My Winter Basement Garden

Debra , what is the plant in the picture ,it is lovely. I cant wait to buy some plants now!

Oh no, look out hummingtammy that plant in the pic is a brugmansia and they are VERY addictive! ;)

awwww. well, I just happen to have an EXTRA Brugmansia , ,my dear Tammy.. dmail me your address.. I will send you one to "play" with.. it won't however, be MAYA who is pictured above, but one that got me hooked, so to speak..
Don't laff, but I found this picture, it is the first year I brought in plants into the basement.. LOL Whew! has things changed..

This message was edited Apr 12, 2011 8:41 PM

Tammy that is how I ended up with so many brugs, is that they gave me one....rofl.

I didn't know there were so many different flowers and plants you can grow in zone 5 I really thought we were very limited beccause of our harsh winters. I am so excited but dont know what to buy first. I dont know anything about exotic plants and flowers , .Happgarden do the Brugs reseed or send off shoots? Debra I seen in your last picture you have plastic up around your flowers and plants does it help them grow? I am very limited in my knowledge of growing flowers but I am learning so much here at DG.

tammy, i wish my lap top had not crashed. you could have seen the progress of my basement garden over the last few years. what did it for me was one brug that led me to dg to see what i was supposed to do with it. in zone 5 tropicals must come in. some annuals i keep from year to year because i don't like buying new ones, AND i like the challenge of keeping one going all winter.

let me get you started with this information.. the first year my basement had a few blasting heater vents. that drys out the tropicals quickly, so the plastic was bought at dollar tree for a dollar and were clear plastic table liners. the second winter i covered up the vents, ( they won't close they are stuck and broke like everything else in this house) and so I covered up all the vents that were putting out all that heat. good thing is , it sent the extra heat upstairs, where we actually live. the next thing i did was figure out what needed what kind of light. so i started with clamp lights. since my basement has i beams all over the walls, i just used those to clamp the lights on. some stuff goes dormant no matter what. i dumped a bunch of pots that looked like stuff was dead, into a tub and reused that dirt the following spring and had ees and caladiums popping up everywhere from it. I had no clue.

house plants most generally are tropicals, the kinds you see in offices and stuff. they require little light. hibiscus and brugs and other things that require light to stay growing was what i was after. how big is your growing area? I started on my basement garden plans in the mid of last spring, and worked on acquiring the things i would need down there all summer to ready it for this year. bugs could be a problem. one year i had fungus gnats so bad, and aphids too, so i ordered lady bugs, about 5000 of them to eat the aphids,but they didn't eat the gnats. so I bought hanging fly paper rolls and put them by the lights. they were covered with so many gnats they were black at end of winter. ugh. this year i used mosquito tablets in the watering tub.( a DG'r suggested that), which also was different, since i had been making 30 trips up and down with water jugs to water with. keeps you in shape but i hurt my back last year so i had to re-think my thinking. this year i also acquired some shelves with wire racks. that was good. and tables. even better. i had been using anything that was flat to sit on anything that was tall. LOL..
any hoo.. what is your space, where is it, and what do you want to grow outside this year that will not survive a winter in your zone?

I don't have any pictures to share but I am a zone 5 gardener too & I use my unheated basement to overwinter tender plants as well as start my annuals/vegetables for the summer.
Whenever I see kid's wading pools at garage sales or as clearance merchandise I buy them. They are great for my tropical pond plants . I put a wooden pallet under them to raise them off the concrete floor and run a small fountain pump to keep the water from stagnating. To water everything I have a 55 gallon plastic barrel that I fill with water (My husband put a spigot in it near the bottom and I can fill a pitcher to use instead of having to dip a bucketful out -that is pretty heavy!!)
I put the regular potted plants in another of the wading pools -you could also use a horse trough or other large container- this keeps the water run off from making your floor wet.
Last year I even filled a third pool with slightly moist peatmoss and buried my canna bulbs in it. I just dug them out today and they came through the winter in good shape!
For lighting I use the long florescent shop lights hanging from chains so I can adjust the height depending on what plants they are over.
When I start my tomatoes and other annuals I have a heat mat I put under the seed trays and use the shop lights over them.
I forgot to add that I have the lights on a timer and I usually check the plants a couple times a week.
I have not had good luck wintering over Water Lettuce or Water Hyascinth but most other plants do pretty well through our sometimes brutal (and always too long) winters.

