Shadows in Honor of Groundhog Day (Or, how to tell whether you have bright light or not)

“You want a prediction about the weather? You’re asking the wrong Phil. I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.”

So whether a glorified rat saw his shadow this morning or not, I know something for sure: here in Detroit, we’ve got at least another couple of months of winter ahead of us.

We’ve got the first of our onion seeds planted under the lights downstairs, and that’s some consolation: if there are seeds under the lights, spring must be just around the corner. But seedlings, even cute little tomato seedlings (I can’t have those until March….) just don’t do for me what my garden does. The just general hanging-out in the garden, deadheading something here, watering something there, is what I miss the most at this time of year. Just being able to brush my fingertips along the foliage of my viburnums is an occasion I will not take for granted come spring, I promise you that.

While I’ve admitted that I am a negligent houseplant owner, and that I’ve killed an embarrassing number of those plants touted as “unkillable” in books and magazines, I do appreciate houseplants. I think February and March may be the two months out of the year when my houseplants receive the attention they deserve.

Houseplants are a challenge for me in general. Part of it is that watering a needy houseplant takes a back seat to feeding one of my needy children Part of it is that I have cats who enjoy the taste of houseplants. And part of it is that my house doesn’t have many bright rooms. Large shade trees, though I love them, are obstacles in many ways. The good news is that the light situation in my house is not as dire as it seems. A simple test showed me that I actually have better light than I thought I did. Here’s a quick, easy way to tell whether you have low, medium, or bright light in an area of your house. All you need is a piece of white paper.

Place the paper in the area in which you want to put a houseplant. Hold your hand about a foot away from the paper, between the window and the paper.

—If there is a crisp, defined shadow of your hand on the paper, you have bright light.
—If the shadow is kind of fuzzy, but is still easily recognizable as a hand, you have medium light.
—If the shadow is very fuzzy or non-existent, you have low light.

I hope this little tip helps you with your indoor gardening. Now that I’ve tried this in a few areas of my house, it’s time to go to the nursery and stock up on more houseplants!

Photo by Reinhard Kraasch, Creative Commons

3 comments

3 comments to “Shadows in Honor of Groundhog Day (Or, how to tell whether you have bright light or not)”

Colleen Vanderlinden, February 2nd, 2010 at 11:02 am:

I know you guys know which movie that quote is from, right?

Nancy Bond, February 2nd, 2010 at 12:03 pm:

This is a very useful test! And we’re with you here in eastern Canada — we’ve got at least two more months of cold weather before we can turn our thoughts to the outside garden.

Colleen Vanderlinden, February 3rd, 2010 at 8:29 pm:

Thanks, Nancy! Yes, you’re definitely in the same boat, weather-wise, aren’t you? It’ll be here before we know it, though, right? (I hope!)

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Shadows in Honor of Groundhog Day (Or, how to tell whether you have bright light or not)

3 comments

3 comments to “Shadows in Honor of Groundhog Day (Or, how to tell whether you have bright light or not)”

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