So. Every year, in the broad quest to simplify (HAH!) my life, I try to jigger the seed-starting routine. I abhor planting things under lights indoors; it makes me tense! It needs to be done, though…but if I could shorten the season, it would stand to reason it would shorten my stress level. To wit, [...]
Archive for the ‘greenhouses’ Category
On messing with seed-starting
Posted in greenhouses, nature, seeds on March 16, 2010 | 12 Comments »
Greenhouse update, early spring edition
Posted in greenhouses on March 5, 2010 | 7 Comments »
Early March outside in SW Michigan, late April inside the greenhouses: once the outdoor temps stay above +35F I will need to vent them during the day
It’s not all goatsgoatsgoats here all the time, though I have to admit that, like starting anything new, there’s quite a learning curve. Every day I shave time off [...]
On leeky finds
Posted in greenhouses on February 18, 2010 | 8 Comments »
Trying to *find* reasons to stick around the sunny 85-degree greenhouse this weekend, I espied this leek throwing out little leeklets around its base. Aha! I thought. Time to get a leg up on the new Leek Season.
Not all leeks put out these pearls. In point of fact, I probably wouldn’t save the seed of [...]
On the new season
Posted in greenhouses on February 11, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Garlic shoot, Freckles romaine seedlings
Another fun thing about growing in an enclosed space like a greenhouse? The weeds that show up are most likely something YOU introduced. Like these lettuces we found this weekend! Two feet of snow outside, nice greenery inside.
“Eat your weeds.”
On gardening from the outdoor pantry
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on February 5, 2010 | 13 Comments »
I have blogged a bit of a theme this week: how to plan my spring garden according to what I will eat next February.
By looking into shortcuts (and take them where I can), and by doing a tally of this February’s stored goods, I can see what needs to go into the ground this spring. [...]
On January gardening
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on January 22, 2010 | 10 Comments »
It was another sunny day yesterday, which prompted me to spend my lunch hour in the greenhouses.
Normally, the greenhouses require zero active gardening attention between December and February. This is a time of harvests only; it’s rather freeing, I must say. But December through February, in this hemisphere, are when a gardener misses gardening most! [...]
On the other reason to get a greenhouse
Posted in dairy goats, greenhouses on January 15, 2010 | 15 Comments »
World events can rock you pretty hard, but surprisingly so can little things like crummy weather. I’m telling you: weeks of snow and no sunshine can mess with even stalwart seasonal affective disorder naysayers like me. All that bright snow outdoors, which otherwise perks up the darkest day, can wear you down!
Enter, sunshine. Time to [...]
On the weather
Posted in greenhouses, weather on January 5, 2010 | 23 Comments »
They’re 9 1/2 feet tall in the center if you’re wondering about how deep it all is.
When we lived in Minneapolis, weather WAS the common point of conversation. I am not quite sure why this was: if it had one cause, say, or many. Was it because winter weather could KILL you in Minnesota, and [...]
Greenhouse update, early winter edition
Posted in greenhouses on December 14, 2009 | 19 Comments »
“New” greenhouse on a chilly but sunny morning; that’s snow outdoors and on the plastic. I removed the covers to show you the growth. Sorry about the drunken, pre-coffee angle.
Thankfully, gratefully, I report a gentle fall to round out the growing year of 2009. Though our weather this growing season wasn’t as calamitous as many [...]
Greenhouse update: First frost of autumn
Posted in greenhouses on October 14, 2009 | 10 Comments »
Fall has come a bit early this year. Considering how cold it has been all year, the arrival of a cold autumn wasn’t too much of a switch. Seriously: I took neither the feather bed nor the down comforter off the bed all summer. And: I swam in our (unheated) pool only twice, in Lake [...]
On gardening adjustments
Posted in greenhouses on May 19, 2009 | 12 Comments »
Chive blossoms
On Saturday I pulled a monster (4.5″ diameter) leek out of the greenhouse for dinner, and a friend says, my gosh, what did you do to that thing? Nothing much, just the coddled life in the greenhouse. So, she said, they’re like the Kobe beef of the vegetable world. Oh yeah, I say: I [...]
On pest prevention
Posted in greenhouses, nature on May 7, 2009 | 15 Comments »
Office supplies in the garden: sowbug-proofing the tomatillo seedlings
So many of the tricks employed to outwit garden-munching critters have seemed somewhat familiar to me, in different contexts. I was thinking about it last night when I was rigging up these little collars. “Ah,” I thought. “This is a barrier method,” as in…contraception! Yes, it’s true: [...]
The greenhouses in early spring
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on April 27, 2009 | 13 Comments »
Early spring outdoors means late spring in the greenhouses!
“Old” greenhouse: You’re seeing 7 of 9 beds, most are 3′x6′
The old (Oct ‘07) greenhouse has been acting as our seedling house: it’s kind of boot camp before life outdoors. In here, I transfer all seeds I start indoors. Some of these seedlings have already done [...]
On a better way of seed-starting
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on April 8, 2009 | 12 Comments »
The seedling transfer bed, bottom to top: Amish Deer Tongue lettuce (two leaves seen), arugula, spinach, unemergent seeds of spinach, Red Sails lettuce, orach, broccoli, minutina, mizuna, more spinach, more Red Sails and Grand Rapids lettuce. Those are two beds of garlic you see beyond, as well as the overwintered fig trees.
Outdoors in the greenhouse [...]
On garden emotions
Posted in greenhouses, soapbox on March 27, 2009 | 24 Comments »
Wouldn’t you cry too?
On Wednesday, after work, I went into the old greenhouse with my small stash of shallots and I started crying. Sobbing, nearly.
