Monday, June 30, 2008

Canada Day Weekend

Happy Canada Day Weekend all you Canadian gardeners....it has been a wet weekend....Friday night, we had a terrific thunderstorm which I slept through...on Saturday AM, my garden was wonderfully wet - and a little muddy - so I left it until yesterday and did some weeding till my back gave out and sweat was pouring off my body. I picked radishes - also very muddy.
Late in the afternoon, the sky got very dark and we could hear thunder rolling - then when hubby was bbqing, the storm broke - a large crash of thunder shook the house - the rain - torrential like - came down and my garden was totally under water
- I have a little trench dug in my garden in case of heavy rain - but it didn't help at all. After supper, I didn't bother going outdoors - too wet, hot and muggy.
On Monday, I will be anxious to see if some newly planted Flowering Kale and Celery plants washed away and the lettuce will be muddy and sandy as well.
But - the rain will help things grow when the sun comes out.
Not really a greenhouse update but connected.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Greenhouse is clean for 2008

That time of year again....cleaning the greenhouse.....it took 3+days this year....our Lord and Burnham greenhouse has roof windows that open automatically when the set temperature is reached. I have never been able to clean the windows and they were looking pretty dirty...so...my hubby took all 6 screens out...we cleaned the screens and the aluminum piece that holds them in place. Then I cleaned the windows-it took me over 2 hours to scrub the dirt and mildew off them....then my hubby rinsed them with the spray hose....they just sparkled...what a difference. After the screens were reassembled and put back, I cleaned all the other windows, the shelves, the cement floor and walls....bugs and cobwebs disappeared in a hurry.
During this cleaning time, the plants were in the garage. Tables were scrubbed and put back in the greenhouse, then I started bringing back plants...first, the hanging plants....some repotting was done. I threw some plants in the composter and took some apart and repotted a lot of them. I still have some repotting and cuttings to do but the greenhouse, though crowded, looks wonderful. We also cleaned the outside greenhouse windows with the spray hose and my faithful heavy duty cleaner from Home Depot. Whew....I'm pooped now....

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Cleaning Greenhouse Time

Once a year, every summer, I clean my greenhouse....it is totally emptied, scrubbed with disinfectant, windows cleaned and when everything is shipshape, the tables and plants go back inside....it is a huge job and I don't enjoy it much, but when all is done, I am happy and pleased. Tomorrow is the day, it will be tackled.....I already have quite a few plants and the tiered shelving unit in the garage, so tomorrow should be relatively smooth going. Wish me luck.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day 2008




Happy Father's Day to all the dads in their gardens, greenhouses and elsewhere.
I took time to hoe the weeds in my garden today...again, I am growing lots of grass and purslane in between rows. I also hilled my potatoes....and planted parsley, mint and oregano. There is supposed to be a thunderstorm and rain tonight...I don't mind the rain, but thunder is not so great. Pretty soon I will eat lettuce and radishes from my garden...yeaaa

The growing garden-2008



I am so happy that my garden is growing....all the vegetables are up.....even the citron seeds have sprouted....I wasn't sure if they would grow as I saved them myself...now I must pull some sprouts out as I only want a couple of vines to grow...apparently they grow 8-12feet long but you can trim the end of the vine when the fruit is set....the weather has been great during the past week....a little rain but we have watered....now I must hoe the weeds....June is the month for weeks and they are growing like crazy and annoying me to death. I still have tomatoes growing in the greenhouse....and some flowers.....gardening is slow for me this Spring, it seems. I still have flower seeds to plant as well.
Today is Father's Day...so Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads in the world.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

After the rain

On Friday night, we had a terrific thunderstorm and rain through the night and my garden was a mudslide. The statue of Mary slid off her round stone and was buried in the mud....what a mess. Hubby had to tie a rope around the statue and carefully lift it out of the garden. She landed on my Rose of Sharon shrub, which was damaged by snow load this winter and now has another broken branch....it is a quarter of the original size. Needless to say, I stayed out of the garden (quagmire) today.
I planted my tiny marigolds in the front flowerbed today...you can barely see them but they will grow bigger in time.
The greenhouse is getting emptier...which is good....