mwhit, sounds great! My water tub is only 30 gallons and I use a few pumps. I have an old tupperware pitcher for dipping, too. it is sure easier now than it used to be. every year it improves/ add more plants. my area is heated. i like the lighting system you have and is my goal. seems to be good for seeds n stuff.
do you have any pictures? I am still trying to figure out if i want to have an all year room ///it is not a real nice finished basement any more, but all the plants and the spot lights are sure a welcome sight when it is cold or even too hot outside...
somehow our pond plants overwintering should work, last year was the first year I had any. my water hiyacynths stayed inside in water often pots on a waist high table, in square plastic tubs ... I used anything I could find to plant in when I ran out of pots. I used huge popcorn tins from christmas, and in spring Joe drills holes in them. I use plastic folgers coffee containers as temp pots, burning a large hole in the bottom, use plastic water bottles for seeds and cuttings. I like spendng a lot of time in my Garden. .I would love a Greenhouse outside, that is accessible from one of the outside doors. kept the potting stuff to mix in a large plastic storage tub. Easy to use, but I need to get it waist high. While working on things I hurt to kneew and bend, so I am getting some shelves from work they were going to throw away in the re-model. If they re-do their lights, I may ask for the fixtures and what ever they come with. Mean While, most everything is outside, being blown around by 60 mph wind gusts and cold at 34. I had all the super tender trops on the covered, two walled front porch, some came back in, they go back out tommorrow.

Anyone else using their basement for gardening?

Looks like my house lol

got any pictures to share julia?

that was last year,, here is one part while Kaitlyn and B suavleons pink were blooming ( in October) , now it is all different again.. I have 4 growing rooms..

none of those brugs are there now, I have moved it all again.. kinda like re-arranging furniture, only I don't do that .. ( got enough of that when I sold furniture for 15 years)
I have one whole room dedicated to brugs.

Here some pics but you will have to forgive the mess lol

It is not letting me add more then one pic at a time....tried to combine a couple

Thanks, Debra:

I was looking for a thread to help me overcome the winter BLAHS that are already upon me, even though it was almost 80 degrees here today. I still find the most peace in my garden. Our basement is "wet" and you can see daylight thru the cinderblocks in the foundation. I tried overwintering things/growing things year before last. Temps never get over 50 degrees down there. Towards the end/close to spring I had mildew, bugs, mold, everything. Of course, now that I'm armed with yours and all of DG members' secret plant growing tips I could probably do better down there this year.

Right now I have set up plants all over the house. I have an iguana (or she has me) and she has her own room. You may have heard me say this already but I am trying to set up for spring seed starting in there. I have to keep her temps above 70 degrees and fairly high humidity. The hard part is/will be keeping her off the shelves/out of the plants if/when she takes a fancy to them. Most of the other plants in the house are congregated around windows, and I move them around depending on their needs. Last winter I had orange geraniums blooming in my bedroom that were as big as hydrangea flowers! After the cats came, I stopped enjoying house plants, so I guess I am trying to figure out how to enjoy them again in spite of the critters.

Hanging baskets are almost fool proof (where cats and the iguana are concerned). But I will check back here and hope you post pics for me to stay motivated thru the long winter.

Howdy.. Julia it loks like you have really good light there, and it also looks like we share the same likes in plants!

Amanda, I have cracks and crevices in one half of the basement and no windows to speak of.. no critters in the home atm, so can only offer this as a solution to your critter problem. get a long pole and some heavy straps , nail the straps to some studs if you can find any, and hang the pole aross it.
Also, use cheap clear shoe bags at dollar stores and get hangers for the doors and hang them there and set you seed pots in them and then get a clamp light with 6 or 8 ft cord and clamp it over the shoe bag.. you will have seeds starting like crazy. Last year I had to go down and turn on and turn off lights but this year I have timers on everyting, but still go down alot to see what is blooming. I have a hot humidifier I found at goodwill for 3 bucks in tropical room, and a cool air humidifier in big room, a fish tub of sorts in the north end garden and a small bubbler in the water plant tub on the south end. I have been finding lights at the good will stores that bend, clamp or sand, to hover over things that like warmth. I do feed everything since it is all still growing and vining and sending out new growth and blooming.
this morning glory was a germination test from seeds collected fall before last and it vined everywhere last year and bloomed and even set seeds..this is in February here..

this area is called the freezer room, and to the right is what used to be my sons room, and I still can't believe he lived down here all those years..

one thing you can do to keep kitty out is put a few toothpicks around in your pots, first step and they will not go back into them, I promise you that.. sounds mean, but they won't get hurt, and they always remember where not to go after that..

I can't show you all the yukk here, but one thing I did was get some light sticks and use them where I could for seed starting..this year the paint cans and all the other junk is now gone, I can only do so much in a few hours after work..*sigh*

this year I have shelves on the walls in the "brug room" I found them at garage sales and flea markets

I love this last picture especially. I guess the fluorescent bulbs don't really run your power bill up that much do they. There was a time when I had stuff set up on timers, but that was a long time ago before cats. :D

I do think my best chance of success is in the lizard room, given that it's already set up for heat and such. She's about 4' long though, so it'll be touch and go. ;)

We have a lot of space in this house, so I'm fortunate in that regard. Still out of work with this crzy hand injury and besides the market is not so hot. I have just a touch of cabin fever, but I'll settle in after a little while. I probably brought more plants in this year than I ever have.

Guess I'd better shut this down. Hate it when I just seem to hit my stride, but it's way past time to think I'll get a good night's sleep.

I'll check in tomorrow. Maybe I'll send you a picture of what I put together in the lizard's room. I had started calling it the mist chamber.

