Moxie Gardener

Garlic Chive seedlings satisfy my need to grow something this winter.

There is no winter garden in Minneapolis.  Nothing that is actually growing, anyway.  The ground is frozen solid, covered with several inches of snow and probably will be for another three months.

In fall when the days get shorter, I always mourn the end of the gardening season.  Somehow, I find myself going through the phases of grief, grieving for the loss of the actively growing landscape.

After the steamy nights of summer, the cool nights of fall are a shock.  Then, the warm days of fall lull me into a false sense of security.  Winter will not come this year.  Or if it does, it will be mild, mild, mild.  A severe state of “cold-weather denial,” plain and simple.

Each morning I ask for one more frost-free day.  So many crops near maturity.  Just a few more anomalous summer-like fall days.  I promise to be good, if only we have a few more hot, sunny days.

As the autumn cool-weather crops come into their peak of flavor, I feel a little guilty about wanting hot summer weather to continue.  Honestly, are we not sick of zucchini and eggplant?

When the first frost hits, I always feel a little anger at the loss of so many flowers everywhere in the city.  Why can’t their owners cover them?  We could enjoy them for a few more weeks of warm autumn days, if only they’d been protected from that early frost….

As the falling leaves pile up in my garden and make their presence known with my every movement, I feel a sense of unhappiness, even depression, at the loss of my garden.  The lush vibrancy it had this summer is no more.

Depression gives way to resignation as I realize that even the cool weather crops have stopped actively growing.

Finally, I accept the end of this year’s gardening season, but only after the ground freezes solid and snow covers my garden.

For the next three to four months, all growing is done indoors, preferably under lights.  This year the houseplants and overwintering Rosemary and parsley weren’t enough.  I planted seeds.  Garlic chive seeds, gathered from my garden in September.

They’ve already germinated and are doing quite nicely under my fluorescent lights.  I expect to snip off enough to sprinkle on a salad or soup in about two or three weeks.

I grow food because I can’t not grow food.  Even in December in Minneapolis.

Pot Maker

Last spring I purchased a Pot Maker from www.lehmans.com, the website of an Ohio hardware store that specializes in selling historical tools and implements that are no longer manufactured anywhere else, although they offer products more widely available as well.  Lehman’s started in 1955 as a resource for the Amish community and have grown to be known all over the world.  I urge anyone interested in self-sufficiency and natural living to check them out.

The Pot Maker uses strips of newspaper to fabricate pots for starting seeds and growing on small seedlings for the garden.  The mechanism consists of a turned wood “peg” with a concave circle carved out of the underside and matching wood base with a convex circle that matches the peg. 

Peg bottom and base

Newspaper is rolled around the peg, the bottom folded under and the peg inserted into the base to “set” the shape of the pot.  Once I fine-tuned the size of the newspaper strips, I found it easy to use and the pots quite adequate for starting seeds.  My how-to follows.

1. Cut strips of newspaper 14 1/2″ X 7″ and fold in half lengthwise.
2. Place the pot maker peg on top of the paper, with the fold lined up with the top of the “pot” part of the peg piece.
3. Roll the newspaper around the peg.  The dimensions given make a pot where the newspaper is rolled around the peg twice.  Since the strip of newspaper is doubled to begin with, you end up with a four layer paper pot.  I found this to make a sturdier pot that does not fall apart if you pick it up or move it, especially when filled with wet soil.
4. Still holding the newspaper tight around the peg, fold the paper overhanging the bottom of the pot in four stages at 12, 6, 9, and 3 o’clock, much like you do when gift wrapping.
5. Insert the peg into the base and press down firmly and twist both directions a little.
6. Still holding the peg in the base, wrap your hand around the paper pot and carefully remove the peg.  You’ll need to shimmy it a little to get it out.

The first pot I made wasn’t pretty.  It took a couple tries to get it right.

Because newspaper absorbs water, your pots will be damp to the touch when the soil inside is damp.  I found this a convenient indicator of the need to water.  However, make sure the pots don’t touch each other; good air circulation will discourage mold.  Some of my pots that were placed too close together began to grow mold, but the simple act of placing them far enough away for air to circulate around them killed the mold.

Write the name and variety right on the pot with water-proof marker before you water thoroughly.  No need for pot markers that can lead to mislabeled plants.

When I planted my spring-started plants this year I ripped the newspaper pots off the plants before I set them in the ground.  I suppose you could set the pots right in the ground instead, but I like to introduce the plant’s roots to the surrounding garden soil as soon as possble without making them work for it.  Newspaper will deteriorate, but not soon enough for the plants, in my opinion.

I recommend the Pot Maker to anyone interested in starting seeds for planting out spring or fall.  You’ll save money by not purchasing peat pots and save the environment by not purchasing plastic pots and also by recycling newspaper into quite adequate seed starting pots.