Greetings from Colorado!

Hi all.  I'm Sharon and I plan on doing container gardening in my sunroom (zone 5b) this winter (I know, I'm CRAZY!!).  I will be having lots of questions for you guys on everything from germination to composting, but I totally am looking forward to absorbing much of your wisdom in this group!  My planting area in the sunroom gets direct sun (at this time anyway) about 7.5 hours, and general light for another hour or more.  Thanks for allowing me to pick brains and learn!

Welcome Sharon from Ottawa, Canada. We are so pleased that you have joined us and we look forward to seeing how you do with your container garden. Feel free to ask questions. 

Do you have the All New Square Foot Gardening book? Will you be using Mel's Mix in your containers? What are you planning to grow? 

Jump right in and tell us more about what you are or will be doing with your garden.

saganco wrote:Hi all.  I'm Sharon and I plan on doing container gardening in my sunroom (zone 5b) this winter (I know, I'm CRAZY!!).  I will be having lots of questions for you guys on everything from germination to composting, but I totally am looking forward to absorbing much of your wisdom in this group!  My planting area in the sunroom gets direct sun (at this time anyway) about 7.5 hours, and general light for another hour or more.  Thanks for allowing me to pick brains and learn!

 Sharon. I'm Suz from Redding, CA, zone 9b, and I'm giving up on container gardening in my sunroom. I'd be happy to share all I know about how NOT to do it.

Hi Sharon. Welcome from Atlanta, GA! Glad you've decided to join us.

We LOVE to give advice! So ask away, lol!

Sharon, Don't forget the Search feature for a ton of information. As most of us use the All New Square Foot Gardening method, getting a copy of the book is invaluable. Look over the Home Page for the range of topics. Also, there are little bobbles that pop out when you move your cursor to the upper left of the Home Page.

Welcome Sharon!

Hi Sharon!
I'm in central Pennsylvania in 6a and I'm doing winter gardening OUTSIDE - a related form of CRAZY!
There isn't enough light (<10 hours/day) for my plants to grow much right now, but in just two months there will be enough light again, and they will take off. Eliot Coleman's book The Winter Harvest Handbook has been very useful to me - I recommend seeing whether you can get a copy at your library. Mother of a Hubbard's site has also been useful: http://www.motherofahubbard.com/persephone/

Do you know what temperatures your sunroom runs between? And this may be counter-intuitive, but does it have a cooling system? I know cold frames and plastic covered tunnels can get too hot inside without ventilation on sunny days, so I assume the same is true of a sunroom.

Have you decided yet what plants you'll be growing? I find greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula, cress, radicchio, endive/escarole, and mache) and herbs (parsley, cilantro, salad burnet, thyme, and oregano) do well in the cold and low light of winter.

Do you plan on making a raised bed for square foot gardening outside once spring returns?

Wow!  I've been so busy researching composting that I've missed all these great replies and questions!  SO sorry everyone.  I promise I WILL come back and answer questions and comment on your comments.  Just give this old crazy gal a little time and I'll be back.  Thank you all for the welcome and the comments!

Hi saganco!  Welcome to the forum!  I saw you on a different post, but again am glad you found this site!  Lots of expertise, and the searchable database is invaluable!

countrynaturals wrote: Sharon. I'm Suz from Redding, CA, zone 9b, and I'm giving up on container gardening in my sunroom. I'd be happy to share all I know about how NOT to do it.

 Suz - would love to know more about what not to do.  I'm doing a self watering version very much like this (but with MM in the grow bags): youtube.com/watch?v=FQiprIXnQ6I&feature=em-subs_digest (hope this link works).  I look forward to hearing from you.

Beetles - The sunroom is not a true sunroom like the rounded glass "greenhouse look" - it's just a room with a wall of windows on the south and on the west sides.  I'm just hoping for the best here!  Temps are probably staying around 67-70 right now.  Thanks for the link and the book recommendation!

Thanks Scorpio and everyone for the warm gardening welcome!