I am having the time of my life right now in the Garden World and the ground in zone 5b isn’t even completely defrosted yet  for planting.  If everyone knew how rewarding it can be to grow your own Veggies & Blooms I think we would all have happy faces 24 /7 ! With all this garden fun going on I have so much to share but I still mange to squeeze in a quick BLOG fun event.  Today is the 15 and that means we share BLOOMS.  to celebrate I am sharing my Garden World.

NEW GREEN in the GREENHOUSE on March 15th

Can you imaging my surprise to find the green in the recycled egg cartons I planted new Coleus in pictured in the collage above ( bottom left).  My first attempt at Swiss Chard in the Greenhouse is featured on the bottom right of the collage above.  Lettuce has become my 1st choice when people ask me ‘so what can I grow?’.  Lettuce comes in so many varieties, super tasty and so simple to grow.

This Lettuce is Super Sexy to me!

Guess this Bloom?

One of the highlights of owning my own Greenhouse is being a few months a head of the garden game in my neck of the woods.  This bloom above is one of my MUST HAVE favorites in the summer.  It is a bloom from the Citronella Geranium.  This early lady is blooming like it was June in my greenhouse March 15th.

Happy Bloom Tuesday – March 15 ,2010

My prize bloom that truly celebrates Garden Bloggers Bloom Tuesday on this fifteenth day in March is this Pink Petunia. I dug her out of my landscape in October and wintered her over in the greenhouse.  I think she is beeming because she survived the night the heater died and her winter home reached temperatures way below freezing for a few hours.  She is cheerfully says ‘ HAPPY BLOOM TUESDAY ‘ to me and anyone who stops by my blog today.   Thanks Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this event each month.

Day 3 of sunshine and the greenhouse temperatures up to 100*F. The vents are open and the fan is on in my little piece of heaven.

Only look close……..

(Ekkkkk)  a bug and not the good kind of bug either.   The next thing I know I am spraying the greenhouse plants down with my soap, water and oil mix.  And wouldn’t you know I forgot my eye glasses in the house today so it was really hard to see if those little buggers were still moving after being NUKED.

Nuking the BUGS! Why do I all of a sudden have ‘GO AHEAD make my day!” going through my head??!

Aphids must love German Statice as much as I do because they were all over this perennial that has been enjoying the winter in my greenhouse. This photo to the right is before I ‘nuked ‘ it with the soap mixture.

The crazy thing is I DID NOT see them yesterday!  Believe me, I would have noticed these icky critters.

And here the little aphids are after a nice soap bath. I am trying not to get frustrated because it has been a wonderful learning experience all winter.

Tomorrow I am going to try a product I purchased up at Black Diamond Nursery in Perrysburg, Ohio today.  It is an organic product that contains NEEM OIL.   YOU KNOW I will keep you posted on how this product works for me in my 10′x12′  greenhouse.

UNTIL Tomorrow…. I am going back to enjoy one of the coolest things about having a greenhouse.  I can enjoy petunia’s blooming along with the tulips on a sunshiny 90*F day in early March .  BUGS BE GONE! (if it were only that easy?!)

A friend from my Facebook Page sent me this article she wrote about Aphids.  Wonderful article : Controlling Aphids in your Garden.

Happy Fertilizer Friday!

Today I am going to share a quick tour of the greenhouse for Fertilizer Friday!  My Greenhouse Sister in Canada invites all bloggers to join in the fun each Friday! Check her site out at : Tootsie Time

I hope you will stop by Tootsies site and see what others are sharing today!

The other day on my Facebook News Feed I noticed one of my favorite garden network  friends, Colleen Vanderlinden of In the Garden Online had asked her fans to share a blog post on recycling containers for planting seeds.  Many of my post from my previous blog came to mind but I want to share and build up my new blog so this is the perfect opportunity to share some information from my greenhouse.  Not only is my greenhouse from recycled goods I try to use as many recycled items to grow my green.  I have planted lettuce in recycled lettuce plastic containers, tomatoes in foil pans and I even have an old Kitten litter box in the greenhouse that I planted with some of my suculents.  By the way,  I washed all the containers but a triple wash  on that kitty litter box!

EGG Carton RE-USE

Today I am going to share some photos from planting this egg carton.  I try to stay away from the Styrofoam cartoons because these cardboard containers plant up much better.  Sometimes the best sale on eggs is in the Styrofoam so I just recycle those by giving them to my neighbor boy who uses them to sell his home grown eggs.

In the first photo in the collage above can you see I poked a few small holes in the bottom of the carton?  In this container I am planting some coleus seeds.  I feel like I am going blind planting all these seeds lately.  I had no idea HOW SMALL some of these seeds would be when ordering.  I am hoping if I get a few sprouts in the same container I will be able to transplant the seedlings easily.

HOW COOL IS THAT???

I was totally tickled to see that little baby swiss chard look like the big ones!  I have a few new seedlings on day 5 after planting.

My Loot from the Toledo Grows Seed Swap

It would be a hard choice to decided between the seeds I brought home from the Toledo Grows Seed Swap of the information I collected from many gardeners who attended and volunteered their time last Saturday.  I am really excited to taste those black radishes that one of the older volunteers suggested for me.  I am one to ask : ” HEY… what would you recommend?!”  Usually I throw people off with that question but really what better way is there to learn?

