Under the Lights

With about two feet of snow still on the ground, and the daytime temperatures hovering around 14 degrees, I retreat to my winter growing room. An improvised greenhouse tucked into the mechanical room on the lower level of my home.

Outside, the garden is buried under a blanket of white. Indoors, the many grow lights illuminate pots of green—seedlings, cuttings, overwintering plants. This is the beginning of a new season.

One full-sized lemon, likely set before the tree came in this fall, hangs beside heady blooms and some newly formed fruits—two seasons growing together. The tree has bloomed more freely under lights than it ever did outside by the swimming pool.

*New blooms and maturing fruit thriving under lights*

It’s still a little early to start most annuals and vegetables indoors. However, I have started a few long-maturing plants from seed—browallia among them. I’ve also taken cuttings from tender plants that I brought in last fall, including salvias and streptocarpella. Set beneath the lights, the cuttings have rooted quietly, while the seedlings grow at their own pace.

I spend much of my spare time here in winter, under the bright lights, surrounded by green, while the garden outside waits.

Cold As Ice