In the midwest, our garden season always seems to go by so fast! We never want it to end. So what do we do? We hoard all the best looking plants, before the first frost, and place them somewhere in our homes. Whether it’s a sun room, or in our basement, we don’t care. We just aren’t ready to give up on them yet. Once we bring these plants in, they sort of get forgotten about during those harvest and holiday months. We don’t even really think about them much until February hits. That’s about the time that we are fed up with the Winter weather, and we are ready to come out of hibernation.

If you are one of these people, (I’m totally guilty), then this is something you should definitely continue reading. I’m going to give you the easiest tips you need to know, in order to have success with this “plant hoarding” habit.

First things first. You just decided what plants you absolutely can not part with. Before bringing these plants into the house, be sure to check for any type of insects or disease. If you find any insects or traces of disease, remove them by using something natural or a pesticide. That’s your choice. If you find traces of an insect that has the possibility of infesting the plant, such as thryp, aphids, spider mites etc., you MUST treat it, before bringing it indoors. Until this problem is resolved, keep the plant outdoors. Or just part with it.

Under the foliage of the plant, scrape a thin layer of soil off. This will eliminate any dead leaves, debris and insects that may be hiding out under there. This also reduces the chances of insects or mold taking your plant hostage during those months we neglect it. Then, what you want to do, is lay down 2 inches of fresh potting soil. Mix in time release fertilizer. I love to use Osmocote. Put in the right amount for your size pot. The instructions should be on the bag of your fertilizer of choice. Now that we got the dirty work done, lets get a nice spot picked out in the house!

If you have a sun room, lucky you! You can keep your eye on your treasures all winter long. Just don’t babysit them too much, because sometimes that results in your plants dying. Read on and I will explain that statement. Now, lets get to the majority of people who throw their treasures in the basement! GUILTY! Totally ok, you are not alone!

Lets go down stairs, into the basement. Hmmmm. Where are we going to put those plants? Lets make this easy! Put them by the windows in the basement. Even though they are coming into the comfort of your home for those brisk months, they still need sunlight. If you don’t have windows down there, they will need some type of a grow light. Just put a timer on it for however many hours your plant needs. This will depend on whether it is a full sun, part sun or shade plant. You are going to want to keep the bottom of the pot off of the cement floor. The cement floor in the basement retains a lot of the cold temperatures that are going on outside. If you have heated cement floors, well then, ignore my last sentence. A great way to keep your plants off of the cement floor is to use a pallet. There are other things you could use as well, but I listed one great option.

During those winter months, you are going to still want to water these plants. You may want to even place a piece of plastic under your pallet. You could use a plastic paint protector. They are cheap and keep things clean. Now, lets get back to this watering thing I was talking about over those winter months. Yes, you have to still water, but guess what? You may only have to water a few times during all of those months. You don’t even have to water it all the way through. Just a little bit every time. Just enough to keep it going. If you water it too much, it will get over watered!

If you water it all the way through, it may take too long for it to dry out, resulting in overwatering. (I go more into detail on overwatering in my article, ‘The Wilt’.) So, just keep it on the dryer side indoors. If you have a hard time remembering to check your plants over the winter months, set an alarm on your phone for every week, or every other week. Lets utilize the technology that we carry everywhere with us these days!

So we got through winter. “What a long winter.” That’s a statement made by everyone, at least once in conversation, right before we spring into Spring time. All of a sudden, a light bulb goes off in our heads. We remember those treasures we hoarded and placed in our basement. We run down the basement steps, once again, and there it is. Not what we thought. The plants look a little rugged. They look a little stalky. They even look a little far gone. With some plants, they are ‘tossers’. That’s what I say when it’s time to accept something didn’t make it over the Winter, and it is ready to get tossed. The other gems down in the basement look like there is still life in them. Now we want to spoil them and get them outside as soon as possible. Lets put the brakes on a little bit. These plants have been so used to being indoors, and they aren’t used to the outdoor conditions. So they need to become acclimated again. This is what you are going to want to do.

On really nice warmer sunny days, place them outside. Let that wind rustle through their leave, or stalks. (Depending on whether they lost all their leaves or not.) Let them enjoy the rays from the sunshine and take in all of that fresh air. The evening comes, take them back in. Do this until we are clear of anymore frost. I always say we are the safest by Memorial Day weekend. That seems to be the magic weekend in May.

So now that our treasures have made it outside, once again, now it’s time to give them the royal treatment. Here is what you are going to do in order to have a beautiful thriving plant once again. They survived those grueling brisk months with you, you owe it to these little gems.

Clean your plant thoroughly, then take the whole plant out of the pot/planter.

If your are keeping the same planter, here’s what you do:

Take it out of the planter. Put new fresh potting soil in the bottom of the pot and mix a little time release fertilizer in there. Take your plant and break up the root with your hands. Place the plant back into the same pot, and place fresh potting soil around the top of the plant. (I show a detailed step by step process in my video above.)

If you are bumping it up to a new, bigger planter, here’s what you do:

Bumping your plant up to a bigger container is what I suggest! Placing your plant in a larger container will only give it more room to grow and get bigger. Take your new larger container and fill just the bottom with fresh potting soil. Mix in a little bit of time release fertilizer in there with it. Next, place your little gem of a plant on top of that fresh potting soil. Cover the top of the plant with fresh potting soil. Walah!!! Your plant is ready to thrive through another summer season with you. (I show a detailed step by step process of bumping your plant up, in my video above.)

Please feel free to comment and share if you are also a sufferer of this plant hoarding problem. Others would appreciate your tips on what steps you take to have successful plants last year after year. The more knowledge we all share, the greener our thumbs get!