14 lustout nawm Ml
Keeping the Fire Lit
How not to go stir crazy at this time of year
■ ou have the itch to get out there and
garden right now, don’t you? That’s
because you can’t. Well, you can, but
there’s not much to do out there plant­
wise. No planting or cultivating yet,
people, and no turning of soil. But if you have a win­
ter gardening itch, here are some ways to scratch it:
• Force bulbs indoors. It doesn’t take much
except some bulbs (try a hand full of paperwhites,
an amaryllis or several fragrant hyacinths), some
decorative gravel (try Ikea for great prices on tum­
bled stones or glass) and a shallow glass bowl (try
Goodwill). Just pour a layer of gravel into your
bowl, tuck in your bulbs (make sure they’re root
side down), then pour the rest of the gravel around
your bulbs. Fill with water up to the base of the
bulbs (not too high or they’ll mold) and tuck in
some moss. (Smith & Hawken at 26 N.W. 23rd
Place has dreamy lime green moss.) Keep it happy
in a light-filled window, and you’ll soon have the
scent of spring close by.
• Feed the birds. With suet, birdseed and, espe­
cially if you have over-wintering hummingbirds,
■
You CAN see
YOU
in the
mirror
again!
sugar water, the birds will definitely benefit from
a little love this time of year.
• Plant trees. If you don’t have trees of your
own to plant, get involved with Friends of Trees
with the added bonus of meeting your neighbors
and fellow Portlanders while you dig, plant and
mulch. (Bonus spaghetti feed afterward.)
• Wait to do your pruning until after
Presidents Day weekend. You’ll thank me when
that bitter frost crunches in Feb. 9.
• Stay off the soil. Walking on water­
logged soil at this time of year breaks down
the good stuff and will harden your clay soil,
making it unable to retain water this summer.
• Sit tight and do a little dreaming and
planning. Some of my favorite seed and plant
catalogs are One Green World, Territorial Seed
Company and High Country Gardens. Mmm,
new amaranth! Lots of juicy pretty things to
look at.
„ • Mark your calendars. The garden
shows that come in the bleakest time of year
encourage us gardeners, “Just hang on, spring
is around the comer.” ©
The P ortland Y ard , G arden and P atio
S how runs from Feb. 15 to 17 at the
Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E.
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The N orthwest F lower and G arden
S how runs from Feb. 20 to 24 at
Washington State Convention and Trade
Center, 800 Convention Place in Seattle.
This is the mother lode.
LIPOATROPHY (SUNKEN CHEEKS)?
L e A nn L ocher can be reached at
Growing an amaryllis indoors during the winter keeps
a feisty gardener busy.
sassygardener@gmail.com or on her gardening
journal at wwiv.sassygardener.com.
About Me
ou may have noticed I’m not Dirty Dan, the previous Just Out gardening writer. Alas, he’s gone on
to other pastures, and lucky you, get me.
My partner likes to say she just digs the holes and I direct, but the reality is, we both like to work in
our North Portland garden, and for me it’s really a passion. Together we’ve eradicated our lawn and
replaced it with a wildly out-of-control garden. I can be found at plant sales with my cart overflowing
with new finds, and I love visiting the gardens of others.
I’m not a fan of traditional gardening rules and regulations found in a lot of garden writing. For me,
gardening is fun, and you can just throw the rules out the window. If I want to plant edibles in my orna­
mental beds, so be it. And if the best light for vegetables is in our front yard, that’s where the raised beds
are going. If I want to plant a goth border of strange and unusual plants, I do.
Gardening is an adventure, a hobby, a creative outlet and something I’m avidly learning more about.
I’m certainly not a professional (I’m working on my Latin pronunciation, but it ain’t pretty), but my
friends know how much I love to garden and ask me for advice. I gladly pass it on because that’s just what
gardeners do. And 1 suppose that’s what this column will be: a place to pass along my discoveries,
favorites, visits to gardens (hopefully lots of queer ones) and nurseries. Feel free to drop me a line with
your questions; I’m sure I’ll have some sort of sassy, and hopefully helpful, answer.
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