need some help getting ready for fall / winter

hey everyone :o)
it won't be long till cold weather sits in around here . yuck :o(
for the last couple of years i have turned my kitchen into a makeshift greenhouse ...let me tell ya , it isn't a real convienent plan but it has saved several plants that would have otherwise bit the dust . i have promised myself that this year is going to be different and the kitchen will be used as just that ... a kitchen . i am not kidding you , last year my family wasn't served a meal at the table till april 15th (LOL)

i have heard that some people put plants under the crawl space of their house . is this true ? if so , i was wondering if this works for all plants ? what about light ?

my main concern is a tropical hibiscus and some banana trees . will the cold itself kill these or is it just the frost that will do it ? i have a wooden storage building that doesn't have any windows but would be a shelter from the frost . what do you all think ?

can't wait to hear some suggestions ... this is starting to keep me awake at night ( LOL )

thanks,
rachel

Rachel, first, Welcome to DG.

Second, my winter may not be like yours. (You can go to Preferences and enter your zone which will help us all.)

I do store some plants in the unheated garage... light doesn't matter, and I water them about once a month; they look pitiful by spring but do come back.

A garage in the basement probably doesn't get as cold as a crawl space or an outbuilding. I know Elena puts some things under her house in Nashville but I'm not sure what, or how protected it is.

Good Luck!

whoops :o) i should have listed my zone . i am in 7a.
i am going to add my zone right now :o)
thanks for the welcome and responding to my post , darius

rachel.

This message was edited Sep 11, 2004 8:49 PM

I store my brugs and bulbs in my crawl space here in zone 4 and they do okay. I have lost a few brugs, but not that many. Our crawl space is dark and unheated, but stays about 50 degrees in the winter months.

Once it starts freezing at night, I put the ones that aren't going to bloom in the dark garage and cut back on the water to start them going dormant. After they have lost their leaves I put them in the crawl space and water only about once a month and don't give them alot.

The brugs that are going to bloom get to come in the house until they are done, then they get the garage/crawl space treatment also.

When I bring them out in the spring, I give them a good shot of water and fertilizer and soon they start to put out leaves again.

I don't know what types of perennials you are thinking of doing this with, but just wanted to pass along that it does work for my brugs.

Good luck!

thanks joan ,
i have some elephant ears , cannas , bananas & tropical hibiscus that i need to find a warm spot for . as for the ee's and cannas , i just stored the bulbs last year but even storing the bulbs took up space in my utility room .
i have stawberry plants that i started from seeds taken off a "grocery strore bought" strawberry that hasn't produced fruit yet . ( it might not , but i was just kind of experimenting with it anyways) but this is just another thing i don't want to bring in the house . let's see ... what else ... i have some pineapple mint in a container that i don't want to put in the ground because i would just assume it didn't get out of control :o) i can't think of anything else right this minute . oh yea , what about annuals like petunias ? could they possibly be overwintered and brought back for the next year ? or do they quit after one go around ?

thanks you all :o)

I think you may need to store your ee's and cannas every year. I don't know how cold your winters get, but they are pretty tender.

The strawberries I would plant outside now, and they'll have plenty of time to root in before it gets into any major winter. I'm still planting things way up here and they should come back just fine next spring as long as they have time to get adjusted and settled in.

I planted my mints in the ground, but cut the bottoms out of some very large nursery pots and dug a hole, put the pot in and then planted the mints in there. So far it's keeping them pretty well contained. Well, the ones I still have left anyway. I'm having trouble with some of the mints, as they don't come back for me every year. I've got the chocolate, pineapple, spearmint and peppermint going strong. The apple mint I replanted this year and hope it comes back. I've lost my banana mint, orange mint, grapefruit mint, lemon mint, lime mint and some others that I can't remember right now. I'm a little discouraged about that because I LOVE the mints and pick them flavoring tea. Heck, sometimes when I'm working outside I like to pick some leaves and chew on them. Very refreshing. Everyone talks about how invasive they are, but I've not seen that yet. My problem is keeping them alive.

I think the petunias and other annuals won't come back again, but they are so readily available in the spring and cheap that I don't worry about them. Annuals tend to complete their life cycle in one year and are done.

I have kept some of my geraniums over by taking them out of the dirt and hanging them upside down in the basement. I did this a couple years ago and I think I got about 3 out of 12 to start growing again in the spring. Not a good average, so I haven't done that again. They are also pretty reasonable in the spring, so I just buy new ones.

Not sure if this helps or not. Hopefully someone closer to your zone will pop in here with some better advise for you.

thanks joan ,
i haven't tried the mint in tea yet , the idea didn't even occur to me . i just love to smell it while i am outside . actually i didn't like the smell at first , it just grew on me i guess :o)

i have been hearing from other folks around here that they heavily mulch their ee's and canna's with no trouble but i am not taking the risk ( i will store them in my sock drawer if i have to :o)

i had a feeling i was out of luck on the petunias . but you never know till ya ask :o)

thanks for the help ,
rachel

tngreenthumbs said:
"( i will store them in my sock drawer if i have to :o)"
LOL ...now THAT'S a spot I hadn't thought of...and, you know, it might just be the RIGHT temperature! :-D

~julie~

LOL ... ya do what ya gotta do . right ? ;o)

Yep! LOL
~julie~

Welcome, Rachel! I see you've got most of your questions answered already. Just wanted to add that my MIL in NE leaves her cannas in the ground, as well as her hostas, bleeding heart, coral bells, irises, and all lilies. As for the others (EE, Hib. and Bananas), I took a chance last year and left my EE in the ground, as well as my Hib. and got lucky, I think. I'd THINK your little wooden shed would be enough to keep them ok, but I'd wrap them in newspaper and maybe put them in a cardboard box... but I don't know how that'd be by spring. Just a thought... As for the Bananas, I don't have any, but have seen people here cut them to the ground and wrap them in sheets or blankets. Not too pretty to look at but they sure have gorgeous Bananas in season!

Joan, I have some orange mint and an Eau d'Cologne I'd be happy to share with you. I LOVE my spearmint and orange mint in tea!! I've lost my pineapple and apple mint 2 or 3 times and have had to replace them. Wonder if bringing them in for winter would help?

I'm in Texas (Zone 7b/8a) and have some questions too about getting ready for fall/winter here. I've lost plants the past two winters, so I think it's high time I got a little help (a tad embarrassed! lol)

Ok, first... I realize that I planted some things in the wrong place and want to move them to better locations for next spring. Question is: WHEN should I do this? Would now be best, since we still have at LEAST a good month before temps get under 50 at night?

Second, I am not really even sure WHEN to sow my fall sown seeds (like daisies, alliums, campanulas, delphiniums, penstemons, etc.) for my zone. I know it's fall, but does that mean like late September? or NOW? or late October? I have NO idea when I need to get these in the ground, but since I was too late last year, I refuse to miss them again.

Third, do you water your plants (in my zone, I mean) all winter? Once a month? Not at all? I haven't a clue! And don't want to lose anything else!

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Happy Fall, Ya'll!
~ Carole

carole , i hope you get your questions answered because i would like to hear the answers as well :o)
i would think you could move stuff even after the temps drop .
i always heard that planting and transplanting was fine as long as the ground isn't frozen. so you shouldn't have a problem but you will want a second opinion on that .
do a google search for winter sowing and that might help you with the seed sowing.