Saturday, January 28, 2012

My Greenhouse in January

It's hard to believe that a year ago, k-ster was just getting over his foot surgery and things had come to a complete halt on the greenhouse.  In fact, looking back, even at the end of March, I didn't have a completely finished greenhouse.

Once I got things going in the spring, after it was all assembled, I was really pleased with how everything grew.  I kept you updated all summer about things I was growing in and outside of my greenhouse.  Even into October, I was still getting vegetables, a rarity in New England.

After we had a flash frost in October that no one was expecting, things started to get ugly in the greenhouse, but I did manage to keep some things poking along for a while.  I even bragged here at the end of November.  Around that same time, I started these little guys, knowing that broccoli would probably survive all winter in a cold greenhouse.  Swiss chard probably would too.  I know this because outside, they have both held on until way into December.

Today, this is what's happening.
 Those little broccoli plants are now making little florets.

 My Swiss chard in an old wheelbarrow.  It's not doing much, but it's more than nothing.

 New broccoli and chard on my new Germination Station mat.

 Broccoli is all growing.  The two white pots are geraniums that I thought might make it, but they are pretty much brown sticks now.

 Who knew that a greenhouse is like another effing room in the house that you have to organize, and arrange and keep clean???  It's been a mess since I started because I was in a hurry and didn't know what I wanted to do for shelving.

We had a really warm Saturday a few weeks ago, so I spent the day rearranging and "building" and now there's a little more space for my walking tours :).

  I am trying not to spend any money on the greenhouse now that I spent my life savings buying the damned thing.  I'm trying to recycle as much as possible in there.  This "table" is a piece of aluminum from an awning and it's laying on cinder blocks.   I hope it's strong enough and won't bend where there aren't blocks.    My poor wheelbarrow almost broke from moving the blocks in here!

 I moved this old picnic table to the other side and those pots are waiting for the new broccoli and chard seeds to be big enough to plant. 
Now you can at least walk around.   Before, the table was where this chair is and there were pots all over the ground and it was just a mine field of branches and leaves and bamboo poles holding up beans and tomatoes.  Part of that was due to Irene threatening to ruin all that was good.  We dragged every potted plant into the greenhouse and some never left because it was almost September and mostly because we are kind of lazy.

That thing on the chair is a mattress pad.  My theory was that I could cover my plants on the super cold nights and it might help trap some of the heat from the black fabric and keep things happy.  In reality, it's a pain to throw over them, I never remember until after dark and I'm pretty sure it hasn't done a single thing for me.

When I get home from France, my Germination Station will be filled with seeds hoping to have a home for the spring. My ultimate fantasy is that I will start so many seeds that I will have to sell some and possibly make a few dollars in this process.  Huh.  Fantasy.  I know.

Wow, looking at this last picture is making me quiver, thinking back to this awful night.

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