A forest of Amaryllis and other nursery news

A  forest of Amaryllis

Here I sit, way too early in the morning - so I figured I'd write a bit of news for the blog. A forest of red-hued Amaryllis sits on the kitchen table. I wanted to take these to market, but wound up not having enough stuff to make a booth. So I am blessed with the prolific display. Gorgeous.Shows how much I have a need for the greenhouse to have some space to grow these babies on and overwinter them for next year.

Me with the new shelves

Meanwhile the greenhouse at Vicki's struggles on. Contacted the supplier about directions for building the roof vents and he said to call him for more info. Will call him this afternoon and hopefully get enough direction to be able to help Paul tomorrow finish it off. The new shelves got built this week and here are some pictures of me and Pam with them. They were so easy to pop together. Finally, something easy to put together!


Still have some space in the greenhouse even with the shelves. 10x20 is a lot of room...half the size of my teeny house! There will be plenty of space right now for Pam and I to set up the folding table and chairs for potting. Have just found a blog Dottie Pants Journal - very sweet stories about a woman and her greenhouse and garden exploits in Georgia. Very nice - check it out if you are a greenhouse fan. She has the same fantasy as I do - putting a sweet tea table and chairs in the greenhouse and furnishing it with beautiful plants. Pam and I are a bit more utilitarian - potting table for stuffing the greenhouse with baby plants.

Pam with the new shelves

Meanwhile the veg gardens at the big Oakland County Greenhouse complex grow on. The beds have done well...growing only cool-season stuff. Found out the greenhouse is kept at only 55F -65F - no wonder it is so chilly in there. They told me when I first started that the greenhouse would be kept at 75 during the day and 55 at night. So much for that theory. Have got my first baby pea pods forming and have just seen last evening my first nasturtium bloom! So exciting to see the garden develop day after day. Gives one a good feeling in the winter to see green growing things. Vicki, Pam and I have been getting good harvests off the two beds, keeping us in greens for the winter. It will be good to get some snap peas for a different vegetable. Hopefully I'll be able to collect enough to share with my brother Christoper - a vegetarian that I cook for once a week - he can't seem to bring himself to chop vegetables for a fresh meal, preferring instead to eat out of cans. Maybe if I introduce him to snaps , he'll have another easy vegetable to prepare...

The babies at the cool, cool greenhouse are suffering next to their extremely cool vents in the windows. Marty, greenhouse technician, offered another unused bed in the interior of the greenhouse which is much warmer. Hopefully this will give the babies a boost to get going for the season. Marty also suggested frost cloth to give them an extra layer of protection. Maybe though a few of these ideas I can get these children going so they'll be big enough to go to Vicki's someday soon...

All the news, fit to print, for now. Will take some pics at the OC greenhouses so you can see the progress of the gardens and babies and hopefully friend Paul will complete the greenhouse tomorrow. Pics to come!