‘Tis the season for armchair gardening--or in my case, desk chair gardening while planted in front of the computer. Bonus points for scowling out the window at the rain and/or snow and/or wind that keeps me from doing real gardening.
Winter is a good time for various garden projects that don’t require a pickaxe to get through frozen ground and that will not result in frostbite. Here are some of the best ones I’ve found in my cruising of the interwebs:
Make a Worm Composter for Less than Five Bucks - Attainable Sustainable
Simple project to create a worm composter from plastic buckets. This is a great project, especially since worm composters sell at nurseries for about $100.
Build a D.I.Y. Lighting System - from You Grow Girl
Gayla Trail explains how she built a DIY lighting system for overwintering tropical plants and starting seeds using materials readily available at hardware and home improvement stores. Or, if you’d like to build the shelves from scratch, check out Build Your Own Simple Seed Starting Shelves from Common Sense Homesteading.
How to Make Birdseed Christmas Ornaments - from eHow
Yeah, I know - Christmas is over. But you can make these in any shape you want, so think of them as homemade bird feeders rather than Christmas ornaments. Bonus: the first recipe on this page contains no peanut butter, so if you (like me) have family members who are allergic to peanuts, you can still do this project.
How to Plan Your Garden - from We Got Real
A nice introduction to planning a vegetable garden. I recommend looking at lots of other sites on garden planning too (and Pinterest. Of course Pinterest) for ideas. I’ve been spending some of these cold winter days planning a pond.
How to Make Upcycled Canning Lid Plant Markers - from Homespun Seasonal Living
A great use for used canning jar lids - requires only one tool (an awl) and 3 other items (jar lids, twine or yarn, and a permanent marker). Now that’s my kind of project!
And then there’s one of my favorite winter gardening activities: reading gardening books. Here are a few best-of-2016 lists to jumpstart your winter reading:
- Best Books of 2016: Gardening - The Financial Times
- The Best Gardening Books of 2016 - The Guardian
- The Best Gardening Books of 2016 - BFC Green
- Top 10 Craft and Gardening Books: 2016 - Booklist
Now go rock these winter days!
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