Not much going on...

Felt like I wanted to write - but I don't have much to say about the plants... Have to scrap the shelves in my greenhouse. They are just too flimsy for the heaviness of the filled flats. Had a couple more collapses since the first one and I am plain fed up. Just going to pull them out and put in two sawhorses and 2x4s and I just barely have enough room for the flats. I think I'll repurpose one of the shelves in the kitchen - hope it holds up there... And put the existing kitchen wire shelf out in the greenhouse under the 2x4s. Didn't do all this today as last night we got about 4-5 inches of snow and I had to struggle to get the greenhouse door open.

Mesclun in Vicki's greenhouse today

Vicki posted on facebook a few pictures of all the greens that are coming up that we sowed two weeks ago. Record time for a cold house for many of the seeds to sprout. Haven't been to that greenhouse to check the max/min temperatures but it might be warmer in there than I thought. Of course these are all cool-season greens that we sowed - trying to produce enough green stuff to bag up and take to market as organic baby greens. It's an experiment we'll see how it goes.

My greenhouse is staying fairly warm 50F at night and even got up to 90F on one of those sunny days we had - and the outdoor temps were 30F. Had to vent the house it was so warm and leave the door open for a while. Was 60F in there today - gray day with 24F outdoor temps.

Going to the Oakland County greenhouse tomorrow to harvest greens for dinner at friends house on Sunday. Picking up Pam so we can go cross-country skiing and then we'll visit the beds. Told Pam to take a harvest too. From there we'll go to Vicki's to water all the babies. Called OC Parks and Rec today to see if the price of greenhouse beds had dropped as I would like to have another one for sowing the new seeds that came in today. No luck - they still want 90 bucks for a bed and you only have it for two months - not a deal so I think I'm going to wait until the weather warms a bit and I can do the bulk of the sowing in Vicki's greenhouse.

Got in 30 varieties of perennial seeds today. I think the sowing on them is pretty straightforward but after looking at a packet I see there are a few that I have to cold treat. Cold treatment involves sowing the seed on moist soil, placing it in a plastic bag and keeping it in the fridge for 2-8 weeks. Already have two baggies of delphiniums in the crisper but I have room for more, so tonight I am going to go over all the seed packets and see what I have to do.

This is the first week we really have no potting or sowing to do - as we are out of space in the big greenhouses, but I should enjoy the lull, as I know I'm going to be busting it come March. Hoping all my friends on the East Coast can dig out of the blizzard they are in for tonight and that my friends down south and west are enjoying warm temperatures. Heard a cardinal singing a territorial song the other day so spring can't be far behind.

Disaster strikes! and greenhouse growth

Janet harvesting greens

Oh dear - a disaster in my greenhouse...The shelves we so lovingly put all our transplants from Saturday, collapsed Sunday. They had their feet on uneven ground and just tipped and flipped all the seedlings over. Paul was here to fix a handle in the greenhouse and I shooed him away. Just as I was setting up the first shelf - the second set of shelves buckles and collapses! Aargh! But I kept my cool and methodically picked up all the upended plugs and set them back in trays. Paul came out a bit later and finished the job - he also was handy at fixing my faucet in the kitchen which was loose. If you need a good handyman in the metro Detroit area give me a buzz...

Tonight I took my friend, garden designer and lecturer Janet Macunovich, to the OC greenhouse so she could take pictures for a vegetable gardening class we are teaching together this week. (By the way, she's got a great gardening website Garden A to Z which has a neat gardening forum). We both harvested a bag of greens each and will have salad tonight for supper.

Bed one - started in September

The beds continue to grow well. Fertilized all the plants with Kelp this last Saturday and the Nasturtiums have appreciated it and have taken off. Just read a good recipe for Nasturtium Pesto with walnuts and Parmesan cheese so I think I'll try it - maybe for my brother Chris on Valentine's day. I've been wondering what to do with this plethora of nasturtium foliage that is overtaking the corners and center of bed #2. I'll try it and get back to you all on the blog on the taste of the pesto.

