A Greenhouse Workday

What's a gardener to do on a warm and rainy day in February? Garden in the greenhouse of course! It is here I can enjoy blooms and still get my hands dirty while keeping out of the weather. The amaryllis in my garden are always wintered over in the greenhouse. By the time they bloom it is usually time to bring them outside for some sun. This 'Apple Blossom' is getting close!

Found treasures from the property help to brighten the inside of the greenhouse when it is so dreary outside.

'Diamond Frost' blooms like a champ when moved to a greenhouse for the winter. Last spring I actually had some of this handy euphorbia come back when I left it outside. I hope it does so again, but just in case these plants are on standby.

'Pineapple Sage' is so beloved by the honeybees I move it inside to winter over as well. It blooms almost all of the time.

My real mission in the greenhouse was to plant up some pseudo terrariums. I planted a few of these last summer and I must say they have done fairly well in the house. They are shiny, airy, green, clean, and easy to care for. I decided to plant a few more. I find my glass containers at Goodwill for great prices.

Then I use activated charcoal on the bottom of the glass to help keep down odors since the glass jars I use don't have drainage holes. I then place a coffee filter on top of the charcoal to keep the next layer separated from the charcoal. The next layer is sand. Sand helps to provide good drainage and gives excess water a place to go. The top layer is a light potting mix such as the Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm, and Citrus mix that I prefer. I then plant a tropical plant inside the jars and cover the soil with sphagnum moss. I find diffenbachias and peperonias work really well in the jars. Not all plants will do well. Then again, you do have to water them and I am not always good at that so that could be a problem. Hmmmmm

The final result is an eclectic collection of house plants all sell contained.

While I was in the greenhouse I got pretty ambitious and decided to plant some seeds. The above 'Oven Roasted' Brussels sprouts were planted early last month. They are resting outside to get hardened off for planting in the garden. Brussels sprouts are cool season crops so I start them really early. It seems that more and more the big box stores are not carrying cool season starts; so starting seeds at home ensures I have a supply to plant out in the vegetable garden.

This was the final result of planting. I planted: 

San Marzano Tomatoes
Napoletano Basil
Pineapple Tomatoes
Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
Italian Marconi Golden Peppers (Sweet)
Grand Bell Peppers (Mix)
Mexican Sunflowers
Marigolds

I have heat mats under the seed pots. This handy thermometer helps to maintain the heat at a steady 69 degrees. Once the seeds germinate and begin to grow I will turn off the heat mats.

A trick I learned years ago in order to prevent damping off is to sprinkle a layer of milled sphagnum moss over the newly planted seed beds. The milled sphagnum moss helps to keep the soil surface dry and prevent the damping off fungi from taking a hold and killing the new seedlings. Of course, be sure to start with sterilized seed starter or mix your own like I do.


One last plant from the greenhouse is a white lantana blooming up a storm.....

on this greenhouse working day....in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Irene's Garden Part III

We start with whimsy the first thing in this post and I know a lot of you all love whimsy! This bowling ball 'caterpillar' is a lot of fun. The bowling balls for this garden caterpillar actually came from my garden. Irene posted on Freecycle.org that she desired some bowling balls and since I am cleaning my garden up I told her she could have mine. Have you ever participated in a Yahoo email group? That is what Freecycle does. Freecyle is actually a email group of local people who are interested in keeping things out of the dump while sharing with others. So, for instance you happen to have a lot of extra bowling balls or irises and someone needs some you can send an email to the group and offer your extras and the person who may need them will respond. It is then up to you to set a place and time to transfer the items. This needs to be done with common sense as meeting strangers can be a not so good experience. Fortunately, I've been very lucky in many of my dealings with Freecycle members. This is actually how I initially met Irene and her husband. They responded to an email I sent giving away irises. I am betting those irises are still growing well in Irene's garden. You just never know who you might meet on Freecycle as I've met a lot of people who have the same interests as me. Oftentimes we become good friends as in the case of Irene and I.

Here is the other side of Irene's foundation garden. Don't you love the curved sidewalk? We had curved sidewalks poured at our new house too. I don't know why more people don't do the curved sidewalks as they make getting to the front door easier than walking along all those right angles. As a bonus, your garden will be less formal with curves versus straight angles.

More of the foundation beds.

Here we have evergreens mixed with deciduous plants. Even when the 'Red Rooster' is bare of leaves the spent seedpods provide winter interest. I love the variety here and am a stern believer that foundation gardens need not be all evergreen boxwoods. I will soon be posting some pictures of my new foundation beds at Tiger Way Gardens. 

This butterfly garden out in the field was really lovely. Irene had taken old tires and painted them bright colors with her grandson, and then filled the tires with soil and planted plants. Mainly drought tolerant plants and plants that need good drainage or need to be contained. This garden was a hot, hot garden; which is good for butterflies.

Now here is the big greenhouses a thing of beauty and what most of us would love to have in our gardens-me included!

An ornamental garden looking toward the raised vegetable beds.

'Henry Eiler' coneflowers were stunning on this hot August day.

