Greenhouse Update

As the growing season has progressed, seeds have germinated, seedlings have been transplanted and some are close to going out into the garden. In this picture there are individual pots of tomatoes, broccoli, pac choi and lettuce. They appear small now but with the greenhouse heat and good sunshine they will grow rapidly and be ready to go into the garden or into the greenhouse soil in about a month or so.

These seedlings are not as far along as the ones in the first picture because they take less time to grow to the size needed to set them outside. They begin with cotyledon leaves as they emerge from the soil. The cotyledon leaves were aready present inside the seed. They provide energy for the growing plant but will drop off the stem later after the true leaves have developed.

The light colored soil on the top of some of these pots is milled sphagnum moss. It is very fine and absorbs moisture well. I use it for very fine seeds that need darkness to begin growing.

This geranium plant grew and flowered on our deck all last summer. In the fall I took it in and stored it in the garage where the temperature generally stayed around 45 degrees. I watered it every month or so as it went into a dormant state. It maintianed some green leaves but didn’t grow at all. A few weeks ago I brought it into the house; cut off dead branches; gave it a boost of fertilizer and water; and set it in a warm sunny location. Now it is in the greenhouse and in a few days should be covered in pink blooms. I will find a good place for it on the deck again this summer.

The oxylis (green and red in the background) went into a dormant state in the garage for the winter. The difference from the geranium plant is that all of the above ground growth of the oxylis died back. The new leaves (and now white flowers too) have quickly come on this spring since they were put in a warm location and given some water. The coleus (bright red and dark maroon plants in the foreground) spent the winter inside the house as house plants.

Not everything survived the winter in the garage. I think I either didn’t water this lavender plant often enough or it may have been subjected to cold weather some time. In any case it is now a candidate for the compost bin. Oh well, you can’t win them all.