Gifts for Container Planting from Toledo Botanical Garden

I love the way my new plugs plants look on the top shelve in my greenhouse!  Is that crazy?  These are the plants I brought home from the Toledo Botanical Garden seminar yesterday titled ‘Container Gardening.’ .   I put them in their own container so they could grow a little before I put them together in a special grouping.  The containers I potted them in are recycled from last years purchases.

Treasures I can’t wait to Sow

The photo above shows some of my favorite gifts from the Seed Swap.  I can’t wait to see what color the Yarrow will be that I received from the Maumee Herb Society.  I even have some seeds from the Toledo Botanical and some fabulous native wild flowers from a Facebook Fan /  Wild Ones Landscape.

Seeds bring Summer Memories

Dreaming of the Colorful Days  ahead!

As I sort through my seeds I can’t help but think of all the wonderful treasures I will be able to share this summer.  I can’t wait to see the color explode and the veggies blooming!  It is also a treasure to think that my seed sowing made it all possible.  Starting my own seeds make me feel more of connection with what I grow and enjoy in our lives.  I hope I have inspired you to think about growing something this spring.

I am a seed-aholic!  You know they say that admitting to your ‘problem’ is the first step to recovery.  It is no secret that I can’t walk into ANY STORE without purchasing a packet (…. ok, more like a few!) of seeds to start growing immediately.  I’m completely obsessed with the idea of growing my own green and I am sure if I share enough reasons why it is a healthy practice I can convenience myself that this SEED addiction isn’t such a bad habit after all.

Rummaging through my freezer this winter afternoon with hopes of being inspired to come up with something creative for lunch . My eye impulsively wondered to the top shelf that held my stock from harvest 2009 .  I couldn’t help but notice that we are 1/2 way through the winter and  this shelf remains full of healthy treasures.   Last summer was the first year I grew most of my veggie garden from SEED.  That is right – seed!  I am still enjoying those little seeds that I purchased a year ago. Those little seeds provided my family with healthy necessities we have been enjoying all winter long. This immediately eliminated  any unjustified impulse buying in the seed department!

The ‘Big Dipper’ peppers that I had processed and stored in the freezer made me crave for one of my favorite salads.  I decided to whip up my Fajita Garden Salad. The peppers were all grown in my garden from seeds.

Fajita  Garden Salad

click the image for my house seasoning recipe.

• 1 large green pepper( sliced)
  
• 1 large red pepper ( sliced)
  
• 1 medium Spanish onion (sliced)
• 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
• 2 cups of Romain lettuce ( chopped)
  
• 1 medium tomato (diced)
• 1 cup of prepared Mexican Pinto Beans ( store bought or my Mexican Recipe!)
  
• 1 1/2 cups of prepared brown rice
• 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
• 1/3 cup of  cilantro ( chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)

Toppers:

The cilantro pot to the right is  from my greenhouse.  I have been saving money by growing my own from seeds that cost $1.69 and is enough to grow ALL YEAR!  That is a big cost difference from the .89 cent bunches they sell in the grocery store.

It is amazing how the pepper retains most of it’s crispness even after being in the freezer for over six months.  Above is the finished product with veggie favorites from my garden that I started from seed.  You can grow enough starter plants for a 4′x4′ garden for under $10!~  That is alot of veggies.   Judging from the Fajita Salad above I think it is safe to say that seeds can add flavor to your wallet!

Be sure to stop by my dear friend Shawna’s new site : The Grow 1 World.com project.

This site is all about real world  people coming together to help others. You will find lots of helpful information on this site, such as ideas on how to live simply and sustainably.

Stop by and become a contributor!

Spring seed fever has hit me like the flu! I can’t seem to stop myself from adding MORE to my collection for 2010.  The fever hits me in the grocery store, at the hardware store, surfing the web and  when I am within a few miles of any  garden center.  Today a short joint to the local grocery store for fresh fruit ended up with a few extra’s in my take home bag.  I walk past the seed display and all I can hear is the famous words of Jim Carey saying ‘”SOMEBODY STOP ME!”

As soon as I returned home  I headed out to check on the greenhouse and my little seedlings growing so well today with the sun making an appearance most of the afternoon.   I will admit I have been a little nervous after losing heat last Sunday evening.  My Electrical Engineer Hubby has been working on a ‘secret’ weapon for the greenhouse to combat this from ever happening again.  I should be thankful the only thing that was lost was a few annuals. I will keep you posted on the GREENHOUSE project as the design is ‘unveiled’ soon.

One of my daily chores in the greenhouse when the sun is out for more then 2 hours is watering.  I got a nice workout hauling 3 / 5 gallon buckets of well water out through the snow to the greenhouse that warmed up to 100*F today.   While filling the buckets I noticed some green peaking out of the mulch landscaping near by.  To me, this  preview is better then the ones before the featured movie in the theater:

The time it took for the 5 gallon buckets to reach the top with fresh water allowed me to soak in the signs of spring as you can see from the ‘preview’ above.   LOW AND BEHOLD as I turned to shut off the water I rubbed up against one of my Rose of Sharon, Althea Hibiscus syriacus shrubs with dried buds still attached.  As I gentle reached up to touch the dried buds what should fall into my hand…..

Seriously Now SOMEBODY STOP ME! – Bren ♥