Start thinking about Fall

The weather is starting to cool down and I think you know what that means, Fall is around the corner.  We did experience a slight frost last week, but checking out the neighborhood it does not appear to have caused harm to our precious vegetables and flowers.
As I worked in the yard this weekend I had allot of thoughts of what to do with the flowers that are starting to show their tired side.  When flowers start to dry, I cut the flowers and lay them in a place where they can dry.  Around December, January depending on the flower, they will be dry enough to separate seeds from them, for next years planting.
One thing to note in our short growing season it is best to start seeds in the house, garage, greenhouse or any other place that you may have space.  I will go into growing indoors in another post.
Keep in mind that annuals such as tomatoes or petunias, will keep growing, on and on and on.  Last year I was given a nice basket of petunias and was sad when the first frost came as I thought they were finished.  I took them inside and Bam the crazy things kept growing.  I kept them inside all winter and this spring planted them in a bigger planter and they look better than last year.

These are pretty easy to start as seeds inside and then plant outside in the spring, okay in Francis, Utah it is usually safe after Father's Day, unless you want to bring them in and out everyday.

If you bring these inside for the winter, I would give them a good haircut, they will grow back with some water, sunlight and someone to sing to them, just kidding I turn on the radio for them, they would die if I sang.

For tomatoes throughout the winter, I also pick a couple of my outdoors tomatoes and re pot them for indoors.  For a tomato plant give them a HUGE pot and you should get bigger tomatoes also a bit of magic potion (fertilizer) helps also.  The key is to experiment and watch the weather channel.

Marigolds

I added this in because they are beautiful in the fall, they are smelly but the colors are great.  If you want to experiment with growing plants inside, a marigold is a great start.  You can dry these and use the seed and have some fun with them.

Next we should think about transplanting!!