The Hoop Greenhouse Adventure

We had great hopes for building a hoop greenhouse and in the photos below you can see how the building of it progressed.   One of our friends had carrots in February using a hoop garden.  Everything seemed to be going well and I even got excited and filled the hoop garden full of hot peppers, Colossus Tomatoes, Swiss Chard and other plants.  However, what we didn't take into consideration was the amount of wind we get in this area.  During a particularly bad wind storm the hoop greenhouse almost 

blew away.  My husband caught it just as it was ready to take off down the marsh.  All that is left of it is a soggy mess of plastic, pipes, and clamps.  I will use the box gardens that are left over though.  My peas are planted in one of them and I think that beans will go in the other box.  It it not a complete disaster.

My husband worked like a beaver on this hoop greenhouse and he was proud of it.  Too bad mother nature had to rain on our parade.

SEED PLANTING FEVER

I'ts the 3rd of March and I've got seed planting fever already.  We have such a short growing season here in Atlantic Canada that I decided to start some things indoors.  So far I've planted Calendulas, Pansies, Beans, Zucchini, hot peppers, cucumbers, and Basil.  Egg shells make good pots to plant in.  You break the egg in two, and wash the shell out.  Then you can put the egg shells in an egg carton with the lid cut off.  Just put some potting soil in the egg shell and then plant your seeds.  When it comes time to plant, the shell can be gently crushed and it provides nutrients for the soil.  I also save the plastic containers that salads and some berries come in for planters.  They look like miniature greenhouses and they have holes in the bottom and sometimes the sides.  Today, I just filled the bottoms with potting soil, planted my seeds and used the tops for the bottoms.  All this was placed on an aluminium foil tray and put near the window.  It is important to label what you have planted, so I write on Popsicle sticks.  Recording the date you planted the seeds is useful too.  I'm really in the gardening mood, even though my garden is under several feet of snow.

Yearning for Gardening Season

My Christmas cactus is tying to bloom again and it makes me yearn for gardening season.  It may be a winter wonderland outdoors, but I really want to get some seeds started.  I've used the little greenhouse like containers that you get salads in to try and grow some Zinnias, Calendulas, and sunflowers.  I have a small plastic greenhouse that I usually set up in the sun porch, but I have to wait for warmer weather.

So far my planted seeds are on top of the microwave. Recently, I have used some jars to sprout some seeds for salads and that worked well.  All you need is a large Mason jar and some plastic mesh or wire mesh cut to fit the top.  You put the seeds into the jar and rinse them gently twice a day.  My sprouts jars go into the cupboard where it is nice and dark.  You really have to eat the sprouts fast when they are done, because they can get mould on them if you let them sit too long.  However, sprouting makes you feel like a gardener again.  Below are photos of our winter, our cats curled up, and of my Christmas cactuses.