We couldn’t have been more lucky with the weather we are experiencing. The beautiful blue skies and t-shirt perfect weather is making it easy to spend every minute of daily light out getting the treasures that will be spending the winter in the greenhouse in their place. It is the first year in the 2 years I’ve been growing year-round that I don’t feel rushed. Focusing on food and herbs this year more then annuals because being able to have healthy products our family can live on is more important to me. Moving the soil, tools and containers needed to transplant the herbs to the greenhouse is super easy with my red wheel barrow.
Last year the herbs that I knocked the outdoor soil off and transplanted in clean containers with freshly mixed compost / soil produced the most harvest. Maybe the landscape soil was tired and needed conditioning? I’m learning as I grow and using what helps me produce the healthiest yield.
I went a little crazy with the seed planting this past summer and I have an over load of rosemary, basil and oregano. The basil never does well in the greenhouse once January arrives and you can only use rosemary in so many dishes so I need to limit myself to what is being transplanted.
The really cool thing about using the wheel barrow as my planting station I can take it indoors if it starts to sprinkle.
If you winter over herbs what do you enjoy transplanting or growing from seed during the cold months?
HELP ME OUT …. click on over to Corona Tools Webpage and vote for my photo in their “Thats How I Roll” competition.
It appears cold weather is moving in early this year bringing unseasonal temperatures at night and possibility of frost is in the forecast. If you are like me and wait till the last minute working best under pressure you know that it isn’t too late to get a greenhouse up NOW so you can continue your growing experience.
If The Look of A Greenhouse in Late September Doesn’t Win Your Heart ……. It Isn’t Meant To Be
All Summer while visiting garden events and garden centers I’ve been seeing an increase in availability of greenhouses. Everything from simple plastic with PVC frames online to sturdy extruded aluminum frame 8 ft. ceiling structures are readily available.
Featured above is an image of a section of my outdoor growing area on the south side of my greenhouse. Look close into the vent that is open to see that the house is empty. This weekend I will be working around the clock to finish last minute planting and re potting containers that will be joining me in the greenhouse this winter. Luckily, I have more space in my home thanks to a new sun-room which will hold my large tropicals and a large fish tank is going in my greenhouse for natural watering purposes. If the thought of growing year-round is appealing to you then please check out the podcast below that I recorded early today with my growing sister Glenda. Glenda is my mentor when it comes to growing under cover while it is below zero outside. She is the talented garden / interior designer who shares over at TootsieTime.com We are the owners of Growing4Seasons.com where we share our experience of growing year-round.
Is it just me or does it seem like when we are home with some time to spend in our gardens the time goes by so very fast? This weekend was totally one of those moments for me and my family as we spent most of our time dodging the storms and putting together a new space in my greenhouse landscape area. After the major construction of this project was complete we were able to steal a few moments before the work week began to kick back at the campfire and enjoy some scrumptious smores.
Just like a home I firmly believe a garden is never complete. We are always adding new extensions that make our surroundings accommodate our forever changing lifestyles. This section of the greenhouse landscape that we are creating in this project was anticipated from day one as we drew up the master plan. The idea of a trellis was introduced recently after talking with Melissa of Costa Farms arranging the #gardenchat schedule. The topic of May 23rd was set to be mandevilla’s and I couldn’t help but envision how these would be in the landscape project. After all, my Sun Parasol were amazing all winter long in the greenhouse this past year. wouldn’t it be great to plant a few in containers that would climb on the trellis in the summer and then be moved to the greenhouse for the winter? My husband constructed a heavy duty trellis out of treated 4″x4″s and some recycled fencing. The structure took 3 of us to move from the barn to the garden location. Safe to say: This structure isn’t going any where regardless of any spring storm!
The containers I chose for the the Mandevilla’s needed to be fairly large. I purchased a few 48″ round containers from a local garden center at a reasonable price. In the collage above I share what makes up my containers in this landscape project. First off be sure you use only the healthiest soil. I mix up my own blend which consists mostly of peat moss & bunny composting. I also save on soil by using the Ups-A-Daisy in my larger containers. This allows me to move the container much easier then if it was full of heavy soil. I would love to hear your container planting soil secrets so please share some thoughts at the bottom of this blog post!
