How to Keep Geraniums "Alive" Over the Winter for Next Spring

Geraniums (Pelargonium xhortorum Geraniaceae) are popular in summer flower gardens. They are colorful and dependable, flowering all the time without requiring a lot of attention. They are a perennial, but in many cold winter areas, they are treated as an annual, as they will die from a hard freeze. Geraniums can be "overwintered" and you can keep them year-round.

There are different methods for keeping your geranium plants until the spring, when you can put them outdoors again.

Method 1: Bare Root Plants - Overwintering geraniums in dormant storage. Geraniums have the ability to survive most of the winter without soil. Here are the steps to follow:

(1) Dig up the entire geranium plant and gently shake the soil from their roots.
(2) Hang plants upside down in a cool (45-50 degrees), dry place.
(3) An alternate method is to place 1 or 2 plants in a large open paper bag or sack. The paper bag method is much cleaner than the hanging method.
(4) Once a month during the winter, soak the roots of each plant in water for 1 to 2 hours. Most of the leaves will eventually fall off.
(5) In the spring, when here's no chance of frost, prune or cut back each plant and remove all shriveled dead material. Discard any geraniums with shriveled stems, since they won't survive. Healthy, live stems will be firm and solid.
(6) After pruning, in late March or early April, put healthy dormant geraniums in pots. Water plants thoroughly and place in indirect light to initiate new growth. It may take several weeks for plants to initiate growth after dormant storage.

Method 2: You can also choose another dormant storage method--Store the potted plant in a place where they will stay cold (above freezing) and will remain in the dark where they won't dry out completely. Follow these simple steps:

(1) After digging up the entire geranium plant, put the plant in a pot and let the soil dry out.
(2) Cut plant back about one half its original size.
(3) Put a paper bag over each plant.
(4) Store in a cool, dry location, such as the basement.
(5) Check every couple of weeks to see if the plants are shriveling or drying out completely. If they are, spritz water on them or slightly water their root area. Let the plant dry off before replacing the paper bag.
(6) If you followed the dormant storage methods, it will take a few weeks before your geraniums come back to life for the spring. About 6 weeks before the last expected frost (I know it's hard to gauge. So let's say late March or early April.), bring your geraniums back into indirect light.
(7) Thoroughly water potted plants and lightly fertilize. They should become greener and grow new leaves. Move them outdoors when there's no chance of frost. Be careful, you wouldn't want to lose them after taking care of them over the winter!

Method 3: It's not the most recommended method, but you don't necessarily have to let your geranium go dormant over the winter. This is another easy way to keep your geraniums alive until spring, but make sure they get enough light.

(1) Prune the geranium back to half to one-third their original height, and carefully dig up each plant.
(2) Place in 6- to 8-inch pot. Use potting soil mix, as garden soil will be too heavy and drains poorly.
(3) Water them well and place them in a bright, sunny window under artificial lighting.
(4) Keep them in cool indoor temperatures. Daytime temperatures near 65 degrees F. and nighttime around 55 degrees F.
(5) Avoid warm, poorly lit areas.
(6) Water plants only when the soil becomes dry.
(7) Occasionally pinch the geraniums to promote branching and prevent weak plants.
(8) Before planting outside when weather permits in late spring, fertilize lightly.

Plants kept in containers over the winter are usually larger than geraniums sold in the spring. You will have a head start on growth and blooms for next year's garden!

I'm not going to go over it in this column, but there's yet another method of overwintering that gardeners either love or hate--taking cuttings from outdoor plants. The attraction this method holds is that it's a good way to multiply the number of plants for next year's garden.

Putting Down Manure Now to Get Soil Ready for Planting Next Year

Vegetable gardening is not my forte--prefer growing zinnias and cosmos from seed and tending to rose bushes and favorite perennials like delphiniums. However, I do plant tomatoes before Memorial Day every year and cross my fingers we get enough sun and heat. This year was one of those years and due to a labeling error at the farm I frequent, I had 4 Roma tomato plants instead of Big Boys. At least I had a couple of Jet Stars. The Romas were tasty, but I missed having more larger ones. Now to the point of this blog...Every year after a couple of frosts I simply yank the straggly plants from the ground and put away my tomato cages. This afternoon I was reading the newsletter from Dave's Garden and learned there's more to putting a vegetable garden down to bed for the winter.

I've always been a fuss budget at preparing soil in my flower beds before planting in late spring, but never gave any thought to doing anything with garden once harvest is over. Here's what you should be doing:

(1) After removing the vegetable plants and weeds, examine the mulch, that is if you used it. If the mulch is mostly rotted away, just mix it into the soil. If it looks good, you can rake it off and use it again. (I would mix it into the soil because I can't stand storing stuff like that over the winter!)

(2) Have you ever done soil testing? I'm afraid I skip this step too, as I've never had difficulty growing good tomatoes. You don't need to soil test to find out what your garden needs now. But you can dig up a few trowelfuls of dirt, save it and send it off soon to your local university soil testing service.

(3) Feed the soil over the winter. The author suggests getting horse manure from your local barnyard. I would simply buy it at Home Depot, Hewitt's or your local nursery. Spread the manure in the garden. The author mentions the timing--allowing six months from horse or cow to harvest. Time and the weather lets the manure mellow out and become safe for you and the plants. Again, to take the easy way out, I would buy it already bagged. The author loads a few big plastic tubs and hauls them away in her minivan. Too much work for me!

Try to cover the whole garden up to a couple of inches. Ideally, dig it in with the top few inches of garden dirt. But you can just leave it on top of the garden and it will work as well. When the soil test results come back, scatter pelleted lime across the surface as called for. In the spring, you can address the other nutrient recommendations.

(4) Top the garden with a lot of shredded leaves, accomplished by running the lawn mower over your fallen leaves in the yard. The shredded leaves will stay put when you wet them down with the hose and you can do this when you have the time. The last layer of leaves can usually be put down by Thanksgiving when most of the leaves have fallen. Be sure the leaves are nice and damp, then cover it all with thick layers of newspapers and hold them down with rocks or a good covering of fresh mulch. The soil will now be fed over the winter and you're ready to take it easy until planting time.