Lastly, I leave you with a long shot from the driveway. This is indeed a country garden with lots of great vistas and nice diverse plant material....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Let's Talk Seedlings: Greenhouse and Winter Sown Seedlings and Propagation

Impatien cuttings, Sweet Woodruff, Zinnia, basil, Great Blue Lobelia seedlings

From In the Garden

I've been busy in the garden and it only promises to get worse with all these seedlings. I mean what was I thinking?? As gardeners we can get a bit carried away with starting seeds. Oh how our gardens must be filled to overflowing with abundance such as never has been seen before. Seeds, seeds, seeds! Cuttings, cuttings, cuttings! And what do you do when you have all of these overflowing cell pack and pots? Well, post about it of course. I'll figure out the planting part later:)

Ever since I found out you could start impatiens from cuttings I've been a cutting fool with all of these new plants. I can't wait to plant them out. Impatiens are one plant I can always find a spot for. I'm not so sure about the zinnia, basil, sweet woodruff, and great blue lobelia you can also see in the above photo though. That will be another problem all together. 

I must say my seed starting endeavors have been successful. I think the secret is in the seed heat mat providing bottom heat. This heat seems to work magic on both cuttings and seeds. I recently saw a very neat  idea that I thought most thrifty. The idea came to me by way of one of my gardening magazines in which a reader substituted Christmas lights in a plastic Tupperware container for the seed heat mat. The lights gave off just enough heat to keep the seeds warm and provided a neat focal point as well. One of these days when this old standby heat mat gives out I might just try that trick.

Outdoor sowing area on the deck table.

From In the Garden

I tried winter sowing a few years ago and was not happy with the results. I surmised that perhaps I didn't use the right containers and maybe it was my fault all the seedlings did not survive past the container stage. This year I decided to use all milk cartons for my containers and the "Hunk of Seedlings" approach. The hunk of seedlings approach says to just plant a clump of seedlings without worrying about separating all of the seedlings. You can thin them later once they have settled in So far so good because most of my seeds have sprouted and are doing very well.

The winter sowing method basically says to sow seeds during the winter and when the time is right for the seed to germinate it will germinate. The method made sense to me but again, I have only just learned about this seed starting method about three years ago. I like winter sowing seeds in containers because I can have control of the seeds and seedlings. If seeds are sown in my garden in the fall or winter they tend to get lost. Some seeds need cold and warm temperatures to help with the germination so winter sowing provides this service-passively. Not only do the temperatures fluctuate quite a bit here in my area; which mimics the action of nature when seeds fall naturally from the plant in the fall, but moisture is usually always present so I don't have to water the seeds I have winter sown versus greenhouse seedlings. Some of the seeds I have sown in my milk jugs include: lychnis, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Mexican milkweed (Asclepias curassivica), sweet woodruff, hollyhocks, lilium regale, prunella, dames rocket (Thanks Darla!), and perhaps a few more I cannot recall at this time. So far these seeds have germinated: butterfly weed (tuberosa), sweet woodruff (also germinated in the greenhouse flats), hollyhocks, lychnis, dames rocket, and prunella. I am most excited about them all and expect the rest will pop up soon.

Sweet Woodruff winter sown seedlings.

From In the Garden

Now that I have all these seeds germinating what should I do with them? It seemed when I tried winter sowing before that the seedlings just kind of fizzled away in the containers so this time I have decided to be a bit more proactive with my new seedlings. Even though many of these seeds are used to germinating in cool weather and may do just fine, I wanted to baby them a bit. What I have done is separated these 'hunks of seedlings' into smaller sized hunks and transplanted them to a window box planter. I prefer window box planters because you can fit so many more plants in each elongated planter and there is a lot of soil available to each small plant. I do not like cell packs for propagating plants but do use them as well. The cell packs are okay if you buy the ones that have the large cell packs (no more than 32 cells per flat) and if you take very good care of them. Generally though I find the cell pack planting style to be a temporary way to start plants because the cells and trays wear out very quickly. The window box planters last a long time, usually have  a built in water tray, and are easy to handle and store. As of right now I have two window box planters full of three types of winter sown seedlings. I placed these pots in the greenhouse with the greenhouse sown seedlings and all are doing well. I am looking forward to everything getting a bit more girth so I can move all seedlings outside into a covered plastic germinating shelf I have stored on my porch. I have never used this little 'greenhouse' before but think it will be perfect for hardening off seedlings and cuttings this year.

One problem solved as to where I should put the winter sown seedlings, check. Greenhouse seedlings and cuttings doing great with bottom heat in the greenhouse, check. Now to find a spot for all of the cuttings and seedlings....

in the garden....

