Happy New Year!

Wow, last year was such a whirlwind, and I am so excited about all the fun things this year has in store. I hope your new year is off to a wonderful start! Holiday hussle and bussle aside, things have been relatively slow-paced around the house during the past few weeks. That is the thing I enjoy the most about the winter: a chance to catch your breath and hopefully to get caught up in general before the spring rush arrives. At least that is how it goes when your life is centered on the outdoors!

As I was taking down the Christmas Holiday decor and organizing around the house, I discovered a bag full of paperwhite bulbs I had completely forgotten to pot up. These sweet-scented daffodil relatives are commonly “forced” to bloom indoors so their blossoms coincide with the holiday season. Oops…I missed out on that one! Oh, well. It’s never too late, right? So, I decided to use the bulbs as part of a little project to help combat the cabin fever that inevitably hits me (and all garden enthusiasts) this time of year. Here is what I did:

A friend recently gave me a wooden wine case, so I decided to convert it into a wintertime planter box.

I wanted my planter box to contain more than just the paperwhites, so I went to the nursery and grabbed some rosemary, parsely and thyme, along with some variegated ivy to use as a decorative filler.

To begin I lined the wine box with a trash bag, so the planter would not leak when I water the plants.

Next I added a thin layer of gravel to the bottom for drainage.

Then I filled the box with a quality potting mix.

After pressing the soil a bit to make sure it had settled, I trimmed off the excess edges of the trash bag.

Then it was time to plant! I started with the taller herbs (Rosemary and Parsley) placing them toward the back and then used the Thyme and ivy to trail over the corners and front edge of the box.

Then I simply filled in all the remaining space with the paperwhite bulbs, cramming in as many as I could!

Finally, I gave everything a drink of water and used Spanish moss to cover any visible soil and to hide the trash bag along the edges of the box.

And Voila! A little indoor herb/flower bulb garden I can enjoy inside while the winter weather rages outside. I put it near a sunny window in my kitchen where I can watch the bulbs grow and easily harvest the herbs for cooking…assuming I ever actually do any!

So, if you could use a mid-winter gardening pick-me-up, try making an indoor planter of your own. I noticed at my local nursery that they still have plenty of flower bulbs for sale…and at discounted prices! But even if you can’t find bulbs, you could simply plant herbs, or anything else your heart desires.

Be sure to check back in next month, when hopefully my paperwhites will be blooming!

See you soon and Happy 2014!