Dish gardens provide gardening option in winter

MOSES LAKE — It’s January, the height of gardening season, and gardeners should be out there weeding and watering. Oh, wait, that’s Australia. In Grant County, January is not gardening weather.

At least outdoors it’s not.

Gardeners who still want to play in the dirt have the option of a dish garden, like the one Carol Seal of Floral Occasions on South Ash Street, in Moses Lake, was building Thursday afternoon. OK, technically it was in a basket and not a dish.

Seal said gardeners have their choice of containers, whether it’s a basket, a metal or ceramic bowl, although pretty much any container will work with appropriate preparation. The website Gardening Know-How suggested a shallow container at least two inches deep.

A dish garden was a good option for garden plants that wouldn’t make it outdoors through the winter, Seal said. Planting them all in one container cuts down on plant care. And the individual plants can be transplanted outside in the spring, she said.

Drainage is critical for a lasting dish garden. If the container doesn’t have holes in the bottom, the gardener can lay down a layer of crushed gravel, covered with a window screen. The dirt is the next layer.

Seal said she sets up her dish gardens much like she makes a floral arrangement, with attention to height, texture and color.

“You don’t want them (the plants in the arrangement) to all look the same,” she said.

Seal added potting soil once she had an arrangement she liked. The final step was to cover the soil with a layer of moss, to help retain moisture. Gardening Know How cautioned against overwatering.

Thursday’s project included a small rose, with flowers already budding, peace lilies that had yet to bloom, and a pepperoni plant with waxy, dark green leaves.

“We do a lot of peace lilies because they’re very forgiving,” Seal said.

When the lilies bloom, the flowers will add height to the arrangement.

“They grow a tall stem,” she said.

The basket also included a wandering Jew plant, with striped green and white leaves, and a polka-dot plant with, well, the spots on its leaves look like polka-dots. There’s a fuzzy texture to the leaves of the wandering Jew, adding another layer of interest, Seal said.

The Gardening Know-How website suggested testing out the arrangement, starting with plants in individual pots. The website BloomIQ said plants should have similar requirements for light and water.

“Most of what we put in (the arrangement) is fairly easy care,” Seal said.