One note about the containers. When I cut my first milk carton I did not cut large enough drain holes. I think it vitally important these containers drain well so I had to go back and cut some large holes. I left the handle intact so I could close the top over the milk jug; which makes a small greenhouse that will protect the seeds from harsh weather like pelting rain. Pay close attention to drainage of your winter sown containers if you are getting  a lot of rain like we are here in Tennessee. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Greenhouse Lessons and Advice

From In the Garden

I wanted to share some fun I've been having in my small 6' x 8' greenhouse but before I do let me share 'The Birds'. We have been inundated with what seems like millions of birds. I'm sure it is more like thousands-tens of thousands because it is a LOT of birds we've been seeing here lately. This time of the year is the time for birds to begin thinking about spring and large flocks of blackbirds are common during migrations. But have you ever just sat and watched them? They are really quite a sight. I wish my camera was better at capturing them but here I show you just a few of the birds here in Woodlawn. Some folks are concerned and even alarmed at the sightings of the all the birds but I think it is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. Just watch your bird feeders because they will quickly wipe you out! Now on to the greenhouse and some busy seed starting and plant propagation fun.

From In the Garden

It was almost like a wondrous Christmas when I read in the most recent issue of The Tennessee Gardener that you can start impatiens from cuttings. I had no idea! I've started many impatiens from seeds over the years and of course impatiens self seed in my garden yearly but to be able to start them from cuttings was literally Christmas for me! Since I winter over a few mother plants in my greenhouse I figured I'd try the cuttings with impatiens. So I cut small 3-4" sections of plants from my mother plants, dipped the sections in rooting hormone and plopped them in a seedling tray with a good well draining seed mix for potting soil. Within two days the cuttings had roots! They look a little yellow and weak but it has only been one week since I took the cuttings and they will fill in soon. I was able to get about 40 cuttings from just three mother plants and haven't stopped yet. It will be so nice not to have to buy impatiens flats and to just bring out my flats and plant them. Impatiens are workhorses in my garden since I have a rather shady garden. These little annuals can't be beat for all season long color.

From In the Garden

Emboldened by my success with the impatiens I've been trying all sorts of plants as cuttings in the greenhouse and have begun some seedlings. So far I've sown only cold weather plantings of things like chard, kale, and lettuce. I'll soon be sowing seeds of spinach in the greenhouse and will begin hardening off the seedlings later this month so they are ready for planting in the vegetable garden within the next few weeks. I am very excited about my vegetable garden and will be talking about it in next week's post. The success with the vegetable seedling only adds to my excitement. 


This is my first year with the greenhouse and while my little greenhouse is only 6' x 8' feet it is an excellent size for all of my plants. I keep telling my husband it keeps me honest in that I am limited by the number of plants I can store in it so I am not tempted to overdo tropicals and tenders. They are just too much work even though I do enjoy them all. One fault of the greenhouse is that even though my plants fit in it comfortably, I am stretching for space for the new seedling and cutting trays. Additionally, there is not much room in it for me when I need to water by the time you factor in the space the rain barrel, shelving, a huge tree houseplant, and the heater takes up in the greenhouse-quarters are cramped. You can probably tell from the pictures above. 


Heating the greenhouse has been a very simple matter. The small 1500 watt radiant heater I have placed in the greenhouse works like a charm. I have it set to keep the greenhouse temperature above 50 degrees. During sunny days the greenhouse temperature can easily reach 80+ degrees! It is an awesome place to hang out on sunny days. No matter how hard and frigid the wind is blowing outside it is always toasty in the greenhouse on sunny days. The problem this winter is that we've had more cloudy days than sunny days and the heater has been running more than I'd like it to. Our electric bill has felt the pain as well. I'm not sure how much it costs to heat the greenhouse but I estimate between $30-$60 a month. The small size of the greenhouse makes it economical to heat but it also means the plants can go through some extreme temperatures (80 degrees during the day and down to 50 at night).One very nice note is that when we lost our power three nights ago from approximately midnight to 3:00 am, the plants did not suffer so I think that either the plants are quite flexible and adaptable (a great trait!) or that my greenhouse is well insulated and has enough passive solar heating to compensate. I'll soon be switching from the heater to only seed heat mats and passive heating as the days get longer. All in all heating the little greenhouse has been easy and rewarding. 

I must mention the bubble wrap I used as additional insulation. I covered all of the inside panels of the greenhouse with 4 foot wide large bubble bubblewrap. The only area I could not cover with bubble wrap inside of the greenhouse was the greenhouse door. I had to tape the bubble wrap to the outside of the door in its case due to the way the greenhouse door was configured. The bubble wrap along with the caulking and polystyrene panels has made my little greenhouse a well insulated cocoon. I am quite pleased with this fast as I was a bit afraid the cold of the snow and outside would penetrate inside, and vice versa that the heat from inside would be felt outside. That has not been the case at all. You can find bubble wrap in the wide widths (four feet wide was the widest I could find) on the Internet. I could not find any bubble wrap wider than two feet in any stores or shipping stores like UPS-and I tried, believe me. I finally had to order my wide bubble wrap from Starboxes and found they had excellent customer service and reasonable prices. I did not use the entire roll I ordered so I have some for next year. I will probably remove all of the bubble wrap from this year and may try to salvage some of it. A good amount of it is dirty from the plants though so I am not so sure how realistic that will work for me. If you ever use bubble wrap for insulation make sure you install it before it turns cold outside or you'll have a condensation problem inside the greenhouse. Condensation will cause problems with the tape if you plan to tape on the bubble wrap like I did. I will be cognizant of this mistake come this fall and will be sure to put up the bubble wrap before it gets cold. It was not fun insulating it in the cold. The bubble wrap has made a great difference. On some of the forums gardeners with bubble wrap recommend using solar pool covers. I don't like this method because the solar pool cover bubbles are so much smaller and thinner that it doesn't seem like the layer makes much of a difference. Not only that but large solar pool covers are hard to work with in cutting them to size. I will stick with large bubble wrap for my greenhouse. You can see the bubble wrap in the pictures but in case you missed or forgot how I insulated this greenhouse you can find those posts here.  


