one more time. I've been told it's a good idea to put down some weed-n-feed after the first snowfall, but I haven't tried it. Maybe this year.


And if you want to find out what are other authors have to say, check out the links below. I'm eager to find out what Lela Markham has to say. You can find her post at Lela Markham. You can check out her books while you're there, or catch them on Amazon. Lela on Amazon
Code for Link only:
get the InLinkz code
We plant our tomatoes in buckets to get around restraints like cool spring weather and frosts in early September. Tomatoes need darkness to fully ripen and that doesn't happen in Fairbanks until Labor Day weekend, so we lug the buckets into the family room when it starts frosting at night and get red tomatoes til October. Maybe give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to think about that for next year. How big of a bucket do you use?
DeleteGood advice on the tomatoes, P.J. Will have to try that.
ReplyDeleteNice post P.J! Lela, I've been thinking of using buckets to plant tomatoes. Have never tried it but I might give it a shot next year.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip on wrapping tomatoes in newspaper. Never heard of that. Thank you.
ReplyDelete