I know, I complain about winter every year, but let’s be honest: it has few redeeming qualities. I worried that being stuck in the house with a newborn would be depressing this winter; thankfully, I’ve actually been quite active and upbeat. However, the dreary days and long nights always have me dreaming of short sleeves and sunny skies. And despite being a brown thumb, somewhere around January I always imagine all the green things I would like to try my hand at keeping alive the next season. And if I get an early start on the vegetation, even better. I can brown-thumb my nose at winter’s last dregs and scoff in defiance at the cold.
As usual, my main act of winter defiance for the last three years has been overwintering my beloved, bedraggled hibiscus inside. It has survived my best attempts to kill it, but this year it faced its biggest threat ever:
Yes. The hands of a toddler are the greatest nemesis to this tropical specimen. Fortunately, he has (sort of) absorbed the concept of “gentle;” we have practiced gentle touch of plant leaves and litte sister limbs on end in the last few months. Sadly, a few leaves have succumbed to the finite willpower of a one-year-old, but overall he has been quite good to leave it alone.
I also tried to prune the gangly limbs a bit this year, hoping to coax a little bit fuller growth. Once I moved it to a sunnier locale, it has put out a few new leaves and even a bud, but it really won’t take off again until it can go back outside when it’s warm.
The fiddle leaf fig, my second-most prized greenery, has been rather ho-hum for a while. It hasn’t keeled over, but it hasn’t exactly thrived, either. It gets mediocre sun and a constant hot draft from a baseboard heater, but it’s hanging in there. However, last week it put out two new leaves! FLFs are kind of finicky and can be slow growing, so new leaves are noteworthy events at the Taylor house. This exciting development may or may not have coincided with the acquisition of a new, dedicated watering can for our indoor plants, which otherwise may or may not have previously gotten most of their hydration from toddler drool. I may or may not be the greatest at watering house plants…
However, my most exciting act of winter defiance this year has been the new Aerogarden my MIL got us for Christmas this year. This is a complete countertop hydroponic growing system for aspiring gardeners and cooks such as myself. You can grow fresh veggies and herbs right in your kitchen all year round. For my first round of planting in ours, I tried lettuce and a few herbs. It has been quite impressive to watch. In just three weeks, my sprouts went from this:
With just three separate lettuce pods, I have enough for fresh side salads a couple of times per week. And if you harvest carefully, the plants keep growing and producing more without having to start over. I also have one basil pod, which has grown so much I’ve had to prune it three times. I’m rooting the cuttings in water, so in addition to the main plant still growing in the Aerogarden, I’ll have three more plants I could pot on their own in a few weeks.
Those are the highlights of Winter Defiance 2017. I just noticed yesterday the faint hint of tiny nubs emerging from the barren limbs of trees surrounding our house. Apparently winter’s days are numbered, and I can’t wait to take a leaf out of Hudson’s book and wave it “bye-bye.”
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