YES: me, hard-headed, tough-as-nails, rationalist, non-sentimental ME, brought to tears by the emergence of the first fava beans, by the gorgeousness of the lettuces, by the thin little green waving sprouts [...]
The greenhouses in late winter/early spring
Posted in greenhouses on March 20, 2009 | 16 Comments »
Ah! The March equinox! Equal day and night happening for us on March 20th, as well as spring’s putative arrival: after such a winter, I am so happy this day is here. The White House breaks ground on their own kitchen garden today. And our humble greenhouses are both winding down and ramping up on [...]
Well, how hot is it?
Posted in greenhouses on March 19, 2009 | 6 Comments »
We’ve had a string of nice spring days. Though this is a balm for the winter-weary soul, the greenhouse gardener in me is in a bit of a panic. You see, there is such a thing as “too hot for comfort” with the little greenhouse babies.
Happy spinach babies
The upside: things grow fast! The downside: things [...]
On seed-starting
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on March 5, 2009 | 12 Comments »
Red and yellow onions growing in a recycled aluminum pie plate and plastic cover. Notice the crowding: I intend to transfer these (and most of my seedlings) at least twice: once to the grow bed in the greenhouse and finally to their spots in the garden. Growing things in crowded conditions frankly enables me to [...]
On salad
Posted in food, greenhouses, sweat on February 27, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Fresh from the greenhouses, in a Michigan February
As a city-living vegetarian, I really considered salads to be somewhat overrated. Maybe I took all those “how can you subsist on rabbit food” comments to heart, but I mostly found salads disappointing after all the preparation that went into making them. I ate them, sure; still, my [...]
On summer greenhouse crops
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on February 25, 2009 | 23 Comments »
This small bag should be enough to grow lots of out-of-hand snacking this autumn
I got a little bit of legume love in the mail this week: Peanuts!
The envelope was sorely needed, too: dirty, green thoughts on a cold and snowy day. Winter still holds us in her sharp teeth, though daily, that sun gets stronger. [...]
On pacing oneself
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on February 13, 2009 | 9 Comments »
Brune d’hiver lettuce, back from near-death
What a difference a week makes! The warmup has definitely kicked things up a notch or two in the greenhouses. All my November and December seeds have sprung, I now see all the garlics, the chives are emerging, and all the freezer-burnt lettuces have put out shiny new growth.
November-sown Winter [...]
Greenhouse update
Posted in greenhouses on February 6, 2009 | 12 Comments »
Yes, that’s snow on the outside!
It’s been a (select an adjective) winter this year, which is news to nobody, but its severity has particular relevance for the greenhouse-wannabe gardener. To you I say: There is hope, but not much hope was to be found in the past two months.
This sad-looking celery is still actually holding [...]
On January salads
Posted in greenhouses on January 8, 2009 | 14 Comments »
This is the side of the new greenhouse. Every day I knock at least this much snow off the thing. Why? It gets dark in there otherwise!
We had a bit of a break in the constant snow around here, so much so that I’m getting a little used to a daily salad. (No snow = [...]
On holiday garden traditions
Posted in greenhouses, sweat on January 3, 2009 | 14 Comments »
Inchelium red (below) and German hardy garlic
I suppose it cannot be called a tradition if it’s only the second time I am doing it, but on New Year’s day I planted some more garlic in the greenhouse. Last year I found some nearly-sprouty cloves and said “the hell with it” and threw them in an [...]
On seeing the sun
Posted in greenhouses, weather on December 26, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Christmas brought some sun for us, which, quite frankly, was all I really wanted. (N.b.: anyone who says she doesn’t want anything for the holidays will not be satisfied with nothing.) Sun here of course means salad.
Young arugula. The wider-leaved varieties are the ones that do well in the greenhouse. Avoid the yellow-flowered, skinny-leaved sylvetta [...]
The greenhouses in winter’s cold grip
Posted in greenhouses, weather on December 23, 2008 | 13 Comments »
Greenhouse shallots, chilly but fine.
I am so glad this is not my first year with a greenhouse. This fall/winter season has been uniformly horrible as far as the greenhouses are concerned: cold, sunless, and did I mention cold and sunless? And the lack of sun? And the cold?
Had this been the first year, I would [...]
On what’s for dinner
Posted in greenhouses, weather on December 17, 2008 | 11 Comments »
Somebody mostly wise once said there are two kinds of people in the world: people who wake up wondering what’s for dinner, and people who do not.
I certainly wake up wondering. Tuesday I worried we wouldn’t be able to have our usual salads: this cold weather, these cloudy days, conspire to keep our green leafies [...]
On December seeds
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on December 11, 2008 | 6 Comments »
I started some seeds yesterday. It felt pretty good, considering how big and burdensome my digging jones gets when the snow comes and stays.
Best table found ever in a gardening book (in my opinion): p. 33 of Nancy Bubel’s The New Seed-Starters Handbook (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1988). I hope you can read it but [...]
Early winter in the greenhouses
Posted in greenhouses, weather on November 29, 2008 | 5 Comments »
The daily greenhouse temperature swing on a sunny day
I love this time of year. We are bridging the fall/winter divide. It’s cold out, sure; it snows, but it still melts. The ground is not frozen despite the weekly snow dump. It’s been cold enough that the still-unharvested garden vegetables, mainly root crops, have converted their [...]
On winter weeds
Posted in greenhouses, seeds on November 20, 2008 | 8 Comments »
I suppose this doesn’t look like much, but these little green things certainly made me smile when I found them in the old greenhouse this weekend. What are they? They are lettuce and mache seedlings, little weedlings actually…they’ve sprung up uninvited in one of the fallow beds. (Sometimes, if company just drops by, one needs [...]
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