Pelargoniums over winter

[moretea]

My pelargoniums have been joyful in pots in the garden this year. I'd love to keep the plants alive for next year, but in past years they've rotted in the unheated greenhouse and surely the house would be too hot & not sure I've got the space for them indoors. Anyone got any tips?

I overwintered several on various windowsill last year

Thanks @freakydeaky I'll need to give that a try. Maybe I can repot them into smaller indoor pots. Wishing I had decently deep window cills though

If they rotted it sounds like they were too wet. They need to dry out and go dormant.

I just bring mine into the house (on a bright windowsill)

They're a mediterranean plant, so will be fine indoors. I'm bringing mine inside today and putting them on both the sills, and a little 3-tiered garden stand I bought specifically for the purpose. (It's not as good as it looks in the brochure, but will do for this winter).
If yours wont fit on the sills, put them on the floor ensuring they've got some light on them.
Also make sure you have a plate/dish under each pot to protect floors/sills etc even though. they don't need much watering .

I’m going to take mine out of the pots in the garden and put them into trays and keep them in a spare bedroom

Great tips thank you. I might do an experiment with some dried out in the greenhouse as @AmeliaEarache suggests and the rest in the house. Your tiered garden stant sounds great @ThoseDarnCrows , but not sure it's be cat proof

I’ve heard of people taking them out of pots and hanging them upside down in sheds. Then repotting early onto window sills.

I’ve managed a few years with mine just wrapping them up in bubble wrap, fleece and sat on polystyrene boxes against a house (don’t have a greenhouse). But, you’ve got to pick your day to do it, if the weathers still too nice they will cook, too damp and they will rot.

If you take them out of the pots, just ensure you have removed as much of the soil as possible.

If you don't want to hang them up, you can box them up.
Shake off all the soil, line a cardboard box with newspaper, place a layer of geraniums on, then cover with another layer of paper. Repeat as much as you need.
Doing this removes water, food and light from the plant and makes them sleep. (this is how I see it anyway).

Re-pot and water in the spring.

Mine always go into my unheated greenhouse. I pot them up into quite small pots, in just moist compost. They are cut back quite hard. I pick over them regularly and have some fleece to hand if it gets really cold. They are only watered if they get very, very dry.

I've taken the route of

remove from pots
clip off all foliage and flowers
remove most of the compost from the rootball
lightly wrap in newspaper - 2-3 plants together are fine
store inside a paper sack eg a David Austin or Amazon delivery bag, which I always keep for the purpose
can store in the greenhouse above ground level which gets cold in the middle of winter.

ive added a photo on this thread

www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/5174194-october-2024-jobs-to-do-this-month?reply=138830369&utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Great advice @daisychain01 , thanks for the photo demonstration too, I'll try this.

Mine live in my almost frost free porch and continue flowering all winter. They’re a bit leggy as I don’t like pinching out anything with flower buds on. But I’m growing them for general cheerfulness rather than as specimen plants