Really. I appreciate winter. It is the time of year when water, albeit in solid form, collects in the mountains, stored up for the growing season in the valley. Winter is when many insects die, or at least hibernate. Because of winters, our Idaho bugs don’t tend to be as large as tropical ones. Weeds […]
Stir Crazy Gardener Completes First Transplant of Greenhouse Tomato Seedlings
I thought the directions said I should wait to transplant the greenhouse tomato seedlings. I have waited and waited for the two true leaf stage. The tomato seedlings seemed stuck in a timeless space that I walked into once in a while to mist them. The lettuce is growing some, but this advised cold treatment […]
The Surprising Case of Bubble Wrap for Greenhouse Insulation
Sometimes I feel like I’m the last person to find things out. Apparently, using bubble wrap for insulating greenhouse windows has been going on for YEARS. I still wouldn’t know, except that as dear hubby was cleaning out the garage from all of the work on the pool he was deciding what to do with […]
Transplanting Greenhouse Lettuce in January
Today, I transplanted my Tom Thumb butterhead lettuce sprouts in my greenhouse. After a dismal initial rate of sprouting, they surprised me by coming up looking very frilly and healthy, with multiple sprouts per egg-carton-section-soil-pod. I began the usual delicate operation of thinning closely spaced seedlings by snipping carefully with fine pointed scissors. I also had […]
Starting Greenhouse Tomatoes and Lettuce in December
Looking at all the seed catalogs can make a gardener itchy to sprout seeds. Experimenting with greenhouse tomatoes and lettuce is helping with that. As I look at the days to production on the seed packet, I realize that next year I could have fresh tomatoes in the mid winter, if I start the greenhouse […]