"An Afternoon in the Greenhouses......"

I spent most of the afternoon working in the greenhouses yesterday. For those of you who may not remember, I have 2 greenhouses, each 5'x5'x61/2' tall, set end to end to create one 5'x10'x61/2' greenhouse. With these last several nights of temperatures dipping down into the low 30's, the greenhouses have been WONDERFUL! With all of the water filled containers soaking up solar heat during the day and releasing the heat throughout the night, I have had no problems protecting the plants from the cold.

Yesterdays time was spent transplanting seedlings from their sowing flats into 3" peat pots. Since each sowing flat holds 55 seed pods, moving them into peat pots takes quite a bit more space. Add the 4 hanging pots of flowers, the 5 hanging bags of strawberries, one huge hanging pot of cherry tomatoes, and 2 large pots of green peppers, space inside the greenhouses is at a premium!

Here are some photos of the greenhouses before I closed them up for the night. The first greenhouse houses most of the larger pots, and the 2nd greenhouse has mostly seedlings in flats, although the 4 hanging pots of flowers and the 5 bags of strawberries are in there, too.  "Someday" I will have a year round greenhouse which will allow hanging pots to actually "hang".  :)

This coleus was given to Don 40 years ago, which he has continually taken cuttings from and propagated. This is the only one in the greenhouse, but we have 2 more large pots of it in the house, along with 12 beer bottles with cuttings beginning to root.

I have sowed green pepper seeds the past 2 years and have decided this year is my last year doing so. I have planted the seeds in a domed flat (effectively a mini greenhouse) according to the directions for the starting date, provided heat via "starting mats" underneath the flat, and have had horrible germination rates. Last year, and again this year, I have had to buy a few green pepper plants because the ones I have started are less than 3" tall! As you can see, the pepper plants in these pots are not "my" homegrown ones.  ;) Oh! I almost forgot! Those 2 small pots in front of the peppers have pumpkin seeds sown in them. So far, only one has sprouted, but the reason I bring it up is because we received the seeds as a gift from our neighbor's sister, Ana, and her partner, Francisco, who live in Argentina. These are the variety that Francisco, who is a farmer, plants on his farm. They also sent some Arugula seeds, which I will direct sow in another large pot.

The following photo shows the 3 bee balm plants that I purchased from Gurneys Seed Catalog earlier this Spring. Each is a different color and they were quite small when I received them, but as you can see, they are doing VERY well and have grown quite tall!

This next pot was purchased 2 summers ago, filled with a huge cherry tomato. I planted cherry tomatoes in it last year and again this year. (new potting soil, of course!).  ;) This year it has 3 varieties......"Golden Gem", "Jelly Beans", and one I call "Andy's Cherry Tomato", because he gave me the seedlings at the Easter potluck they hosted. He'd bought a package of cherry tomatoes at Sam's Club which were especially sweet, so he planted a few seeds. We'll see if they grow true or if we get something other than the wonderful red cherry tomatoes he purchased.

The 4 previous photos are of the plants in the first greenhouse and now we move on into the 2nd greenhouse.  :)  I have 8 flats in here of vegetables and flowers. Some of the flowers are annuals, but most are perennials. And, as you can see, this is where the hanging pots of flowers spent last night, along with the 5 hanging bags of strawberries.

Here is a photo from the night before last, before I spent the afternoon potting up seedlings into 3" peat pots.

Last night was predicted to be the last night of extreme cold temperatures so the hanging flower pots and strawberries can go out today and stay in their permanent spots, leaving a bit more room in the greenhouses. I will probably wait a few more days before setting out the pots of tomatoes and peppers......