Greenhouse Goodies

where abouts do you live (zone)

Nice

-- Central northish Ontario

Your so lucky to be able to do this in the winter Mmh. What a nice crop you have already.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Nice!

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

yes, very nice!!!

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" -- Royal Oak, MI - Zone 5

I’m in Rockville, Maryland, zone 7A. We had a pretty mild winter but some nasty severe cold spells this winter. The only major snowfall was 6” a month ago and that melted in less than a week. I know you Canadians are laughing at that, as that’s not called snow up there. I don’t know how you guys survive winter in the Tundra, as I’m originally an island girl, from Hawaii, but raised in this area, so I’m tougher than most of my origin.

I had a problem with a warm spell earlier and it fried some of the leaves of the Arugula. I threw snow inside to help cool it down, then had to get the hose and water the beds as they were pretty dry. It’s about 55F today (59F predicted for Wednesday’s temps.) , so I have to open up the tent and cool it down a bit.

As you can see the plastic is draped and anchored with cinder blocks and rocks, so I have to make sure it’s secure during very windy days. So far, only twice in two seasons has it had to be re-anchored. I roll up the plastic during the summer to allow some air flow. Not very sophisticated, but it works.

-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.

Ahhhh, someday I will have a greenhouse…...How early do you start using it?

I think your little greenhouse is great, mmh. It sounds like it works for you pretty successfully. Isn’t that what it is suppose to do? I sure would be happy to have fresh greens, peas, carrots and radishes from my own backyard. I’ll bet green onions would do really well too. I can just taste the salads!!

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

I seeded the beds with a mixture of choy, mustard greens and arugula in the Fall. The carrots were planted earlier and didn’t grow much so they may just bolt, but I’ll get seeds from them. I believe they’re the old fashioned purple variety, before the Dutch hybridized them to be orange in honor of the Duke of Orange.

I seeded the lettuce about 4 weeks ago and they are about 2” tall now. The arugula are bolting with it being too hot, so I’ve left it open to keep cool.

I hope to plant some green onion sprigs, as I use the greens and start plants from the roots. This way I have a crop available quickly. The asian market sells them 5 bunches/$1. so it’s hard to beat that price. I have some garlic cloves that are sprouting so I’ll plant them too. The slugs are starting to eat my crops, so I’ll put some food safe slug pellets in there. I also need to put my bucket of kitchen waste in the compost pile tomorrow. With 59F temps, I’ll be meandering outside most of the day.

-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.

Update: Today was pretty nice, 55F with a light breeze. Not too hot or cold. I had the greenhouse open overnight and with the warm tempuratures it helped keep it cool but I had to cut down the Arugula and some of the mustard greens that were starting to bolt. The lettuce are not as tall as I thought, but are very happy. I should have a crop by next week for mesclum style greens. After washing the harvested greens several times to rid of dirt and critters, they were delicious stir-fried with garlic, salt & pepper.

The compost pile is really being worked by those red worms. They were quite active when I turned open the top to add more compost. It’s pretty soggy out there so they like the elevated pile.

I have lots of crocus, some daffodils, lenton rose in bloom now. The apricot tree is budding on the upper branches. The neighboring trees are all starting to bud now. The debris from this sure does clog up my pond filter, so I keep it covered until they have completed their leaf and flower stage. After the whirlygigs fall, I can uncover the pond completely.

-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.