The plants in the greenhouse have adapted and are doing well. Most of the plants have remained in full bloom this winter. My best greenhouse plants have been: lantana, 'Diamond Frost', 'Slightly Strawberry' Cape Mallow (Proven Winners), angel trumpets, and geraniums. All of these plants are blooming non-stop. I have to remember to add fertilizer to the soil as I water so that these plants don't burn themselves out. Some of my other plants have had issues and don't look so great. Mainly the pineapple sage I wintered over as cuttings is mottled and looks like it is stressed even though the plants are about one foot tall and green. Perhaps the humidity is too high for the sage I am not sure. But now that I am thinking about it the same pineapple sage looked terrible last year when I wintered it over in my unheated garage. I think that particular sage just prefers a hotter environment in general. Coleus has been a problem for me as well. I've lost several plants from what I assume to be root rot. Once I realized there was a problem I stopped watering them and am letting them dry out a bit now. The lettuce seedlings I started back in November haven't grown any so I never was able to harvest lettuce from the greenhouse. Those seedlings will be planted in the garden soon and before I know it head lettuce will be ripe for the picking. A plant doing well in the greenhouse that I did not plant is love in a mist. I harvested seedheads from my garden last year and hung them in the greenhouse to dry. Unbeknowst to me many seeds fell out of the plants onto the brick floor of the greenhouse. Those seeds have germinated and are nice and green in the greenhouse. They grow alongside one area of the brick floor; which is unreachable to me. That is where they'll stay because I can't get to them to do anything with them and they aren't bothering anything anyhow.I do hope they don't flower and go to seed in the greenhouse though as I don't particularly want flowers on my brick floor in the greenhouse. Basically I can say the plants are doing well in the greenhouse and the expense and time I took to install the greenhouse was well worth it.

Pests have not been a problem in the greenhouse but there have been a few. Due to the lovely new growth on most of the plants aphids have had a field day. The aphids especially love the angel trumpets. I keep a bottle of houseplant pest spray on hand and spray as needed. Ants are a common presence in the greenhouse but there is not much I can do about them; they are everywhere in the environment so I just leave them alone.


The rain barrel I placed in the greenhouse to use as a water source has worked better than I expected. I filled it up once when it was about half way empty. It is a 55 gallon barrel and I estimate that between the fill up and what I've used thus far this winter I have used approximately 30-50 gallons of water. That sounds like a lot of water but this greenhouse is full of large and small plants and there is barely a free spot in it! I have to fill a two gallon watering can in order to water most plants since the rain barrel outlet hose is fed by gravity. I do have a short hose on the tap but since many of the plants are up on shelves the water will not flow to them. This is not so bad but when you are watering a great deal of plants filling the water can on the floor then watering all of these pots by hand gets old in such a cramped space. I may try to rearrange a bit next year in order to make watering all of the plants a bit easier. I do heartily recommend putting a water source such as a rain barrel (fill it with the hose) in a greenhouse if you do not have a hose tap close by. Not only is water close by but the heating of the water during the day helps to maintain a reasonable temperature during the night. The mass of the water also makes less space the heater has to heat.


I guess that is about it for the greenhouse this week. Next week I will be posting on my vegetable/fruit/ornamental garden. I may just begin calling it a potager due to the variety of plants I grow in it and I think it is quite pretty and functional, albeit a bit small....


in the garden....

One more note on the greenhouse, I garden in Tennessee just south of the Kentucky border. My zone is Zone 6B or 7A depending on what reference you use. Our low temperatures sometimes get down to 10 degrees but generally run around 25 degrees on average in the winter. We also are subject to strong winds. After gardening in this greenhouse for nearly one year I can honestly say it is good little hobby greenhouse and should work for most needs a gardener could desire.

I know this post is long and I apologize. Since I've cut down posting a bit I seem to be trying to fit so much more into my posts. I may pick up posting a bit more to see how it goes. The beauty of blogging is that it is quite flexible!
 
