Cheers to February 2008, and happy late Ground Hog's Day.

If I thought about it much, I'd realize that I'm a lot like a groundhog - fuzzy, warm, brunette, and mostly keeping to myself. But the best part of being a groundhog is that I don't think about being a groundhog until February.

Something about the month of February makes me stick my head out of my wintery, gray, groundhoggy hole and poke around outside for my shadow. Yeah, I see my shadow, but I come outside anyway. Something grinds around the inner-workings of February that feels a lot like new growth, sprouting from the deep,dark to meet the light. I'm not sure what it is. But every year, it makes me start over, and I force bulbs.

So I'm forcing paperwhites in the sunniest spot in the kitchen window; but this year, I'm using a little booze to keep them from growing too leggy. No, really. A little alcohol in the water stunts their growth and keeps them from growing lanky and top-heavy. So, no flopping over this year (for the bulbs, at least). A little vodka water for the paperwhites, a little vodka cosmopolitan for me.

How to Stunt Paperwhites with Alcohol

1. Pot your paperwhites in stones and water, as you normally would.
2. Once the roots begin growing and the green shoot on top reaches about 1-2", pour off the existing water.
3. Replace the water with a solution of 4 - 6% alcohol...
4. Continue to use the alcohol solution for future watering.

Source: gardening.about.com.