Craving greenery in the depths of winter? Spending time among plants has been proven to boost your mood. Stave off the seasonal blues by welcoming lush foliage, beautiful blooms and tantalizing scents into your home and greenhouse.
Best indoor plants for winter
When it comes to plants, ‘winter interest’ doesn’t just apply to the garden. Brighten up the darkest days of the year and improve your well-being with a host of houseplants that offer celebratory colour and heady fragrance indoors.
Amaryllis
Hippeastrum, more commonly called Amaryllis, makes an ideal Christmas gift - for a loved one or for yourself! These dramatic bulbs look their best over winter, with impressive, trumpet-like flowers blooming on tall, architectural stems. Choose from pink, red, green, white or intricately candy-striped varieties to add to a kitchen sideboard or mantlepiece.
After flowering, the bulbs will die back. Treat them to a high-potash feed in autumn, when they start to grow again, to encourage another year of showstopping flowers.
Christmas cactus
Ever popular, the Christmas cactus is an easy-care tropical houseplant with trailing, succulent stems and festive flowers. Blooms come in red, white and shocking pink and are on display from late November to late January.
While Christmas cacti like bright light, keep them out of full sun; they hail from the rainforest and prefer dappled, humid conditions. A kitchen or bathroom would be ideal. Water regularly once in flower, but hold off on the hydration before and after. Resume watering again from April to September.
Cyclamen
While they may be small, cheery cyclamen can have a big impact indoors over winter. The delicate flowers come in a wide range of hues, from subtle white and pastel shades to bright reds and pinks. Foliage is generally a deep green and the heart-shaped leaves are decorated in silver markings.
As houseplants go, cyclamen are low-maintenance… ideal for forgetful waterers! They can be grown in an unheated greenhouse, but bring them inside if the temperatures are forecast to fall below 10°C.
Best greenhouse plants for winter
One of the many benefits of a greenhouse is the ability to grow delicious, nutritious produce throughout the winter. From late in the season, you can start to sow hardy plants like cabbages, onions and Brussels sprouts, ready to plant out in spring. And if you have a heated propagator, you can start off tomatoes and peppers to get a head start as the allotment warms up.
Salad and microgreens
Fresh green salad is one of the easiest and fastest crops to bring on during winter. During the ‘hungry gap’ when little else will emerge, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens and more can be sown and grown in just a few weeks. Sprout your seeds and harvest them young to enjoy as microgreens or leave them to mature and enjoy as a more traditional, flavor-packed salad.
Start seeds off in trays filled with compost. Use your finger to make shallow drills, then sprinkle a line of seeds into each and water them lightly using a watering can with a fine rose. Ensure the compost doesn’t dry out until you’re ready to harvest.
Broad beans
While hardier varieties of broad bean can be sown outdoors during a mild winter, most will germinate better in a greenhouse at this point in the year. Sown in December, you could be enjoying these productive crops as early as May.
Pack a modular tray with compost and sow one bean per cell, before watering them in. Keep your trays covered so mice don’t nibble the beans before they germinate and ensure the compost stays just moist. The young plants can be transferred outside in early spring. Harden them off during the day for a week or two, then plant them outdoors, 15-20cm apart. When the pods are full and start to firm up, your broad beans will be ready to harvest and enjoy.
Garlic
Winter is the ideal time to plant garlic cloves. Each one will quietly multiply under the ground and, come summer, you’ll be able to lift whole bulbs from the ground to enjoy in the kitchen.
If you have free-draining soil, go ahead and plant your garlic straight outdoors but if your soil is heavy, start cloves off in the greenhouse. Fill a module tray with compost and bury one per cell, with the pointy end up. Keep the compost moist and, in spring, plant them in the garden, 10-15cm apart. Harvest from June, as the leaves start to yellow, using a fork to ease them out of the ground. Hang them to dry in the sun, then store indoors to use as needed.
Best herbs to grow in winter
Add interest to winter recipes with an injection of fresh flavors, or create your own herbal remedies. Many herbs can be grown in the greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill, even through the coldest months of the year. Start them off indoors and, once established in the spring, transplant them into the garden to keep for years to come.
Parsley
Fresh parsley is both delicious and versatile. Throw it into winter stews and sauces, or use it as a garnish to add vibrancy to your dinner table. Sow seeds under glass (with or without heat) from January through to early April. Once established, transfer into a container or garden bed and pick regularly to enjoy it throughout the year.
Thyme
Propagating herbs through cuttings is a clever way to avoid extra costs and guarantees delicious pickings through the winter. Softwood cuttings of thyme can be taken from late summer through to early autumn. Snip a stem (around 7-10cm long) below a leaf node. Remove the bottom leaves and put the cutting into a pot of compost. Cover with a plastic bag and keep the soil moist. Roots should start to form in 2-4 weeks. Remove the plastic bag at this point and pot on your herbs or plant them out in spring.
Mint
Bring pots of mint indoors over winter, or divide larger plants and take cuttings in autumn to guarantee fresh pickings through the darkest months. Mint likes to stay warm, so a heated propagator or sunny spot will suit your plants best. Pick the fragrant leaves for flavoring salads or brewing delicious tea.
