Greenhouse | One Hundred Dollars a Month

Growing Tomatoes, Basil and Cucumbers in a Greenhouse

June 12, 2013 2 Comments

Just before watering the plants in the greenhouse this morning I snapped a few pictures so I could show you what’s growing. Last year I had a lot more tomato and pepper plants in the greenhouse around this time, but it was nuts. I packed way to many plants in there and could barely move around, so this year I promised myself I wouldn’t do the same thing.

After all, plants need room to grow just like humans do.

Right now we have cucumbers, basil, Swiss chard and peppers growing on the left greenhouse wall.

Once the cucumbers get a little taller I’ll wrap some garden twine around them and create little trellis so they can grow along the top eves of the greenhouse and dangle down. I did it last year and they looked pretty cool.

This is round two of our greenhouse basil. The first batch was grown in a flat. This time around I thought it might be fun to try growing the basil in gutters. Have you ever tried this? I think it will look cool once it gets growing.

And Swiss chard. You can grow this ~~crap~~ yummy delicious stuff anywhere.

Check out the strawberries! We are harvesting juicy red berries from the greenhouse gutters every other day now. We had strawberry shortcakes last night and they were delicious!

Here is a picture of my beloved green zebra tomatoes. I LOVE THESE TOMATOES!

Last year the plants grew so tall they were coming out of the top vent in the greenhouse. It was crazy. But I’m looking forward to it happening all over again because these tomatoes are delicious.

And last but not least, here is a picture of the potatoes and chives growing alongside the greenhouse.

How is your garden growing? Do you co-plant anything with your potatoes?

~Mavis

You can see more pictures of our greenhouse and the progress we are making, in my Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse Series.

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Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse

May 28, 2013 2 Comments

Growing food in a greenhouse is cool!

I thought I would give you a quick tour and show you all the goodness we have growing in our greenhouse. I was able to snag a few free containers over the weekend so I’ll be planting those and lining the sides of the greenhouse this week.

Gnome Lady has been doing a fantastic job taking care of the raised garden beds alongside the greenhouse. The chives, lilies and potatoes all seem to be growing well together.

Over the weekend I was able to replant the gutters on the left side of the greenhouse. We now have cucumbers, basil {just planted seeds last night} Swiss chard and hot peppers growing.

The cucumber seeds we started a few weeks ago and I forgot to label them. I have no idea what variety I planted in the gutters but it’s either Marketmore, Lemon, or Burpless. I’m hoping they are the burpless ones because the vines are nice and long.

Swiss chard. Yipee! Are you as excited as I am? Ha! I planted the extra starts in the bed next to the greenhouse along with the cabbage. Hopefully they are good companion vegetables.

Although I grew peppers last summer in the greenhouse, they were planted in pots. I think it will be interesting to see how they do in the gutters. I noticed last summer their root systems were not especially long so we’ll see. I’ll also growing some pepper plants in pots as well.

Strawberries LOVE growing in gutters. If this idea is new to you, read — How to grow strawberries in gutters. It will tell you how I planted mine.

So far there are 2 red ones! Wahoooo! Strawberry Bruschetta can’t be too far behind.

And last but not least, here is a look at the green zebra tomatoes that were transplanted to the old chicken brooder a few weeks ago. Tomatoes, carrots. onions and basil have been planted.

Yee-Haw! Now we’re farming!

~Mavis

You can see more pictures of our greenhouse and the progress we are making, in my Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse Series.

Greenhouse Gardener’s Companion

Filed Under: Gardening, Greenhouse Tagged With: Gardening, greenhouse, mavis garden blog

Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse – Tomatoes and Peppers

May 23, 2013 5 Comments

I was planning on lining the inside perimeter of the greenhouse with pepper plants like I did last year but when I went to grab the pots, I discovered they were all gone.

The Handsome Husband thought all my free planting containers I snagged from the Home Depot last spring were garbage and recycled them. Aww how nice. What a total stinker!

Now I have to go hunt down some more so I can get those pepper plants planted.

This week I also pulled all the gutters from the left side of the greenhouse out. We have four total. I still need to transplant the Swiss chard starts out to the garden {but where?}.

After harvesting the last of the spring spinach that we started in gutters we washed it out and filled it back up again with cucumber starts. I plan on trellising these up to the rafters of the greenhouse with netting or twine {not sue which yet} once they get going. We did this last year and it looked really cool.

