What to do indoors when its dark - Garden related!!

[veggiechicken]

The clocks have gone back, the evenings are dark and we have to wait 5 months for the Spring leap forward.
How can we keep our gardening habit alive through winter? Or do you hibernate
What can we do during the dark evenings to prepare for spring?
Please share your ideas

[Guest]

Things I tend to do:-

Make preserves and stuff ourselves silly (the whole haven't I done well to grow this type thing )
Dry, bag, swap and generally play with seeds (its fun at anytime)
Read lots of gardening books.

Things I aim/ would like to do

Try BMs seed tapes
Get paper pots made in readiness
Veg sprouts (shoots not brussels)
Micro veg and pea shoots (I really don't attempt any growing in winter )

[bramble]

Well for me I bring any Chill plants I am trying to overwinter up to the conservatory as we useally have the rad turned on and it also gets heat from the kitchen.
I also do the same with some of my Fuschia and Geraniums.
This year I am going to grow a selection of baby veg leaves for stir fries, salads and a vitamin boost as they say there are more concentrated vitamins in young leaves.
Also, after reading the thread about growing pips and nuts I will be trying this as well
Last but not least I will be growing as many herbs as possible.
Its not the lack of heat for me but the low light levels. But half of the fun is about trying.

[Small pumpkin]

Spend hours & hours going through seed catalogs paper Ones and online.
Make a plan for the veg bed rotation.
A plan for location of veg in each bed.
sort out all last years plant labels into re use, clean off writing & re use, chuck it out it's had its day ( twice).
Work out how meany of each veg you are going to grow ( then ignore it ).
Sorting out all the seeds you already have. At least once a week ( I really need to get a life)
The most fun I have, and am in the process of doing now is to Design shelving/ platform/ growing frames that I want in my garden next year. Then hand them to the other half, " make that "

[JanieB]

I haven't been able to grow anything for 3 years, but I will have my garden back by the spring so I can start in earnest.

On my lounge window at the moment I have an amaryllis which I've just repotted and started watering, a small flowering succulent from my granddaughter, and a chilli that I'm trying to overwinter.

As soon as the builders have finished the kitchen, I'm getting the son of the groundworker back with his digger to level the garden and then I'll put in a greenhouse or polytunnel (haven't decided which yet).

So my winter gardening will be designing it.

[susieq100]

Make resolutions about keeping notes regarding planting dates and varieties of things I have planted - then promptly forget them in the excitement of planting, potting on etc.
Read gardening blogs for good ideas.
Read gardening books to kid myself that I will be better informed!
Long for spring.

[WPG]

I've got into a habit at this time of year of rinsing all my plastic pots and seedtrays, leaving them to soak in the bath with a pack of baby-bottle sterilising tablets, and then sorting by size and stacking by radiators to dry.

[vixylix]

lots of reading - books and on here. Also overwintering chillis, growing herbs indoors and staring at my winter veg in the garden seeing if they're doing anything!

I've sorted my seeds into planting months so looking forwards to the things that can be started in January - mostly shallots and chillies!

[4390evans]

I loose the will to do anything in the darker part of the year, so I lay on the sofa watching re-runs of monty and beech grove I also read. I've been thinking of taking up a florist course but I hate going out on the dark nights (they are all night classes, with me working etc). Last winter I lay out how I wanted the garden to look this year and what type of plants and veg I wanted in it and where it was going to go, so this year I might do the same with the pond seen as we didn't manage to get it in this year.

If anyone has nothing to do over the winter and has the energy, Ive got two terrible toddlers they can have till summer

[KevinM67]

I've got into a habit at this time of year of rinsing all my plastic pots and seedtrays, leaving them to soak in the bath with a pack of baby-bottle sterilising tablets, and then sorting by size and stacking by radiators to dry.

Wow, those winter nights must fly by !!

[veggiechicken]

^^^ That's tickled me, Kevin.
I'm trying not to imagine WPG, sitting in the bath, surrounded by flowerpots, playing boats with them

[KevinM67]

^^^ That's tickled me, Kevin.
I'm trying not to imagine WPG, sitting in the bath, surrounded by flowerpots, playing boats with them

I'ts the poor baby I feel sorry for.

[skeggijon]

So much to do and so little time to do it!
I'll be putting on my head - light and using my floodlights to keep working the plot. I've also got lights in the biggest of the polytunnels so I can keep pottering.
The main problem will be that with a 'new' old house to do up, my gardening will be interrupted with decorating, sanding and fixing.
At least we have a decent sized conservatory at the new place, which will need populating with plants

[Lumpy]

Sit and imagine a very large garden and already own a mini digger, dumper truck and perfect soil.

[Jungle Jane]

I've got a few things growing so I'l be caring for those throughout the winter. Wondering about starting these strawberry seeds off in January under lights (got 2 months to wonder). I usually have a look at the rhs award winning variety list,google the varieties,write a list of varieties I want,including old favourites like red duke of York potatoes & sweet million tomatoes. At the moment I've been googling early maturing tomatoes. I should get more organised,I have little bits of paper everywhere with plant names/crop rotation plans of my garden,but I'l make new plans,I like planning where things will go in the garden & making a monthly seed sowing list with all my seeds so I know when to sow.