Preparing the soil and planting the containers for the Mandevilla’s was super fun and easy job to do in this project. The next step was finding the right perennials and shrubs to go in this bed. I have a few white Knock-Out Roses and mini barberry shrubs that will go in this bed but I have a feeling I will be adding to this area of the garden most of the summer.
The Project via Mobile Uploads
It is my passion to share gardens ( including my own!) and learning from others on the social networks. The photo collage above are a few of the mobile upload shares during the project this weekend. I can’t wait to share these blooms as they grow this summer and hope to have inspired someone out there to try the mandevilla in their landscape.
And The #gardenchat Winner Is……
Three lucky participants in the #gardenchat / @costafarms giveaway were announced on Tuesday morning via the video below.
Congratulations to the winners of the #gardenchat giveaway!
I’m looking forward to documenting these Mandevilla’s as they grow this summer on my site. I hope you will share your climbers with me and if you add this spectacular plant to your landscape.
March is quickly coming to an end and I can’t help but fear we are going to have one of those springs that dives right from winter cold to summer hot after snow flakes were falling in the garden this last week of March. It is hard to believe we are heading into the last days of March and I have yet to share a report from my beloved home away from home AKA the greenhouse. It has been an amazing month here on the BGgarden blog if you have been following my shares into Spring. We’ve shared from Seattle at the AMAZING Northwest Flower & Garden Show , Miami Florida for the Costa Farms Social Summit and started preparing for the Proven Winners Extravaganza in Toronto all while starting seeds for a bountiful garden in 2011.
It wouldn’t be a greenhouse report if we didn’t share the blooms that mean the most to us. On the left is the March view of my favorite bloom from my greenhouse ever. It is the Bonfire Begonia that was hard to find a few years ago so it is a treasure to be able to share this plant that has made it through the winter in my Ohio greenhouse. I look forward to watching this bloom back in my garden once it can be moved back out into the sunny landscape later this springg after all danger of frost has passed.
My greenhouse is filled with annuals, perennials and new veggies from October to this time of year ( as pictured above). In the collage above I show the new BLUE PEONIES TREE I found in Seattle. I look forward to adding this to my garden after giving it a head start in the greenhouse. The plants that were wintered over are being condensed and re-potted to smaller containers to make room for the seeds that are being started.
This is the first time I have EVER had Hens & Chicks bloom in my garden ( and greenhouse). The bloom kind of reminds me of a mum only it has as hint of sweet scent if you smell close enough. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when this perennial is done blooming. DO you think I should divide it since the sprouts are super long and look kind of odd in that terra cotta container?
The passion vine that my husband bought for me back on our 17th Wedding Anniversary almost a year ago has been blooming on and off since November. I had cut this vine back and watched new growth grow up to this date. To see these blooms in the dead cold of winter is a wonderful experience.
Above is a quick video tour of my March 2011 Greenhouse.
Now that room has been made by condensing the plants into smaller pots it is time to start the seeds that will be planted in the garden and landscape in a few short months. I invite you to share with me your thoughts on growing year-round. Do you winter over some of your favorite annuals?
Ever have those days when you have a ‘billion’ things to do and when you finally sit down to start working on the project you have a ‘brain fart’ and you just can’t think? I’ve had just that kind of a week! Yesterday one of my chores included spending time harvesting in the greenhouse and preparing it for the week I will be absent. I swept the bunny ‘barn’ that is my gateway to the greenhouse. We have a rabbit show to participate in this weekend so I was happy to see a few of the ‘juniors’ from last year have got a fabulous coat for that show. I can’t help but think it must be the lettuce and grass I’ve been growing for them to enjoy.
