A Dream Come True

I finally have a greenhouse. I have wanted a greenhouse since I was about 10 years old and first knew what one was. It's not too surprising since I loved gardening and lived in a state with a growing season a whole whopping three months long. I'm 38 now. So I've wanted a greenhouse for close to 30 years. Wow....that makes me feel really, really....old. But anyway, I finally have a greenhouse. It's not a glasshouse or anything, just a purchased metal frame and plastic cover, but it is mine and well....I FINALLY HAVE A GREENHOUSE!!!!

The greenhouse is actually set down into an existing garden bed. An additional frame section was added to the garden bed to have a frame all the way around the base of the greenhouse to secure it. We are very windy here and properly securing the greenhouse was a major concern. It is also going to give me my first all flower garden bed. All of my garden beds to now have been vegetable or perennial. I have not had any place for just annual flowers. I plan to put sunflowers and zinnias this year. It is a small area but it should look really nice up against the greenhouse. The inside of the greenhouse is bare dirt and will stay that way. I plan to possibly plant some things directly in the ground inside the greenhouse. I could potentially even grow artichokes successfully now!

My hubby also built me my first shelf to go into the greenhouse.

As you can see there is already a tray of seedlings on the new shelf. The shelf is made out of furring strips (1x3 lumber) and the sides of our son's old crib. Cost? Nothing, since we had all the materials on hand. The furring strips were left over from putting baseboards in around the house, same with all of the screws used to put it together and our son long ago outgrew his crib. 


The greenhouse was enough motivation to lift me out of a garden-related slump of more than a year. All last year through the gardening season I felt discouraged and felt a distinctive lack of motivation. The start of the gardening season this year shows that clearly. The yard and garden beds were a mess. Over the last week I cleaned out 8 large lawn and leaf bags of leaves, garden debris, and trash that has drifted into our yard over the winter. Normally I would be composting most of this material but there was too much trash interspersed with the compostables. That and I just didn't have the space. I would have needed about four times as much space for composting as I currently have if I was to compost all of what I raked up out of the yard and cleaned out of garden beds. Yeah, last year was a bad year. I also weeded a (supposed to be) herb garden in which the weeds long ago overpowered the herbs. In an earlier post I published a picture of my plan for that area. The weeding and cleaning out was a first step towards realizing that goal.

Today I got my first seedlings started. It's about a month late but I really am going on the idea of better late than never. Especially with the greenhouse I can always extend the season for a few plants if needed. Plus, anything I start now is potentially something I don't need to be buying a plant for later. Currently in the greenhouse I have:

Beefsteak Tomato (4)
Super Sioux Tomato (4)
Rutgers Tomato (4)
Luffa Gourd (6)
Marketmore Cucumber (4)

These are all from new seeds and should have decent germination so I expect to have plant numbers similar to the above. I planted plenty of Luffa seeds and plan to put some out in the garden and leave some in the greenhouse to grow the entire season, either in the ground inside the greenhouse or possibly in a large nursery style pot.

Directly in ground I planted the following:

Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Lettuce: Boston Bibb, Black Seed Simpson, Paris White
Spinach

In the next week I hope to get a garden bed prepped and ready and plant peas. Typical to this area spring took its time coming but now appears to be here with a bang. Transitional type crops, such as spinach and peas can be extremely tricky since often the ground will be too cold or the weather too wet to get them started as early as they ideally need but then when it is possible to plant them it is already too hot. I am still holding out some hope for peas and spinach this year but if they fail again I may very well decide that they are a lost cause in this area. Both are staple crops in Maine where I am from where spring comes slow and cold. A last frost may sneak up as late as mid-May, not common, but not unheard of either. Crops that can handle a little nip from old Jack Frost are handy ones to have, especially if your family is depending on the garden for food!