In the Greenhouse

Here it is. Eight by twelve feet of seedling heaven. Outside it's been cold and windy and rainy, yet the greenhouse stays a toasty 65 - 80 degrees (and dips into the 40's at night). You can see why I would spend a lot of time in here - and I do! Even if it's just to read, a little greenhouse therapy makes any day brighter and warmer.



You can see my Sponge Bob watering can - normal watering cans have too big of holes for delicate seeds and sprouts, so I bought a child's version. It's perfect.
I have a grow light above the bottom shelf - tomato seedlings need a lot of light - and two heat mats, fitting a total of six trays. I keep all newly planted flats on the heat with a plastic cover until everything has sprouted. Then the plastic comes off for a few days, and then I move the tray off the heat to gradually "toughen" the plants.



I was very happy when we had a new door put on the other day. The old one was broken and disintegrating, from the big wind storm of 2007. Fortunately it held up just fine in yesterday's wind storm!



I was surprised to see radishes coming up outside. I planted them two weeks ago, and figured they had drowned a while ago. Yet today there is a whole row of them!



Inside, I have onions...


lots of brassicas (broccoli, broccoli rabe, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, and kale)...




almost one hundred tomato starts (of 18 varieties)...


and the first okra popped up today...


Also sprouted are almost all the flowers (cosmos, zinnias, statice, petunias, impatiens, four o'clocks, nicotiana, rudbekia, snapdragons, love in a mist, and more I can't think of now), radicchio, greens, and the first peppers and eggplants.



It's going to be a looong wait before the first tomato ripens, but at least I can enjoy the presence of green growing things while the rest of our property gives way to rain water and hordes of ducks.