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, 
 
In the Garden

The Greenhouse: Lessons Learned on How to Heat and Insulate It

From In the Garden

Normally I'd post some blooms on this frigid second Wednesday of December, but my son and husband had to borrow my camera and I just was not able to get some photos prior to today's posting so I thought I'd talk about my greenhouse. I'd been wanting to share some more of what I've learned about the greenhouse anyhow so my excuse is no pictures of blooms:) Honestly, the only color in the garden is frozen pink camellias that are turning to mush, and some ragged at the edges yellow button mums. You all have seen those two flowers in my garden plenty of times so let's talk about the greenhouse and how it has fared with recent temperatures in the teens!


In last month's Bloom Day post I spoke about my apprehension and worry about heating the greenhouse this winter. A greenhouse is a dream I've always had but not one I thought would realistically come true. When it did, I was a bit taken aback in that I never really expected to have to figure out the workings of a dream I did not think would materialize. Does that make sense? I hope so. Nonetheless, the greenhouse is here and it is my responsibility so today I'll share some lessons learned so far this year. 

Like I normally do I researched various methods on heating and insulating greenhouses. I found bubble wrap is an excellent insulator and does not block the sun's warming rays from entering the greenhouse during the day. I only wish I had added the bubble wrap insulation prior to the weather turning cold. The problem with adding the bubble wrap once the weather turns cold is that condensation tends to form on the metal parts of the greenhouse. The tape I used to attach the bubble wrap to the greenhouse walls does not adhere to moist walls. Lesson learned: add bubble wrap while the temperatures are still warm next year.


While the bubble wrap is not the most attractive thing about the greenhouse it has been a lifesaver as far as retaining heat. It is no surprise I'm okay with the bubble wrap because you all remember I am a functional gardener versus an aesthetic gardener. Functionality will win here at Tiger Gardens before good looks any day and in this case insulation must be my uppermost concern when the temperatures hit a low of 18 degrees! Lesson learned: While the bubble wrap is not the most attractive thing in the greenhouse it is an excellent insulator.


As far as heating the greenhouse I had originally intended to use a ceramic heater because all I read on the Internet talked of ceramic heaters as being safe and efficient heaters in a greenhouse. I tried a small ceramic heater I had purchased specifically for the greenhouse but it did not work. The heater has a switch that will turn off the heater if it overheats. Apparently it overheated a lot because the heater never ran. It is a good thing the extra insulation added to the greenhouse kept the greenhouse about 10-15 degrees warmer than outside temperatures or my plants might have frozen. The heater I purchased should have worked for my 48 square foot greenhouse because I used a special formula to figure out the size of the heater required based on surface area of the greenhouse and other information. You can find that formula here and the math is automatically done for you-a good thing after my leaf posting. Once I realized the ceramic heater would not work (it didn't take long) I dug around my garage and found a small electric radiant heater that has worked like a charm. Yesterday morning when I checked the greenhouse (outside temperature was 18 degrees) the inside temperature was a toasty 45 degrees. Forty five degrees is pretty good for my purpose of keeping my tender perennials and houseplants from freezing. Lesson learned: Try what you have on hand first before buying something new to serve a purpose.


Below is the greenhouse from the northern side of the structure. I took this picture so you all could see the two inch coated rigid foam insulation I used to insulate the northern side of the greenhouse. It is kind of weird having this side closed off but sun would never enter the greenhouse from the north side and I wanted to block the chilling northern winds from ripping through the greenhouse. Insulating the northern end of the greenhouse was a tip I received online and a super good tip. This rigid foam insulation with the reflective material on the heated side (inside the greenhouse) has been a much better insulator than the bubble wrap because it is one solid piece and is in place permanently. The plants are nestled right up against the foil lined foam and get reflected sun from the insulation while staying warm because the foam prevents cold wind or air from penetrating the greenhouse. Lesson learned: Insulate the northern end of your greenhouse with a fairly permanent insulator. If you use the reflective insulation be sure to put the reflective material on the inside of the greenhouse.
 

From In the Garden

I will talk more of solar and passive heating at a later date. But a question for you now: knowing I have a ton of deciduous trees on the southern side of my garden, and knowing that even with all these trees the greenhouse receives some winter sun, just how warm do you think it gets in the greenhouse during the day? Hint: It is a very comfortable warm! Take a guess and I'll reveal the answer in a later post....


in the garden....



Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Bloom Day-November 2010 and Greenhouse Talk

From In the Garden

One really fabulous thing about blogging is the blogger has both a pictorial and written record of her garden. I find myself going back to look at older posts more and more as the growing season wanes and we enter into a somewhat dreary period for the garden. The Bloom Day posts are such good posts to help to remind me of how the garden was and where it might need to go. Such was the case for me when prior to preparing this post I decided to look back at last November's post. Surprisingly I found that on the day I posted that post (November 15th) we had not yet had a hard freeze. That is not the case this year. Our first hard freeze came to my garden this past Saturday, November 6th. My garden is fairly well protected by a great overhang of tree leaves but even that was not enough to protect the tender plants. Most of my plants are gone and I'm ever so sad to see them go-especially the huge stand of pineapple sage I had growing by the vegetable garden (picture below is just to remind me of how it looked:( But! All is not lost because I have a greenhouse-more on that below. The freeze was well forecast ahead of the time and I was not only expecting it but I was prepared for it. All tender plants were moved into the house or the greenhouse, summer vegetables were cut back, cuttings for next year were safely tucked away, and the winter crop of flowers and vegetables have all been planted. Whew!

