No. 78: Plenty to do in winter! Sprouting seeds or microgreens, for example

More and more people are enjoying indoor cultivation. You can easily grow herbs and microgreens in a pot or on a mat in a well-lit spot. Harvest young and start again: fresh and a beautiful and healthy addition to your dishes!

Growing sprouts (without soil or a mat) requires a bit more technique. We have a simple flushing device, the Bioset, which works fantastically, but success depends on the regularity with which you flush the seeds. The fully automatic Vitaseed Sprouting Drum is ideal for this, a small version of professional sprouting drums, success guaranteed, just take a look.

Light is needed for indoor cultivation, which I have discussed before. In winter, the days are short, and behind a window, you already lose 50% of the light on the other side of that window. Light ensures your plants (for example, your freshly germinated seeds) become compact and sturdy. This is why too little light makes your plants long and thin. We have a wide range of very good plant lights in our assortment, economical and effective; take a look.

To completely replace daylight (even for the darkest spaces), we have imported 2 very nice grow units: the Plantenzon (Plant Sun)! Take a look at our website for these beautiful lights. Of course, they are depicted with hemp plants, the largest market for grow lights, but we mostly sell them to "regular" plant enthusiasts! No offense to the cultivation of THC hemp, which is now very often used medicinally!

If it's not too wet, you can walk on your soil to lime and fertilize. Since everyone has their own fertilizing method, you can choose from a wide range of products with us. Just take a look at https://www.vreeken.nl/hulp-bij-tuinieren/mest/p1-50. Fossilized Seaweed Lime is best spread in winter and is a nice, gentle lime.

Thomaskali (a residual product) is also best spread in winter; if you apply this fertilizer, you can omit lime.

Digging is a "neat" method of soil cultivation, but it also disturbs soil life. That's why more and more growers are switching to No-Till (NKG = non-inverting tillage), which you can do, for example, with our broadfork.

The solution for many organic growers: during this period, you can get rid of many dormant pests: VBC and Boomcleaner kill the eggs of remaining aphids, thrips, mites, etc. You may only apply VBC in the middle of winter, so be quick.

Have you ever wondered where the strange and funny word “rhubarb” comes from? I remember my history teacher (Mr. Terpstra, he taught from the scribbled back of his cigar box) explaining that the word “barbarians” originated from the perception of another language: “br-br” or “babble”. So it means: foreign, from another and unknown area. Add to that the Persian name for rhubarb: “rêwend”, which became “rheum” in Latin, but also “rha”... together: Rhubarb! Sorry, I have a thing for language. Now to the rhubarb plant itself: we are selling our last rhubarb tubers in a great offer before we pot them. Grab your chance, you can plant them all winter!

You can be so proud of those (almost too beautiful) flowers on the windowsill! Orchids are becoming increasingly robust and bloom easily year after year. During the winter, it's a good idea to repot the plants, if only for stability. If the plant is in a clear pot, it's because the roots need light: they contain chlorophyll. We offer a pampering package for the plants, consisting of:

• A bag (5 liters) of orchid soil (various tree bark + "white" peat)
• Professional fertilizer (500 grams soluble in 500 liters of water) for (among others) orchids, with all the elements the plant needs.

Perhaps consider watching one of the many videos about repotting (on YouTube)?

Together, this package has a value of € 9.90, we offer it for € 7.50