A.

Amanda, I had to buy a dehumidifier for my garden room which might be the answer to your basement. I know most people use dehumidifiers in the summer but I use mine in the winter because the plants were building too much humidity in there and DH was afraid of mold, but now the dehumidifier serves several purposes, it takes the moisture out of the air, then I empty the dehumidified water back into the plants, and it also adds warmth to the room when it is running, it is set to run I think 4 hours on and 4 hours off.

Yes you're right - dehumidifier is the answer, but I haven't been able to spare the dough.

I would run it year round - in fact, there is a sump pump in the basement which runs like crazy in rain storms like the one we are having now. The dehumidifer would be useful year round. Just upstairs in Rita's room tho' the humidifier also runs year round. ;)

I have been looking for used on Craig's list, but I can't keep up lately with all the "to do's" on my list.

I dug up a clamp lamp - have had a dozen if I have had one because of all the critters. I have converted all our bulbs to the energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs. I recently ordered 6 for "free" from our power company. They should get here soon so at least I won't have to go out and buy bulbs to light up the plants. The cuttings in Rita's room seemed to enjoy the little bit of light from the clamp since it was so dank and dark all day being on a windowsill didn't help a bit.

Have a good night ladies. :)

A.

well garsh darn it, I just went and set the de humidifier out in the curb, had no use for it, we have a built in one downstairs when I turn it on, but with the furnace going, I need all the humidity I can get..
If I find one in the goodwills or dav, Amanda, I might grab it for ya..

DAH! Honey it would cost as much to ship as it would to buy one new. ;)

Hate when that happens . . . I never ever had a "wet" basement before, and I think my mother and father are spinning in their graves - him in particular, being from way down east on the coast of NC. Dang. How'd it get to be so late?!

My sleep schedule is whacked again. I'd better shut this thing down.

Loveya!

A.

Those stupid humidifiers are awful expensive I will agree with that. I found mine on clearance one winter since they were getting rid of them for the winter and putting humidifiers out. It is amazing how much water those plants put off, talk about recycling, they put out humidity, I catch it and then put it back on them....rofl. My little sister works at one of the used stores and she has been snagging all kinds of bargins, but that is really hit and miss, Craigs list would be easier. I also have signed up for free recycle and there is one in your area.
http://groups.freecycle.org/GreensboroFreecycle/description
Everything has to be free, they will post HAVE or WANT, then someone will take it and it is posted TAKE. I just inquired on 10 feet 0f 1950 rod iron fence for the garden. A church is giving away like 40 wooden pews, alot of kids stuff goes back and forth, kind of interesting just to watch. Someone had plants but I missed those, they were taken before I even knew they were posted. Did get some old bricks.

Thanks hon -yes I check Craigslist and am also a member of Freecycle.

Court is thinking about buying this house (!) because it's a nice space and we'll get the owner to finance it AND they offered to do it with NO INTEREST. ha h ha a. IF that pans out I think we'll be more interested in de-humidifiers.

Spent a day and a half away and some stuff dried out some in the lizard's room. He is not the best babysitter, but I'll keep him around a bit I guess.

Hope you have a good night.

A.

Congrats on the home ownership oppurtunity.. yippee! no interest .. that is AOK!

double datura blooming tonight

been trying to get the basement Garden rooms cleaned up and un cluttered so My Family can come down and JOIN me.. LOL

vines love this corner..

such a pretty sight in November

this is the East wall, under a window ( if that is what you call it) post above is Southwest corner under a window..

here I have a VERY ugly corner covered up, an old door on top of an old chest angled across the corner..
a litle tub filled with some of the pond plants is bubbling away.. this year I am on timers..

What a lovely mess you have, and you know I mean that in the kindest way. :)

Your pictures this morning made me smile. I am glad I found your basement garden and it will help me dream of spring.

Thanks Debra. :)


A.

rofl....I meant dehumidifier....humidity is not something I need in the garden room either for sure. I think when I don't dump it enough a rain cloud starts to form...rofl.

Debra, it is beautiful in your plant basement, I love all the growing things. I love being in the garden room especially now since I can walk thru it.... ;) I still hate watering, but so far the garden hose is not frozen so I can water with it. I am sure the plants would appreciate warmer water, but since I hate watering they are doing good to get any water....I use to have a rain barrel inside the garden room that I filled with water, and I added some bleach so it would not mold (I am on a well), well the bleach ate the plastic spigot and I haven't fixed it yet.

O that darn old bleach. doesn't it know it's supposed to clean and not eat so much!?

well, here I am, up late and have to work tommorrow, can't sleep so I searched for this post and realized it is almost Spring..

been a few blooms between November and now, and a few changes here and there.. a lot of growing is for sure what happened..

I have been posting my plant heaven in other threads, so some of these may already be shown here on DG..

I figured out the Brugs are on a 6 to 8 week cycle after all..they are all Y'ng and setting buds..

Kaitlyn ,will, ofcourse, be the leader.. a strong gal she is.. the leader of the pack .