Propagation dome

 Meanwhile, the babies are doing better in their warmer site as you can see from the picture at left. I purchased five propagation domes for the seedlings - they are about $3 each from Greenhouse Megastore and available elsewhere. There is finally a haze of green on the seedling trays. Janet counted the trays and multiplied by the number of cells - I have over 1900 plants growing! She mentioned I'll have a bit of work bumping them all up to larger containers. No kidding! Not every cell is filled so the number is a bit high but it gives you a good idea of how many plants we'll have this year. I still have seeds coming from Specialty Seeds - about 30 varieties so that will be another 1000 plants and then the annual flowers and vegetables. I think I'll be scrambling in April and May. Oh well, goes with the gardening territory.

View of  the OC greenhouse

To have enough room for the upcoming seedlings I am going to try and get another bed at the OC greenhouse. I need room for another 30 flats I calculate and I thought with the other two beds I'd be pulling spent crops by now. The crops have been so slow that they are just now coming into bearing. So, until the big greenhouse at Vicki's remains at a warmer temperature I think I'll have to get another bed. I only hope they've slashed the prices or will give me a volume discount!

First potting of the year

Well I'm going ahead and trying it - I've committed to the seedlings from Wagner's and today we potted them up. It was our first potting of the year and it was a mild 48F in Vicki's greenhouse. Ordered some nice heavy beige and terra-cotta colored pots with the beige ones even having saucers that you can attach to them. Put half and half - cyclamen and gerbera in the beige pots and then we had some flimsy - and very stuck together! - terra-cotta colored pots. All are 4" so the 72 count cell seedlings should size up in them fairly quickly if I can keep the heat in the greenhouse going strong.

Pam with the newly potted seedlings

Cyclamen in 4" pots

Pots of new stuff

Garden cress sprouting in the cold

We potted a few of the plants into 6" pots and the 144 count pansies went into 36 count trays. The pansies fairly overflowed their 36 count cells but I figure I'll bump them up again into 4" pots, maybe even 6", before I sell them.

The seed flats were very dry so we watered them. I blow out the hose every time I use it, so it doesn't freeze. The bags of soil we moved in there that were frozen and still are, so I think we'll have to go to Hortmark in the next couple of weeks to get a load of soil. We've got nothing to pot for a while now except some seed trays - which don't use too much soil., but we'll be potting the seedlings from the Oakland County greenhouse before you know it.

Couldn't believe the garden cress had sprouted. Temps were going close to if not below freezing in the greenhouse - but it's a hardy little devil and has decided to emerge anyway. Have never grown the plant - am told it's kind of a peppery, green - a bit like mustard.

Hope you are handling the cold weather well. We finally are getting a bit of snow in the next five days - so maybe Pam and I will take a break from the plants and get in a bit of skiing after all.

Tough to grow seedlings this year

Seedlings from Wagner's greenhouse

I've got to appreciate the beautifully-grown seedlings that a professional greenhouse sends me. The trays are perfectly uniform with a lovely plant in each cell, every cell filled and growing. Now it is up to me to take this beautiful plant material and grow it on to size. Wagner's Greenhouse in Minnesota is one cell-tray grower that shipped me beautiful stuff. To the left are pansies, gerbera and silver heart cyclamen. My idea of growing something for the Valentine's Day holiday has slipped out the window but I'll have these as potted plants for late winter or early spring. Timing is so critical in the nursery business - I'll eventually get my timing right.

Silver Heart Cyclamen

To the right is a lovely tray of Silver Heart Cyclamen. They are supposed to be mixed colors, rose, red and white - so I'll see once they begin to bloom. Each leaf is a definite gray-silver with a green picotee edge. Gorgeous. I have never grown cyclamen in pots before - but there's a first time for everything isn't there? I'm putting these in 4" round pots - some are heavy and nice for tabletop display. I've also started looking for squares of florist foil to ultimately put around the finished plants.

