Gardens and gardening 2025

Hi Patrick,

I'm across the pond in Ohio in the US, and we just had our first dusting of snow Sunday night, but temps are slowly going back up this week. My dad collected the leaves in our backyard last week before we got the rain and snow, and dumped them in piles along the street. The town we live in has crews that come by once a week and vacuum up all the piles. I miss the brilliant leaf colors of fall already!

~Stacy

Hi Stacy

Is it very cold in the Winter on Ohio? Do you have much snow? ️ We don’t have any crew to help with leaves. I think people just put them int he green recycling bins here.

Do you have many house plants for the winter to keep you entertained? I have bought lots of bulbs to plant later on. Hopefully will have a nice spring display.

I like flowers rather than vegetables to grow for the garden. What kind of veg do you grow?

Stella x

Hi Stella,

It gets pretty cold here, usually we're in the teens, so around -10C. Last year we had blizzard conditions for about a week with super frigid temps which would be -20C to -30C, and even colder with the windchill at night. Our average snow accumulation in central Ohio is 50-72cm for the entire winter. Northern Ohio can get 160cm of lake effect snow. How about you, how much snow do you get, and how cold?

I have a lot of succulents in my room, along with red and pink anthuriums that I just had to have.

I plant a lot of tomatoes and different kinds of pepper plants that my dad really enjoys, some of which are way too hot for me. I have 5 raised beds that's accessible from our patio, I tend to have the tomatoes in their own, as well as the peppers, and then I tend to mix up the other three with cucumbers, onions, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, and sometimes potatoes depending on space. When I took over the main patio for my gardening hobby, my dad added on to the one end for another place to grill and eat. 

~Stacy

Hi Stacy Dance04accdfc , I wholeheartedly agree with you. I've a few carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic, shallots, potatoes, caulis, cabbages and maybe another one or two that I can't recall just now left for eating. Ah, sprouts too. Anything we use from the garden tastes so much better than shop bought, especially when something is eaten just half an hour after harvesting. It's not easy, I've a back condition (spinal stenosis) that hinders my work and I need lots of rest in-between bouts of gardening. 

Totally empathise with you about the wheelchair, I was in one for 6 years from 2016 and I know the problems you're facing. When you say raised beds, do you mean they're still on the ground and maybe soil raised some 2 feet? Mrs Tvman and I made a few in the summer of 2016 with enough room between them for a wheelchair. Kent and Stowe I think it is who make a trowel and fork with extra long handles that I find very useful. 

Gardening is so therapeutic, I've been growing vegetables for 50 years now and I'm still learning!!

Tvman x

Talking about sprouts, we still have some but I'm not sure how long we can leave them in the ground? The plan is to at least have fresh sprouts for Christmas dinner!

Well I really admire you all for growing your own vegetables.  My little experiment is going to be the garlic.  Definitely not going out in this weather today though.  Don't even think I will walk the dogs.  Shush don't tell them.

Lee 2 x

Hi Patrick, the cold and wet weather doesn't harm sprouts so you can leave them in the ground until the sprouts either start to rot or begin to "blow" which means they start to expand and lose their tightness.

There are many varieties of sprouts and hey're not all ready at the same time. Most of them will be ready over the Christmas period. You can check the details on the back (sometimes front) of the packet. Some will be ready as early as October and go through to January say and some will be ready say from December to February so you get the idea? 

Many people don't like sprouts but that's mostly because whoever is cooking them don't know that you don't put them on to cook at the same time as the turkey!!! 10 minutes or so is ideal as long as they still have a little "bite". We would toss in some crispy pieces of bacon with the sprouts at Christmas time, usually the bacon that I would put on the turkey breast 

Tvman x

Hi Tvman,

Yes, the two side boards on mine are just under two feet in height, and then we added a cap to the top edge to give them a more decorative look. We started out with three beds, and then quickly added two more ounce we figured out the spacing. I can get my wheelchair all the way around them so it's easy for me to reach everything. I use my wheelchair when I know I'll be out there for a little while, just because it's safer versus me leaving my crutches at one end and hopping around which I've done numerous times.

I have a chest out there up against our house where I keep all my gardening tools, it's been a pretty addicting hobby for me. Assuming I give my consent soon for the next round of major surgeries in hopes of extending my life, it's comforting to know there's still a hobby that I could enjoy doing as a full time wheelchair user post op. It's still hard for me to think about and wrap my head around everything. Having fun hobbies like gardening, sure helps to keep our spirits up and minds active at times.

~Stacy

Listen to the doctors Stacy, you seem to still enjoy life so why not try and live longer even if it means you are not able to prance around the beds anymore. Are you the kind of person who would consider doing meditation? It helps my wife with (admittedly) minor issues. Go online and look for Buddhist meditation. Otherwise start getting your beds ready for winter

Thanks TVman, labels are long gone but the orientation helps!