From In the Garden

So let's move on to what is blooming and how the garden is doing today shall we? The camellias are the stars of the show in my winter garden. Right now two of the fall blooming Camellia sasanquas are coming into full bloom. The butterflies (yes-there are some still around) and bees love these late blooming camellias, in addition to the asters and mums now blooming. The camellia pictured at the beginning of this post graces the north end of my deck. It is a double pink, and has been slow to grow but is finally filling out and getting large. We'll look at the queen camellia at the end of this post. I've posted about it many times but wanted to show the double today. As I look back at previous posts I found camellias were the Plant of the Month for November 2009. This year they have been slow to start and were set back by a hard freeze-but not stopped. They may yet be the Plant of the Month for November once I've evaluated all plants blooming this month.

From In the Garden

Mums are blooming wonderfully. Despite over two months of drought you just can't stop the mums. They had been a bit set back by the drought but quickly recovered once we received some rain. The yellow button mums along with some reds, purples and Sheffield mums are all in full bloom. This particular clump pictured used to be about 20' long by 4' feet wide but I had to finally thin them out because the stand was a bit boring. This mum is a mainstay here and I have it in all of my gardens. It does okay in shade and shines in sun conditions (where it can be found here such as in this garden).

Now we move to greenhouse flowers. I can tell already I will have tons of blooms all winter as long as I can keep my greenhouse going-that is the challenge since it is my first year. So far so good. I'll explain.

From In the Garden

Oxalis-sweet plant!

From In the Garden

Proven Winners 'Slightly Strawberry' mallow. This particular plant was part of a box of free plants provided by Proven Winners for me to trial and write about. Now that the growing season is over I feel comfortable talking about a few of the plants that came in my wonderful box of goodies this past spring. Being an in ground gardener more than a container gardener nearly all of my trial plants (not yet offered to the public except in limited quantities but these plants will be available in the Spring of 2011) went into the ground. I tell you this season was a pretty hard season for most of the plants due to the drought. I do not usually baby my annuals and the majority of the Proven Winners plants were annuals. Some did well and some did not do so well. 'Slightly Strawberry' did okay and survived the summer with no help from me. I have decided to see if it will winter over and plan to plant it out in the garden again next summer. I tell you I did not expect it to be so darned pretty! It simply adores the greenhouse conditions as you can see. It grows along side another Proven Winners introduction (not new to the market) called 'Diamond Frost'. Diamond Frost simply rocks and I would not garden without one or two in my garden so it too gets greenhouse treatment in the winter.

From In the Garden

Pineapple sage cuttings with duranta in the background. The huge 3-4 foot plants in the garden bit the dust during our hard freeze of November 6th but these babies are doing fabulous in the greenhouse.

I also winter over a few more plants in the greenhouse which are blooming but not pictured. They include impatiens and geraniums. Ferns, a few houseplants and some vegetables round out the greenhouse plants. I'll talk more of them later.

From In the Garden

I think it is only appropriate to talk of the greenhouse since it is such a big part of my garden now that the outdoor growing season has ended. I was extremely concerned about heating the greenhouse. I had read where ceramic heaters are good for greenhouses but the one I purchased for that very purpose did not work. It would cut off within two minutes and I had to be present in order to turn it back on. I was at a loss as to how I was going to heat the greenhouse then I looked around my garage and found a little 1500 watt radiant space heater (you can see it on the floor of the greenhouse in the above picture). It has done the job in flying spades! I have the exact setting where I want it and it cycles off and on all night keeping the greenhouse a toasty 45 degrees-my specified temperature. I chose 40-50 degrees for the temperature range of my greenhouse because that is the general range my unheated garage stays at during the entire winter. I've successfully wintered over plants in there for many years so I figure it should work for the greenhouse as well. This heater does not have a precise thermostat but fiddling with the heat dial was not difficult.

Can you see the rain barrel in the far left corner? This rain barrel is actually a repository for water I get from a garden hose. It makes watering all of the plants so much easier for me because the water source is right there. I simply fill up my watering can and water a way. Another benefit of having a rain barrel in the greenhouse is that it provides passive heating during the night. It is my theory the water and barrel heat up a bit during the warm days and when the sun goes down some of that heat is released back into the greenhouse. So far I can't tell if it works well or not but I think it does work, at least a little bit. Even when I don't run the heat in the greenhouse it generally stays about 7-10 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. Not bad!

