Don’t put your garden to bed, bring it indoors

Preserves, pickles and sauces all in tidy rows in the pantry. Potatoes and carrots stored in a cool, dark corner. Herbs and cut flowers hung to dry. Hedges trimmed, grass mown, shrubs pruned, bulbs tucked in among the perennials, spades and hoes stowed in the shed.

The business of summer passes, permitting us, at last, time to enjoy our gardens.

Relaxed and smiling, we (naively) expect to enjoy a leisurely season of late-blooming lilies, a second flush of clematis or roses, fall flowering bulbs, vibrant red, gold, and orange leaves, wonderful sunny days and absolutely no mosquitoes. We retire of an evening warm and contented and arise the next morn to discover our beautiful garden is shrouded in cold, sterile white. Endless dark days are upon us, forever vistas in black and white.

Those fortunate among us escape to the leis and pineapples of Hawaii for Christmas or to a time-share condo in Florida to bask in sunlight throughout January and February.

Those who are left behind exchange rakes for snow shovels and envelope themselves in polar fleece cocoons awaiting the return of sunlight and color. I’m usually one of those left behind, and despite the fact that the severely shortened days are often graced with sunlight dazzlingly reflected off the ever-deepening snow, the shadowed sepia world can be almost beyond endurance.

Still, I have managed to survive a half-century of these winters, partly by preserving a portion of summer to bring indoors.

Many garden plants can be brought indoors entirely intact. Tomatoes, especially cherry, will continue bearing indoors in a large, south-facing window. Herbs, such as parsley, sage, mint and thyme will do nicely on a windowsill. Rosemary is especially nice when it’s kept in a pot, with the whole pot being put out each summer where it will, in a few years, grow into a nice shrub.

In fact, any perennial herb can be returned to the garden in the spring, either still potted or back into the ground.

Geraniums do nicely on a bright windowsill and may bloom on for several weeks.

Tea roses can come in, but they will require supplemental light in addition to a south-facing window in order to bloom.

Fuchsias and begonias, although customarily wintered in a dormant state, will be happy enough and continue blooming in a sunny window.

Spring-flowering bulbs such as tulips, crocuses and daffodils can be planted in containers for indoor use. They should be left outdoors until the end of November in their containers before bringing them in to grow.

A late-planted lily will also do just fine on a well-lit windowsill. Both of these can replace the tomato when it is finished or other spent flowers and harvested vegetables, and can then be planted into the garden in the spring.

I have planted lobelia, pansies and violas, marigolds, calendula, nemesia and other miscellaneous flowers, green onions, garlic, leaf lettuce and spinach, green beans and even snap peas indoors with a varying degree of success.

I have found that root crops require more than their fare share of window space and produce poorly, if at all, so they are out.

Now that every available windowsill is full, how does one keep this indoor garden healthy?

For a start, do not bring in any plants (except the bulbs) without hardening them to the warmer, dryer indoor climate. A good way to do this is to carry the pots in by night and out by day. After a week to 10 days, the plants should be somewhat acclimatized and can begin occupying their allotted window space. If a plant has been dug from the garden to be potted, it has already received a shock and will do better if left outdoors for a week to adjust to the pot before beginning the acclimatization process. Once established indoors, your charges will need to be watered regularly, and most will benefit from a weekly application of liquid fertilizer. The herbs and bulbs, however, will grow rampant with anything more than a monthly feed.

Turn each plant in its window weekly to provide even light.

By January, most of the plants (the vegetables should have been eaten) will have grown lanky and will require a light pruning and, in mid-March, when the light has increased enough for new growth to be stockier, prune them again to about one-third of their size.

This winter, ignore the darkness, ignore the cold and the snow, stop pining for Hawaii and enjoy your own private garden retreat.

Hally Truelove is a Master Gardener and Plants Woman who lives and gardens in Wasilla Alaska with her two daughters, a handful of cats, a bunch of bunnies, some guinea pigs, a dog and a frog. Contact her at 376-0909.