The side of the greenhouse. Ugg. I totally forgot I planted potatoes in the bed. So now we have chives, potatoes and lilies. What a great combo.

Lucy hard at work.

The tomatoes we planted in the old stock tank chick brooder has been planted with green zebra tomatoes and onions.

Tomatoes and onions in a recycled pot.

I can’t remember if these containers hold 10 or 20 gallons, but we planted 3 pepper plants in this one. Our pepper plants don’t get super huge, so I’m hoping there will be plenty of room for them to grow.

Strawberries in gutters = awesomeness.

And last but not least, Lemon, our Meyer Lemon Tree. She’s blooming! Wahoooooooo. This is a good sign. With a little luck, we should have some fresh lemons to pluck from her branches next February.

No matter how you do it, gardening is RAD!

Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a great day,

~Mavis

Garden Wisdom and Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Plant, Grow, and Harvest

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Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse

May 14, 2013 9 Comments

Caution. Lady with the palest legs on the planet ahead.

We are going through a transition in the greenhouse this week. Since most of the seedlings have already been started and are breaking through the soil, I went ahead and removed the folding tables and put the flats on the ground.

I plan on hauling my free potting containers I scored at The Home Depot last year into the greenhouse and setting them up in the center aisle to grow tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse again.

Now that the baby chicks have moved out of the stock tank and into the chicken run, the container will now be filled with 2 green zebra tomato plants, onions and carrots.

This morning I got started, but after loading a batch of my DIY potting soil into the stock tank I discovered I would need to make another wheelbarrow of the mixture. The tank is so huge! I’m out of supplies so now I’ll have to make a run to the garden center.

Over the weekend we harvested over half of the romaine and mesclun lettuce from the gutters. I think after we harvestthe next batch I’ll go ahead and pull the plants {even though they would keep on producing} because once the weather warms up, it will be too hot in there to grow lettuce anymore.

The strawberries are looking awesome.

And Lemon, the Meyer lemon tree is coming back to life again. At first I thought I would put her outside in the summer time but now I’m thinking about keeping her in the greenhouse instead. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? This is my first lemon tree so I’m not sure.

Oh and one last thing. I couldn’t stand looking at the spent bulb foliage so I pulled up all the bulbs. This is naughty. Don’t do it. You are suppose to leave the bulbs in the same spot until the leaves die back before you transplant them. But I just couldn’t stand it any longer.

I’ll be planting them somewhere near the front of the house and hope they come back again next year {they should be okay, but again, I’m not suggesting you do this}.

It’s not pretty, but it’s getting there. Hopefully by next week the greenhouse will be back to normal.

~Mavis

You can see more pictures of our greenhouse and the progress we are making, in my Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse Series.

Filed Under: Gardening, Greenhouse Tagged With: Gardening, greenhouse, mavis garden blog

How to Grow a Greenhouse Vegetable Garden

May 8, 2013 9 Comments

I snapped a few pictures in the greenhouse last night so I could show you how all the plants are coming along. Yesterday my neighbor and I removed 66 tomato plants from the greenhouse and planted the heirlooms in 6 raised garden beds. It’s beginning to look a little bare in there.

I love how the greenhouse gutters are looking right now. It’s fun to see them overflowing with greens.

The Swiss chard is ready to move out of the garden as soon as I find a good spot.

The mesclun lettuce is ready to be picked.

We clipped the spinach last week {or was it the week before?} and now it’s growing back nicely.

Check out these gorgeous Brussels sprout plants. I picked these beauties up at the Seattle Tilth sale over the weekend and I’m excited to try and grow them this year. I’ve never had purple Brussles sprouts before. Have you?

Fresh basil.

It’s time to break out the salt shaker because it appears some baby slugs have made their way into to the greenhouse. As you know I’m not a big fan of using chemicals on my vegetables so I just catch the little buggers and douse them with salt instead.

The cucumber seeds are up! This year we planted 3 different kinds of cucumbers. Unfortunately I forgot the label them and one of the varieties has long vines so I’m totally in trouble.

And last but not least, pumpkins. So far I have about half of my pumpkins and winter squash planted. Hopefully I can get out there today, mix up a batch of homemade potting soil and get the rest potted up.

What’s new with you? Have you planting anything exciting lately?