One other extra thing I did to the greenhouse in preparation for the winter was to insulate better. I had done a lot of preparation in setting up the greenhouse back in March, but the Solexx panels are just not very thick and don't hold in heat well. Enter bubble wrap. I had read where many greenhouse hobbyists wrap their greenhouses with bubble wrap. I researched online and found a source that sold the large bubble wrap in four foot widths-a perfect width for me. I ordered it and taped it to the entire inside of the greenhouse-less the door. I had to tape the bubble wrap to the outside of the door due to it interfering with the opening and closing of the door if it was inside. Air is a really great insulator and I think the bubble wrap makes a huge difference with holding in the heat from the space heater. I am relieved the heater does not run all the time and so far, with low temperatures of below 30 degrees, the insulation and heating methods I have employed have worked. I am pretty glad too because I was seriously considering just putting the plants in the garage and not worrying about it. Mr. Fix-it and I both agreed this was not an option. I have a greenhouse so I must use it and I tell you it is better for me and the plants to be in the wonderful humid and warm environment of the greenhouse than to be in the dark and drafty garage. Had enough of greenhouse talk yet? I have so let's move on to one last camellia.....

From In the Garden

I believe this one is 'Jean May' (even if it isn't it is for me because my mother's name is Jean). It grows on the northern end of my home and is really really tall and large. It is simply splendid on this November Bloom Day....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Wine Bottle Edged Greenhouse & More

From In the Garden

After the greenhouse was set up work was still not done. In fact, I'd hesitate to guess it had only just begun judging by how long it took me to seal and reinforce the greenhouse. I also added a nice edging to the eastern side of the greenhouse.

I already talked of how I had to order more (40) clips to be sure the panels were firmly in place. This helped a bit but the top and bottom of the panels rested on the aluminum members with no way to hold the panels steady. I opted to insert some screws through the panels and to caulk the entire panel to the aluminum frame. I'm happy to say the panels are now firmly set in place and don't appear to be leaking. There are still some air holes that need some attention though. The spots on the roof where the vents are located are not well sealed. I will look at them later because it is vitally important (IMHO) that a greenhouse be well sealed in order to heat it during cold nights. Fortunately it is spring and I suspect the greenhouse will stay warm enough for the few things I have already located to it. Most of my plants were wintered over in the garage where the temperature dropped to a low of 40 degrees. Forty to fifty degrees is my benchmark for keeping the greenhouse warm. I hope passive heating methods and seedling heat pads will help keep the greenhouse above the target temperature during the winter but I'll have to trial it and see what will work best for me.

One other thing I did with my greenhouse is I oriented the opening to the south. The long sides get both the eastern and western sunshine, albeit this sunshine is a bit low in the winter when the sun is in the southern hemisphere. For my garden purposes this orientation worked best. I think most greenhouses are oriented with the long sides facing south though I'm not sure. I insulated the northern side of my greenhouse with very thick polystyrene panels that are lined with foil. The foil faces in toward the heated part. The sun will never hit this side of the greenhouse and I wanted to cut down on the cold north wind coming to the greenhouse on this side so the insulation serves that purpose and gives me a 'static' wall.

Now changing the subject to my greenhouse edging, Skeeter had been saving wine bottles for me for a l-o-n-g time. I knew I wanted a bottle edged garden at some point and figured it would take a lot of bottles. I had no idea how many bottles I had until I began cleaning my garage and found box after bag after wagon full of wine bottles. It is nice to have them out of the garage!

When the greenhouse came along I came up with a better idea to line one side of this greenhouse instead of creating a new garden with bottles for edging. The bottles are on the eastern side of the greenhouse and since this garden is not in a high traffic area of my yard I think these bottles will be safe from breakage. The greenhouse protects them on one side and there are tons of plants on the other side. I alternated between the clear and green bottles and am rather pleased with the striped effect. It wasn't difficult planting these bottles....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Building the Greenhouse

From In the Garden

Building a greenhouse is something I never actually thought would come to fruition here but wonders of wonders-there it is! Mr. Fix-it and I happened upon a sales flier for Harbor Freight Tools and they had their 6x8 greenhouse marked down nearly by half. It was a super good Christmas present for me and one I sincerely thank Mr. Fix-it for purchasing and installing. I am thinking I may now be able to get my garage back for my car instead of plants. We shall see as time goes on and how hard it is to heat this greenhouse in the winter.

I am not going into detail on how we installed this greenhouse because if you are thinking of purchasing a greenhouse, any type, you would be wise to check out the blog titled Building Our Harbor Freight 10' x 12' Greenhouse. This blog provided me innumerable tips to building and operating a greenhouse. Many of the things you need to do to make a greenhouse efficient must be done prior to installing the greenhouse. Things like sealing the greenhouse and reinforcing the greenhouse.

One of the most important tips that I gleaned from this blog was to tape the polycarbonate panels. This plastic is like cardboard in that it is double layered and has air pockets between the layers that are divided. These help give the greenhouse its insulating and magnifying capacity. Well, one problem these panels have is that they tend to be a gathering place for little insects and dirt. These things work their way into the grooves and can discolor a greenhouse. This blog told me of a way to fix that problem. The openings are needed so that condensation can weep from the bottom of the panels, but in order to keep the insects out they must be sealed. Quandary right? Can't seal yet you don't want dirt and bugs in. Enter greenhouse supply stores that actually sell a special kind of tape just for this purpose. It is quite expensive but if it keeps the panels clean I'm all for it. The other three sides of the panel need to be taped too but since the moisture runs down they don't need the special tape on the sides or top (according to the HF Blog). This blog recommended sealing these edges with foil tape; which I did. I tell you Mr. Fix-it spent the whole day setting up the greenhouse and I spent the whole day taping the panels. It took LOTS of work.

