What to do when winter isn't winter

It's the 2nd week of February.  It's winter.  Yet the ground is bare and the high temperatures for the next week will all be above freezing.  This really sucks.  You'd think you should be able to do something garden-wise, but other than pick up the limbs that dropped on the last windy day (a never ending activity on our estate), you're left thumbing through catalogs.  How can it be winter when you've only had to use the shovel once to move about an inch of light fluffy snow just to keep the driveway and sidewalks from getting icy?  Getting out the Nordic skis is just wishful thinking because here we are in February and winter seems to be waning.  February is acting like late March.  And a thoughful neighbor asks what do botanists think about global warming?  Duh.  Still you feel antsy, anxious, eager, the typical gardener reaction to spring, but like the ground hog, we should have seen our shadow and hunkered down for another 6 weeks.  Only one thing to do.  Pass the catalogs; let's order some plants.  High on the list are a few Korean azaleas (R. mucronulatum) for mid-border areas.  If you don't have one of these tough, not too fussy, attractive shrubs, you should seriously consider it, even you zone 4 readers.  See, now you've got something to look up, something to covet, and something to plan for.  No, no, please don't thank me.  It was done for my own mental health.

Relief from the Winter Doldrums - Mission Beach

Although the Phactor is a native of the snow belt and has personally witnessed a 104 inch (264 cm) snowfall in 48 hours, my maternal heritage hails from the deep south, and perhaps for this reason, while winter has it fascination, in recent years that has worn off quickly, in about a week. For therapy, a daily visit to our university greenhouse teeming with vegetation helps greatly, the humid warmth, the "earthy" green,organic smell. For those of you who through no fault of your own find yourself mired in winter, and so far December here in Lincolnland is deeply mired with winter running much colder and snowier, about 10 degrees colder and 40% more snow than average, which of course in terms of weather in the great midwest of North America is just that, an average of extremes where the weather can be averaged, but the weather is never average, enjoy this bit of tropical relief, one of those places (Mission Beach, QLD) you long to visit along with a few cans of Castlemaine XXXX Bitter Ale. Notice the crowds. Notice the lack of surf and surfer dudes. Notice the occasional saltwater croc! Ah, the relief.

Relief from winter doldrums: 5. Plant catalogs

Seed and plant catalogs are the earliest harbingers of spring that exists. Yes, only 2-3 short weeks after the holiday gift catalog deluge ends, the spring seed and plant catalog arrivals begin! Egged on by promissory pictures, you get to whallow in midwiner gardening dreams and expectations. You get to make selections to fulfill your every garden fantasy, and maybe even order something if your budget allows. It's such great fun that the Phactor doesn't even mind this departure from the ecological straight and narrow. Hard to know why some catalogs keep coming, but apparently mailing lists are forever. It's not because of purchases because the Phactor buys most of his common garden plants and seeds from local family owned garden shops. Although seeds of those orange Turkish eggplants are calling out to be bought.
So readers, what catalogs send the most shivers of anticipation up your gardening spines?

Relief from winter doldrums: 4. Fun in the Kitchen

Yes, the Phytophactor likes to cook and make things in the kitchen having had the fortunate childhood background of parents who cooked and still did lots of "old fashioned" things like canning fruits and vegetables, making katsup, jam, & jelly, and smoking their own bacon and ham. Once you know what the real stuff is like, and have the satisfaction of having made it yourself, the commercial facsimilies seldom compare well. A surplus of red currents and cranberries long stored in the freezer were turned into a wonderful jelly. A stash of black and yellow mustard seeds and a bottle of stout that was not to my liking were combined into a stout mustard. A big pot of mulligatawny soup was made to keep us fed a couple of days during our busy week. And lastly a whole array of items were combined into a batch of home made Worchestershire sauce, and even more amazing, everything needed (tamarind concentrate, molasses, soysauce, anchovy fillet, cardomom, chile de arbol, cinnamon stick, garlic, ginger, onion, sugar, pepper corns, cloves) was in the cupboards! This amazing recipe came from Saveur magazine (Jan. 2009), and is well worth the effort, but the 3 week wait while it all steeps challenges the patience. And the frigid weekend passed without hardly a moments boredom.

Relief from winter doldrums: 3. Plan a trip to the tropics

What could be a better escape from the winter doldrums than planning a trip to the tropics? An invitation to speak at a symposium at the 2010 Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation meetings provides all the excuse the Phactor needs! And where you might ask is this international scientific organization going to hold their meetings? Bali! Part of the Indonesian archipelago. Unfortunately the meeting is not until July and by then the weather in Lincolnland will be approximating a tropical climate, but the idea is to think about it now. This image shows the spectacularly terraced rice paddies of the central highlands, a terrain you would think was too steep for rice cultivation.