In the image above I share with you one of my fuzzy greenhouse friends. There are days you will find this cute little cuddle critter hopping around in between my winter harvest in the greenhouse. I’m a big fan of the Netherland Dwarf because they are small and they don’t eat much. The fact that they don’t eat much means less pellets to purchase for them making them an inexpensive pet to enjoy. These little critters were first introduced to us for a 4H project 8 years ago. Since then my little 4H’er has taken the project to the next level by breeding this variety, showing in national rabbit shows, participating in local rabbit associations all while continuing her 4H career. The rabbit project has provided not only a wonderful experience for my child to learn responsibility but the fact that the animals are being raised as the center focus in my greenhouse project it has brought awareness to how rabbits can provide much more then cuddles. The bunny poo that is cleaned from their cages is mixed into a designated raised bed. It is mixed with the soil and used for growing veggies and blooms around the rabbitry.
Now you maybe thinking you don’t live on a farm and you don’t own a barn so these little critters are not for you. The great thing about smaller breeds like the Netherland Dwarf is they take up little space and most breeders I know even keep them in their city home. I even know a beautiful couple who have large 40 pound Californian’s that dwell in their home as a cat would. The bunnies actually have their own litter box they use! HOW COOL IS THAT?!
Important to Note :
The Netherland Dwarf is only 2 lbs. as an adult
The Netherland Dwarf eats under 2 oz. of food a day.
They are wonderful pets if you remember to cuddle them!
Their waste breaks down quickly for easy use.
Chris McLaughlin has a book coming out about raising rabbits and the benfits of using them in your garden. I will keep you posted on my network when that book is done at the printers.
What are your thoughts about fuzzy friends in the garden? Do you own a rabbit and have some tips you would like to share? I would love to hear from you.
Please check out the links below for more bunny information:
A few of my favorite things are herbs and annuals I can grow or winter over in the greenhouse. I take pride in the herbs that are produced in the winter. Growing fresh parsley and keeping blooms that would normally only be grown in the summer here in zone 5 makes me feel like I’m ‘cheating’ nature in some way. Kind of a powerful feeling I must say! The Winter bouquet I picked to share above may look small but to me it is like a large bouquet of red roses on Valentines day!
In the Photos above: The last of the lime harvest from the 2 year old lime shrub. The peach bloom is from the Fancy-leaved pelargoniumwhich in the summer I prefer to snip the flowers to enjoy the color the leaves provide. In the winter I love to use the blooms indoors in bouquets like the one I share in the images on this blog entry. The green in the bouquet is that of the cuttings from the Italian parsley I grew from seeds. These grow wonderful in the greenhouse till the hot days of early spring arrive.
I share more about growing year-round at Growing4Seasons where I’m a contributor. Stop over and see what it is like to ‘beat nature’ and grow what you want when you want! – Bren
We couldn’t have been more lucky with the weather we are experiencing. The beautiful blue skies and t-shirt perfect weather is making it easy to spend every minute of daily light out getting the treasures that will be spending the winter in the greenhouse in their place. It is the first year in the 2 years I’ve been growing year-round that I don’t feel rushed. Focusing on food and herbs this year more then annuals because being able to have healthy products our family can live on is more important to me. Moving the soil, tools and containers needed to transplant the herbs to the greenhouse is super easy with my red wheel barrow.
My greenhouse is filled with annuals, perennials and new veggies from October to this time of year ( as pictured above). In the collage above I show the new BLUE PEONIES TREE I found in Seattle. I look forward to adding this to my garden after giving it a head start in the greenhouse. The plants that were wintered over are being condensed and re-potted to smaller containers to make room for the seeds that are being started.
This is the first time I have EVER had Hens & Chicks bloom in my garden ( and greenhouse). The bloom kind of reminds me of a mum only it has as hint of sweet scent if you smell close enough. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when this perennial is done blooming. DO you think I should divide it since the sprouts are super long and look kind of odd in that terra cotta container?
The Winter bouquet I picked to share above may look small but to me it is like a large bouquet of red roses on Valentines day!