~Mavis

See More Greenhouse Pictures and Stories

Looking for a great gardening book? Check out The New Self-Sufficient Gardener By John Seymour. It’s loaded with all sorts of goodness.

Filed Under: Gardening, Greenhouse Tagged With: Gardening, greenhouse, How to Grow a Greenhouse Vegetable Garden

Growing Vegetables in the Greenhouse

April 30, 2013 11 Comments

Things are seriously picking up in the greenhouse. In just a matter of a few more weeks I have a feeling the whole place will be filled with pots and we’ll have tomatoes and peppers all over the place.

Check out the chives! These babies are getting ready to flower. I planted a bunch more seeds over the winter and they are about 2 inches tall right now. It will be cool to get a fall crop this year.

Got gutters? Holy cow, they vegetables are growing like crazy. Click HERE to see what the gutters looked like one month ago. It’s nuts!

A spinach salad is on the menu tonight.

Swiss chard. We will be thinning this soon. We will keep a few in the greenhouse and move the rest to the garden beds.

The mesclun lettuce also needs to be harvested. I’ll have to call Francisco and see if he wants to do a barter with me.

Cesar salad anyone? Yes please!

Last week I cut the lettuce, and now the lettuce is growing back. Pretty cool!

My neighbor will be over today to help me pot up the rest of the tomato seedlings and hopefully some peppers too {if we have time}. I’m excited to get all the seedlings out of the trays and into pots.

The tomatoes will be planted outside in another 2 weeks or so. I think it’s still too chilly to set them out right now.

I think there must be about 75 – 100 tomato plants in this flat.

And last but not least. Basil. Basil. Basil. Who knew you could growfresh basil in April?

No matter how you do it, gardening is awesome!

Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a great day, I’m off to go play in the dirt.

~Mavis

See More Greenhouse Pictures and Stories

Looking for a great gardening book? Check out Carrots Love Tomatoes. I own it and use it all the time.

Filed Under: Gardening, Greenhouse Tagged With: Gardening, gardening in gutters, greenhouse

How to Grow Vegetables in a Greenhouse – Lettuce, Spinach, Tomatoes, Basil and More

April 23, 2013 10 Comments

Lucy and I have been working out in the garden this morning and we snapped a few pictures to show you how the vegetables are coming along in the greenhouse.

The plants are growing like crazy! I need more hours in the day to get all these seedlings planted.

Check out the gutters. Pretty cool huh?

We have spinach in the top gutter followed by Swiss chard, mesclun lettuce and romaine lettuce on the bottom. Click here to see what the gutters looked liked 1 month ago. What a difference a few weeks make!

I think I’ll harvest some of that romaine lettuce tonight for a mini salad.

Swiss chard!

The strawberries we planted in gutters are looking great too.

Now, if we could just speed up time 3 weeks I could set my latest batch of tomatoes into the raised garden beds.

So many plants, so little time.

~Mavis

Looking for a great gardening book? You Grow Girl is a hip, humorous how-to for crafty gals everywhere who are discovering a passion for gardening but lack the know-how to turn their dreams of homegrown tomatoes and fresh-cut flowers into a reality. I own a copy and love it!

Filed Under: Gardening, Greenhouse Tagged With: basil, Gardening, greenhouse, How to Grow Vegetables in a Greenhouse, lettuce, one hundred dollars a month, spinach, tomatoes

Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse – Spinach, Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Strawberries and Tomatoes

April 16, 2013 20 Comments

I snapped a few pictures of the greenhouse over the weekend and thought I would share.

The tulips and daffodils are still looking good. I’m been trying to decided what I’ll plant once the flowers die back. Ideally I’d like to have something tall in the flower pots. Something that will last all summer long.

What do you think would work well?

Check out the gutters. Don’t they look cool with all those veggies growing in them?

Spinach seedlings.

Swiss chard {I’ll have to start thinning these soon}.

Mesclun salad greens. They should be ready to harvest in about a month or so.

The heads of romaine lettuce are doing AWESOME. I was going to transplant these outside, but they are doing so well in the gutters I think I’ll leave them in there until it’s time to harvest.

The strawberry crowns I transplanted into gutters are thriving as well. If you’ve never tried growing strawberries in gutters before it’s a piece of cake. Just remember to make sure they have plenty of room to spread out and you’ll be fine. If I remember correctly I planted the strawberries about a foot apart.

First strawberry blossom of the season.

