Not bad for January!

I've been outside for a couple of hours catching up on my crab grass weeding project. I love windy days. I only just came in due to thirst, a cold nose, and tired arms.

Still, I'm looking forward to next week.

I milked the last two days so I wouldn't have to be out in the near zero temps!

I hate the wind.

Yessum! I'm going outside in the sunshine a lot lately, picking up sticks and dreaming of all I'm going to do when Spring comes. The compost bin and raised beds are halfway thawed so I have been burying my "offerings" every day. The raised beds are looking pretty rich and black now, since I have been doing this since late summer. Haven't seen one worm, but perhaps they are snuggled deep.

I want to plant some leaf lettuce just for the greenhouse soon. I've never grown it because I once read the lettuce was full of nitrates grown that way, but people seem to do it and live, so I'll do some research on nitrates. The place is jam-packed with my plants overwintering plus my daughter's, so I'll have to put it on a high shelf and hopefully not forget to water. The cold, cold temps coming up are going to be a challenge out there. I'll post a photo, if anyone would like.

Once Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's is over, I'm READY to start in the gardens and keep forgetting it's several months away! When the seed racks come in, I know we'll be all over them, just like we are with the catalogs, now.
Sunny

Sunny the seed racks are in. I was in Atwood's today and there are lots of seed racks, little bags of jiffy mix and seed starting stuff. Those little bags are too expensive. I have some miracle grow but it is the water conserving kind the only kind at Sam's. I would rather the plain potting mix. Wal Mart has theirs shrink wrapped and on a pallet - always too hard to get to and soon to be frozen hard. Wal Mart in Neosho has a couple of seed racks up also, but Alwood's has a much better selection.

Sunny, please post pics. We need some encouragement this time of year.

Boy, is it cold! Here are some photos of the GH taken today. Every evening, I put up foam panels next to the glass, which helps keep the heat in. When the sun is shining on cold days like today, I take them down. The foam panels on the ends are there for the winter and of course the large bubble glass cover on the south stays year-around. My bulbs and corms stored for the winter are under the far end bench, where it is very cold. Foam panels from floor to bench keep that cold out. Temp while taking photos today was 80 degrees in there. Gas heater gets turned down to below Low in daytime and the pilot light keeps things cheery. I keep it at 60 degrees at night. You may see several green 7-Up liter bottles on the south sunny side. Filled with water they add a little solar heat and are still a little warm in the middle of the night.

Most of these plants were brought in from the gardens or patio. The Kalanchoes and Aloes stay in all hot summer. I took cuttings (the Mexican Petunias and Cats Whisker cuttings are doing beautifully). My father's 45-year old pink camillia blooms constantly in the winter. It nearly died in the 90's and I had to cut it back drastically.

Thanks, Glenda. Fun thing to do on a day when I'm trapped inside!
Sunny
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Thanks for the pictures. I love all the plants but the petunia reminds me of summer. I hope you get through the next two nights safely. When it gets as cold as they are forecasting I worry about frozen water lines. I'll bet that green house is a spirit lifter on a sunny cold day.

I saw on the news Memorial Hall opened to the homeless. They had a couple of homeless fellows shown and interviewed. Can you imagine being out in this. When I burned brush piles yesterday, my feet really hurt thawing out and I was not out that long.

Sunny, those plants just look great!

Now for questions.....is the greenhouse attached to the house so you can just walk into it from inside? What kind is it? Did you build it yourselves....

Have you done any research on covering it in the winter with some kind of whole-house insulation/bubble wrap, pool covers, etc.

Thank you for the pics. Sorry it took me so long to get back.

I can't imagine anything more delightful than sitting in there on a very cold, but sunny day!

Lucky you!

I have managed to stay inside these very cold days.....poor DH goes out daily to do the cows....

Thank you, Glenda. Yes, the greenhouse is attached to the house. Before it was built there was a sidewalk and flower bed and door entrance to the garage. Daddy had a mud room-type room for the hot water heater and a sink as you come in from outside though the door, which was removed.

In 1965, he designed this greenhouse and had it built. He had a great interest in grafting and hybridizing. In summer the sliding glass door and screen to it helps a lot to ventilate. It all locks up tight. The mud room was his potting room, with all his pots, soil, sink, etc. Much later, before Alzheimer's, he raised hobby quail in there for a year or two. I'll post a photo of part of the potting room.

He had an automatic misting system which I've never been able to figure out -- there once was a regular greenhouse furnace in the end brick wall, but was replaced with the freestanding ventless gas heater, which does not go off when the power does. A thermostat or a manual switch opens the 3 ft wide top vent, which goes the length of the gh. They had trouble with squirrels getting in there (and dying) for years when the vent was up but a brilliant carpenter I know came up with the idea of chicken wire across the top of the gh where the vent is and I have not had one in there since.

I have thought of insulation such as thermal (curtain)panels which stay up in the winter and can be drawn aside, much like I take the foam down every morning. I could use a pool cover, and it's a very good idea, but/and have to remember the gas furnace needs some fresh air to operate well. I get air from the louvered (Florida) windows on the end, even though they are buttoned up with bubble and foam. I'll investigate the pool cover further -- I would have to have someone put it up in early winter and down in the spring and then store in the summer.

I have a large stand fan which moves air in the summer. I also have water in there and can raise the humidity and cool it down by spraying the concrete floor. I put up shelf standards on the wood windows inside and can have four shelves at various heights for starting seeds. In early, early spring it gets so crowded because I buy things I can't resist and it's too early to plant out. (Can anyone relate? lol) So I make cuttings -- too many plants in there!

I have yet to measure out there -- I wouldn't want anything bigger. Every fallen leaf or scrap goes in a bucket for the compost bin. It really does take a lot of attention, but anyone with a love of plants and the desire to grow them well under a couple of tough temperature seasons would enjoy it.
Sunny

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It sounds like a perfect setup. I wouldn't want to have anything I needed help with to operate. It makes it much simpler where you can do it yourself when you want to.

Enjoy!

The flowers in your greenhouse are a wonderful sight after my view of snow all week. We didn't get a lot but it's been too cold for it to melt. Yesterday was warmer but we still have a few patches of snow here and there.
So your father's camellia has been in a container for 45 years? That's amazing!

Yes, hard to believe. It was one of the first plants in the greenhouse. After he passed in the late 90's, my mother put it in the garage to overwinter (I think she was tired of it) and by spring it was nearly dead. It had several trunks and was huge. I took it home and pruned pruned pruned, repotted, and the one little alive sprig came back.

There is a schifflera (sp?) in there in the original pot that has been there a very, very long time and it has touched the top glass for years. It has rooted to the bench soil and is tied by cable ties to one of the vertical pipes. The trunk is about 3 inches around. I've always been afraid to repot it, but do feed and water so we just merrily go along --btw the first photo shows the motor mechanism that raises the top vent.
Sunny