Delphinium seedlings

Meanwhile the seedlings from the big greenhouse go limping along. To the left is a tray of teeny delphinium seedlings started in early December. My other delphiniums have been sown in moist soil and are sitting in the crisper drawer in the fridge. Am told they germinate better when they go through a cold period of about four weeks. I'll take them out mid-February and sow them then. 

Trays of seedlings in my greenhouse

 Took nine trays of seedlings from the Oakland County Greenhouse to see if the warmth from my new seedling mat will pop them into sprouting. Some success, I have seen a few more green sprouts. Waiting on new hoses to arrive as my big hose outdoors is frozen solid. Have to fill the watering can in the kitchen sink and take it out to the greenhouse. So far, not a bad chore, since the greenhouse is only half full.

Seedlings with frost cloth

The seedlings in the Oakland County greenhouse are currently swaddled with frost cloth and a couple flats are sporting clear propagation domes to increase humidity. The only problem about the frost cloth is - it's pulling off labels from the seed trays and I am starting to have a few anonymous trays. It's tough to tell what a seedling is when it is so tiny - I hate to think I'll have to wait until they grow up to figure out what it is!

First day working in the greenhouse

Me filling seed trays

Today was cold outside but balmy in the greenhouse. First, Pam and I went to the big Oakland County greenhouses to water and fertilize and to take soil and markers to Vicki's - greenhouse 1. Was our first day working in Greenhouse #1 and it was a balmy 58 with the heat going. It was 25F outside but lovely, take your coat off weather inside. Fired up the space heater and started filling seed flats. The objective is to grow fresh greens for the winter market to sell. Sowed spinach, mesclun, lettuces, golden purslane, and a few other greens. Am hoping they'll grow in the flats as a cut and come again crop. If they are still good by the end of the season we can plant them outside in the nursery bed just back of the greenhouse. So many plans!

Pam filling flats

Fired up the heater in my greenhouse - greenhouse #2  and it went down to a reasonable 44F last night. Fired up the seedling mat that I purchased from a chicken place - meant for incubating eggs. It is kind of cool - just a mylar piece with electric running through it. Went to the OC greenhouse and got 9 seedling  trays that had not sprouted yet to see if I can bump them into growth at my little house.

Pam basking in the winter sunshine

We then loaded primrose, sweet william and daffodils into the van for me to take to Vicki's tomorrow back at my house. I'll take them into greenhouse #2 and see if I can coax them into growth. Lunch and a coffee break were in order and after we took dog, Griffin, for a walk we had a little nip of homemade Kahlua. Man do I take care of my employees or what? A good day was had by all!

Another productive day

Completing greenhouse #2

Detail of roof vent

Detail of panel clip

Missing panel

Today was a good day. Spent most of the morning and afternoon putting in panels in my new Harbor Freight 6x8 greenhouse. The roof vents were a bit buggery but I finally got them sealed. Paul is coming back tomorrow to finish off the vents....he put the handles in backwards.


Above is a shot of the panel clips. They were a bit challenging to get the hang of - but once I did it went along smoothly. Hope they hold in some wind - on the web many people were saying that with any wind the panels blow out and that they should be caulked in. We'll see.

The view from the kitchen

Dumped the gravel...finished the floor!

Whew! The day started out at a bitter two degrees above zero and topped out at 17F, but today we worked outside and shoveled gravel to finish the floor in the greenhouse. We switched off shoveling and dumping with raking duties. It only took us less than an hour and a half to move a yard and a half of pea gravel. Wow! We are good!

Lounging after the work

Pam at rest

The gravel looked like a mountain and when half of the greenhouse floor was covered, we still had a huge pile...But, we shoveled and dumped, shoveled and dumped and voila! The stuff got moved.

Pam and I rested at the end of the day and kept pinching ourselves to think we built this. Now it is time to fill it.

Finally got an order in for cyclamen, gerbera and pansies and we'll be starting greens seeds on Saturday, when the weather is supposed to moderate a bit. Here we go...can't wait until spring!