Greenhouse success story

This is my second spring with the unheated greenhouse, erected by a previous gardener. The first year I learned a lot about what would not grow in an unheated greenhouse in this maritime climate over winter. The amount of sunlight hours per day is key. The period between November 1 and February 15 is the cut off here for 10 hours of sunlight. I should not expect much growth with fewer than 10 hours. I learned that my salad greens will germinate if planted in the bed around February 1. This past winter was much more successful than the first as far as wintering over plants such as the Meyer Lemon, although the Brugmansia Datura looks dead to me. Very tropical. A $5.00 loss.

Getting ready

I like the idea of reusing plastic containers but hate the drudgery of cleaning and disinfecting them. I tell myself that I am preventing possible fungal problems later. I hope that is true. Today was the day.

I wash them in hot water with dish soap, rinse with clear water then give them a quick rinse in bleach water. Notice the tongs for use with the bleach water. The fun part now begins. Stay tuned!

The winter greenhouse

This fall and early winter my greenhouse has been mostly a space to over-winter plants. It is unheated and has not been down into the freezing temps at this point. In late January or early February I will use some space to harden off starts the will germinate in the house, under lights.

The Meyer Lemon spends summer outside.

I am really looking forward to the growing season. My Territorial Seed catalog arrived today and I am circling items and bending page corners for things to order. I need to get on that right after the holidays. Planting peas happens in February!

Greenhouse harvest time!

We have been eating lots of salads for a month now and the broccoli in the greenhouse is ready to cut. This is my first year trying to grow food in a little greenhouse and I am happy with the results so far. I have been writing lots of notes to self on what worked and what does not work. For example, at this high latitude (near Seattle) there is not enough light until Feb. 15 to germinate and grow much. So I will time indoor starts to be ready for transplant then. Radishes did not do well for me. Probably because I did not water a lot. I had fungus gnats for a while and I know that to get rid of them it is best to keep the growing mix on the drier side. I also hung fly tape to catch the gnats. Recently, it has been getting warm in there, 85 on sunny days, so I am happy that the cool season things are ready to harvest before it gets way too hot.

I plant veggies really close together in this 4′ x 8′ raised bed with planting mix (not garden soil).

Broccoli harvest – tender and sweet

One rose, many colors

Phototropism is directional growth in which the direction of growth is determined by the direction of the light source. In other words, it is the growth and response to a light stimulus. (Wikipedia) ‘Rainbow’s End’ miniature rose has an interesting response to sun and lack of sun. It is registered as a yellow blend rose and as you can see in the photo, it starts out yellow with a red edge and finishes as a solid red rose in this photo taken May 28th in a location where it gets PM sun.

Rainbow’s End miniature rose has an interesting color change depending on the light.

The same plant has a solid red finishing color.

Rainbow’s End photographed in greenhouse in October.

Now look at the photo above which was taken in my greenhouse last fall. It is the same potted plant with it’s last bloom of the season grown under the low light conditions of fall in the Pacific Northwest. Fun to observe if you are a plant geek as I am.