I had actually built the base out of bricks I had received from a fellow Freecycler a few years ago. The base was set up for a plastic greenhouse with a bit of room left over. Thank goodness I had used foresight and built the base bigger than that small greenhouse or I might have had to build an entire new base. As it was, I did have to adjust the size to fit the size of the new greenhouse exactly. This meant taking off the pressure treated 4'x4's I had used and making the base a bit narrower and not as long. I switched the pressure treated 4x4s out for cedar that I had stained a dark green. The cedar 4x4s came off from our porch and were just hanging around the garden waiting for the right use. Cedar is better for aluminum frames than pressure treated (not as corrosive) so that is why I switched the 4 x4s out.I did some adjusting of the bricks and made sure everything was square. Square is VERY important for any structure you plan to build.

From In the Garden

Mr. Fix-it took over from this point. It took all day to set up the greenhouse then another few days to seal it properly and reinforce it. I must say we needed a few extra pair of hands to actually set up the greenhouse. The aluminum pieces tend to fall down quite easily. This is not a good thing when they are bolted together because the aluminum may bend. Once you have the entire frame together it is not so bad but be prepared to get some extra help.


There had been a lot of complaining on the Garden Web forums concerning the Harbor Freight Greenhouse instruction manual and quality of the greenhouse itself but other than a few very minor areas Mr. Fix-it put the greenhouse together fairly easily. The door and the vents confused him but once the greenhouse was up it all became clear. We did have to adjust a few things. The clips to hold the panels in place were not provided in a sufficient quantity. I did order some more of them. I also ordered an anchor kit for the foundation. Due to a greenhouse's light weight as compared to the mass they have a tendency to blow away so it is highly recommended you anchor your greenhouse, all greenhouses.

I have added a few other things to this greenhouse to seal it and make it more functional but for now this post is long enough. I'll save the rest of what I did for another day's post....

in the garden....

Happy Birthday to Brian!

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

New Gardens

It has been a while since I posted about gardens, so here is a new one at my place. You can see why my intro on this blog says I am working on expanding my gardens-seems I never learn. I should do them big to begin with!

The Post Exchange had a 50% off sale on this little plastic greenhouse. It was a great opportunity for me as I had been wanting a greenhouse for a very long time. Of course, finding the perfect spot for it and preparing the garden for it to reside in was the longer and more tedious problem than erecting the pop up greenhouse.

I had to keep it out of the way of Mr. Fix-it's drive patterns so the north side of the yard in "my" area seemed the perfect solution, since his garage is in the south part of the yard. Unfortunately, it would not fit in nicely without extending the garden to encircle it. Never one to hesitate making new garden areas, I set about creating this new garden.

Back where the round stepping stones and plantings are located, was where the original outline of this garden was. I brought the garden out by removing the sod and reconfiguring the edging stones to make a nice curve towards the front of the greenhouse.

I then took a really big jump by drastically increasing the other side of the garden to meet the greenhouse. I think I more than doubled the size of the initial garden in doing so. The third picture is of the other side of the greenhouse and I am very pleased with this space. Sometimes when I make new gardens I don't always have a good plan in mind because I don't want to disturb the established plantings. Since this garden is pretty much bare with only one big crabapple tree in it, I was able to reconfigure without worrying about important established plantings.

The third and last pictures show just how much of an area I had to expand to include the new greenhouse. All of the removed sod was used elsewhere in the lawn. Right now the garden is not much to look at as all of the plantings are sleeping for the winter. Suffice it to say I planted a 'Burgundy Flame' Japanese maple, three 'PeeGee' hydrangeas, three oakleaf hydrangeas, brown eyes, sedum, mums, a peony, hostas and a ton of bulbs in this new garden. It took me quite a few days to complete digging this new garden. Work I love doing, but am oh so tired and happy when it is done!

You may notice white flecks on the soil in the second picture. Our family has forever saved eggshells. We just throw them in a paper bag in the kitchen. When the bag gets full or I need them, I crush the eggshells then scatter them on my gardens. I am sure it helps the garden if only slightly. The real benefit is for the birds. The finches in particular LOVE the eggshells. I have read it helps to add calcium to their diet, especially welcomed during egg laying season.

The last picture is of the completed area. The huge black tub is a leftover tub from a fountain. The tub cracked last winter during the freeze cycles we experienced. My intent is to dig this tub into the ground after ensuring I have some serious drain holes in it. Once it is buried I will fill it up with elephant ears. I believe elephant ears really like moisture so I am hoping this option of having a tub holding some water will help the elephant ears to really establish in this area. It should help during droughts and will be easier to water than the entire garden.

in the garden....hoping my new garden gets established quickly.