How To Keep Your Green Thumb Active In The Winter, According To A Gardening Expert

From early spring through the late summer harvest, many people find gardening to be an enjoyable way to spend time. Even cleaning up the landscaping throughout the fall keeps us busy, making it an almost year-round experience. According to the Cleveland Clinic, gardening can improve health by slowing down the onset of osteoporosis, boosting our brains and mental well-being, and ensuring we get our daily dose of Vitamin D and exercise.

With all of the good that gardening can do for you, you probably don't want to give it up when winter arrives. However, with a bit of guidance on the tasks you can take on during the colder months, you may not have to do so. Tim Flood, Head Horticulturist at Nature Hills Nursery, America's largest online plant nursery, shares how to keep your green thumb busy in an exclusive interview with House Blog. How many of these activities can you engage in this winter after your vegetable or flower garden is done growing for the season?

You can bring your passion for gardening right into your home by using your pruned cuttings to create beauty throughout your interior. Tim Flood states, "Harvest natural cuttings from your yard like ornamental grass, flower heads, and seed heads for fall. Don't forget evergreens like pine and fir along with broadleaved evergreens like boxwood and holly branches to use in urns, make wreaths, or make decor for the mantle, not only for the holidays but for winter." You may already be doing some of the trimming of these plants to prep them for winter. Flood adds that curly willow and red and yellow twigged dogwood branches are particularly great as recycled cuttings to use decoratively inside your home.

Perhaps you've already completed your yard maintenance and don't have any trimmings to bring indoors. In that case, Flood says, "Add some container-grown evergreens for winter interest." This isn't just a process to do in the dark and freezing months, it can be a fantastic way to brighten your home during early spring, too. "Closer to spring, cut some forsythia or flowering quince branches to force for your home," says Flood.

There are ways to continue working on your outdoor garden during the winter months, too, even when there's a foot of snow on the ground. Tim Flood recommends using this time wisely to contemplate and design next year's vegetable and herb garden. "The offseason is a great time to plan your new landscape or the renovation of an old one, or plan a new addition to your existing landscape."

Take stock of how your garden did last year, consider what you would like to accomplish in the coming year, and then hash out your plans. Flood suggests assessing which of your plants thrived in the garden and which didn't do nearly as well and you'd hoped. Once you feel clear and inspired by your plan, take action. "Get your seeds or plants ordered early before the best varieties are sold out," he warns. "Get them ordered to reserve the plants for your spring shipment." This is a fantastic way to get excited about your garden for next season and still be in the growing frame of mind even when it's cold out.