It's still a bit early to start seeds inside, but it's not too early to order them. It's great winter therapy to plan out plantings for vegetable plots, flower beds and patio containers.
One activity that we can all do now is to take cuttings or pot up those taken last year. My windowsills are jammed with Mason jars full of cuttings I took before the first frost last year. These include geraniums, coleus, bloodroot, begonias and bloodleaf. They've all put out lots of roots and are a bit of a tangle. All I need to do is to pull them gently apart and pot them in soil.
If you haven't taken cuttings from the plants you saved, now's the time to do it. Strip off the bottom leaves and put them in water in a glass jar on the windowsill. They'll send out new roots in a few weeks.
To pot up these cuttings, I use fresh, clean potting soil and whatever plastic pots I have leftover from last year. It's great to generate healthy young plants from last year's scraps and leftovers. Keep them in sunny windows that face west or south for best results. They can also be grown under florescent shop lights.
As they begin to grow, pinch the plants to encourage them to get bushy. Feed every few weeks with a fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro mixed in the water. With a bit of care - but little expenditure - you'll have fresh new plants for your spring garden.
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