Without your continued support, we wouldn't have made it this far.

Another season has come and gone, our 6th, to be exact, but who's counting??

Well, I am..because I never imagined when I opened the doors in 2001 that I would be having such a wonderful time doing something I truly enjoy. (Or that I would still be here plugging away at it!)

Our "Superstar Staff" is to be thanked for making my vision for this garden center a reality. These ladies love life!

They care deeply about people and plants and it shows every day. Westwood Gardens would not be in business today without the talents and loyalty of each of these lovely ladies who work at the nursery. They are the very "best" in the industry!

Thank-you again for your support, and I hope you will come back and visit us during the Holiday Season!

Sincerely,
Jodee Fyfe
Westwood Gardens

We are closed until Thanksgiving weekend, and our newsletter will also be taking a temporary vacation...but don't worry - we shall return!

So, the weekend comes, you'd love to get out and garden...and it's raining or snowing. Fortunately for gardeners, there's always a side project waiting or an inside chore that needs doing. Here are ten ways to pass the time if you can't spend it outside gardening:

1. Clean your Tools:
First, use a stiff brush to remove excess dirt, then scrub off rust with steel wool. Spray or wipe on a lubricating oil before storing in a dry area..

2. Clean your pots:
If you're like me, your garage and patio are littered with empty plant pots of varying sizes. Dump the excess dirt into the compost pile, rinse with water (or a mild bleach solution, if you suspect fungal disease was present in the pot), scrub with a stiff brush and allow to air dry. Arrange and stack pots according to size, and store.

3. Tend to your houseplants:
Repot where necessary. Polish large leaved-plants with a soft cloth soaked in a mild solution of water and stale beer. If you want leaves to really shine, use a commercial plant-polishing product. Waxes and oils tend to block plant pores and attract dust, though, so watch out for those.

4. Clean out old gardening products:
Determine which pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, etc., are ready to be thrown out. (Most will last about two years.) Check with your local solid waste management authority, environmental agency, or health department to find out whether your community has a household hazardous waste collection program or a similar program for getting rid of unwanted, leftover pesticides. Whatever you do, please DON'T pour products -- even organic ones -- down the sink, into the toilet, or down a sewer or street drain. And don't re-use the empty containers - get rid of them.

5. Go through your seeds:
Seeds more than two years old should probably be thrown away. If you're not sure, test their viability by folding a few seeds in a wet paper towel and laying the towel someplace warm for a few days, ensuring it remains damp. If the seeds germinate, they're obviously still ok. The best way to store seeds is in screw-lid jars or in zip-top plastic baggies.

6. Start a scrapbook:
Go through old gardening magazines and cut out favorite pictures, articles, growing tips, etc., then organize them and paste in a scrapbook. This can actually be a winter-long project if you've got stacks and stacks of gardening magazines like I do.

7. Learn something new:
Interested in making a hypertufa container but not sure where to start? Want to learn the basics of designing an attractive container arrangement? Get on the Internet and do some searching. There's a world of resources out there.

8. Pamper your orchids:
Got orchids? You should decrease the amount of water given to orchids (and all indoor plants, actually) during the winter months, but before you help them shut down for the season, make sure the sphagnum moss and other rooting medium is still fresh. Roots should be white or green and not brown and soggy. If you're getting root rot, change the moss out and trim off bad roots.

9. Start a garden journal:
Keeping records of what works and what doesn't is invaluable in gardening. Taking pictures of your landscape throughout the seasons is also helpful in determining how to tweak here and there. Online gardening journals and blogs are becoming more and more popular, not only for keeping track of your own garden, but to share it with other gardeners across the planet. Most blogging sites make it easy to compose and post entries, as well as pictures.

10. Plan next season's garden:
Map out your yard, note spots of shade, partial shade and sun, as well as areas that get more or less water. Take that gardening journal you've made and make notes on what to tweak, what to move, and what to add.

By Tamara Galbraith

You see them all over the place during autumn: bales of hay used as fall decor. But once all the pumpkins and scarecrows have been put away, what should you do with your bale of hay? (Hey, I made a rhyme!)

One option is: compost it. Hay is an excellent additive to the compost pile, and ideally, the heat of the pile will kill any weed seeds that might be languishing in the bales. Straw apparently breaks down even better than hay.

Hay and straw make great mulches and/or path covers too. First, though, break open the bales and let them sit outside for a couple of weeks. This will allow wild birds to come in and munch on any weed seeds that might still be present. When spreading hay or straw bales on garden beds, be sure they don't stay too clumpy as you break the bales apart.

Lastly, hay bales left intact make great cold frames - a kind of mini-greenhouse for housing tender plants during the colder seasons. Simply arrange the bales in a tight square and place your plants inside, either right in the soil or in containers. A piece of Plexiglas or an old window serves as the lid.

If you decide to give this easy cold frame a try, be aware that you must monitor the temperature frequently. Too much sun, and the plants inside will fry, so prop the lid open if necessary. If temperatures are going to drop below freezing, throw a blanket over the whole contraption and remove it when things stabilize.

No matter what, the hay will eventually break down, though, so keep an eye out for that -- as well as the occasional mouse looking for a warm, fluffy place to spend the winter.