Even though the Chinese and purple cabbage is thriving in the greenhouse, I think I’ll plant the starts in the main garden this weekend. I need the room. My goal over the next week or two is to re-pot all the tomato plants we have growing inside under grow lights and move them out to the greenhouse.

Typically I plant tomato plants outside in the main garden around Mid-May. They need a week or two to harden off and placing them in the greenhouse for a few weeks should help with that.

How about YOU? When do you plant your tomatoes? Do you grow them for seed or are you happier buying tomato starts instead?

~Mavis

Filed Under: Gardening, Greenhouse Tagged With: Gardening, greenhouse, Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse, lettuce, spinach, strawberries, swiss chard, tomatoes

Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse – Spinach, Lettuce, Basil and More

April 9, 2013 4 Comments

I thought I would give you a peek and show you what’s growing in the greenhouse right now. Typically I crack the doors open a bit in the late morning to get a little air flow going. In the summer months I pop the vents and leave those open 24/7 but it’s still a bit too chilly for that right now.

I think this may be the last week for daffodils and grape hyacinth flowers in front of the greenhouse. I do believe I planted some tulips in those planters so they should be popping up soon.

Growing vegetables in gutters is awesome. We have spinach on the top followed by Swiss chard, lettuce and romaine lettuce in the bottom gutter.

The first set of true leaves on the spinach are starting to form.

The lettuce is bite size. Note to self: keep Lucy out of the greenhouse or she will have enough for a small buffet.

The make folding tables are filled with seedlings. I still have not gotten around to transplanting the basil or zinnias, hopefully I can get my act together soon. I think it still might be too cold to set out the geraniums, so I’ll I think I’ll wait another week on those. Everything seems to be thriving.

Round 3 of cabbage.

The slugs are back in town. I spotted this little guy munching on a cabbage leaf this morning and promptly tossed him in my salt bucket. Now I have to go on a slug hunt and see if I can find anymore in the greenhouse. How do they get in there anyway?

For the most part, I think everything is coming along pretty nicely for this time of year. I do think I will invest in a greenhouse fan this year, so if you have any ideas on what brand or type I should buy please let me know in the comments below.

I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to warmer weather.

Stay Green,

Mavis

Looking for a mini greenhouse? Amazon has the 3 foot Flower House Pop-Up Plant House on sale right now. I used the 4 foot version before I invested in my glass greenhouse and it worked great.

Filed Under: Gardening, Greenhouse Tagged With: basil, Gardening, Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse, lettuce, magnum glass greenhouse, Mavis, spinach

Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse – Early April Pictures

April 2, 2013 13 Comments

The greenhouse is starting to fill up. The HH moved an additional table out to the greenhouse over the weekend and I’ve slowly been bringing out flats of plants I started under grow lights and hardening them off before it’s time to plant them in the ground.

The tulips and chives are coming up nicely alongside the greenhouse.

In about another month or so this baby will be packed!

Spinach was planted in the top gutter followed by mesclun lettuce, Swiss chard and romaine lettuce in the bottom set of gutters.

Spinach seedlings.

I know it’s hard to see but the strawberries I started in gutters are beginning to fill out nicely.

Pretty soon flowers will be forming.

Our only 2 folding tables are filled with seedlings. I need to find another table!

BASIL! Wahoooo! I’ll be thinning it and re-potting it soon.

The first round of tomato plants are in the greenhouse. These are my guinea pigs. If they don’t die I’ll set out the rest of them in the greenhouse house until it’s time to plant the tomatoes outside, around Mother’s Day here in the Northwest.

Onions or leeks, I can’t remember at this point. Those need to get planted in the ground as well.

And last but not least, Zinnias. I’m excited about growing these this year.

Do YOU have a greenhouse?

Where are you starting your seeds this year? Inside, outside?

Mavis wants to know.

If you are looking for a greenhouse but don’t want to spend a ton of dough on one, I highly recommend the 5 foot Pop Up Flower House. Before we had our greenhouse installed I used a smaller version of this and loved it. Plus, the reviews are great and you could even grow lettuce in the winter with this baby!

Quick and Easy Set up on Soil or Hard Surfaces in minutes
Protects your plants and extends your growing season.
Clear PVC material with UV protection for longer life.
Promotes and maintains high humidity levels to create a superior growing environment.
Open floor allows greenhouse to be setup over existing trees and bushes.