Greenhouse and Crunch Time!

The greenhouse is almost complete! The only thing that is left is to build shelves in there. And we can say that in the three short weeks the structure has been built it has withstood hurricane force winds, hail, snow and freezing temperatures.  Unfortunately we learned that we will need to put some sort of heater in there for winter if we wish to be sustainable through winter.  Most everything froze that was pre-grown.  Some things are coming back, and some things aren’t.  Live and learn I guess.  I also don’t think the Peach tree made it through the freeze, but the plum tree did and there are LOTS of plums on the tree. 

The idea with the raised beds is to plant the items that we would like to get almost year around that we either want fresh or that can’t be frozen.  I think we may rotate some veggies in and out once we get enough to freeze.  Our list in the Greenhouse:

·         2 Ghost Pepper Plants

·         Jalapenos

·         Green Bell Pepper Plants

·         15 Mild Green Chile Plants (New Mexico Hatch Green Chiles)-

·         15 Medium/Hot Green Chili Plants (New Mexico Hatch)

·         About 5-6 different kinds of tomatoes

·         5 Green Bean Plants (will rotate out when done)

·         Celery (will move out to the regular garden when ready)

·         Lettuce

·         Cabbage (will rotate out when done and frozen)

Herbs we are growing to start (will be expanding over the next couple of years)

·         Basil

·         Cilantro

·         Dill

·         Lemon Balm

·         Oregano

·         Chives

·         Parsley

·         Thyme

·         Mint

On the shelves we will house any plants in the winter we want to bring out of the cold and herbs.  I found a place that offers Herb Classes (what to do with each part of the herb, etc.) for fairly cheap, so I am embarking on that Journey this summer!  It’s exciting and inspiring! Here is hoping that everything grows and is happy and healthy!

And we are now under crunch time to get the garden ready! But because of our schedules we are always under crunch time, so that is nothing new.  We are trying to figure out exactly how we want to do the garden this year, since we are adding some vegetables.  Here is a list of veggies we will be growing for the year:

·         Cucumber

·         Zucchini

·         Corn

·         Carrots

·         2 types of Pumpkins (Pie Pumpkins as well as decorative, jack o lanterns, etc)

·         Broccoli

·         Asparagus (not likely to get anything edible this year.  It takes about 2 years to fully grow)

·         Rhubarb

·         Radishes

·         Garlic

·         Onion

·         3 Different kinds of Potato

The potatoes, green chilies, broccoli, rhubarb, garlic, cabbage, and asparagus are new this year.  We have never attempted any of these before, so we shall see.  I have found an awesome gardening website, and have learned through research that the reality is we probably won’t have asparagus, or maybe even broccoli this year, as they take time.  The only thing we aren’t too sure how we are going to do it are the potatoes, they take a lot of space.  Not that we don’t have space……we have an abundance of it! Just trying to plan to make it all work!  And that is ok.  It’s a learning process.

We have also decided to add to our fruit collection this year (because we found the plants at a great cost!).  We have identified a special section of the yard just for berry growing!

·         Strawberries (we have grown for years), just adding more plants this year

·         Raspberries (have had a plant for years we are just moving it to try for more production)

·         Blackberries (adding a plant this year)

·         Huckleberries (got free seed! YAY! So going to attempt it)

·         Concord Grapes (already have the vine and got tons of grapes last year!)

·         Niagara  Grapes- These are a traditional white grape  (planting the vine this year)

·         Catawba Grapes- Another purple grape (planting the vine this year)

·         Peaches (if it blooms due to the frost)

·         Plums

But we are under crunch time…..to get the garden prepped! We always seem to wait until the last minute.  Of course it doesn’t help that someone stole our rototiller so now we are having to figure out either funds to buy a new one, or borrowing one and using our time effectively to till!  But in reality with the snow the past few days, it probably isn’t a bad thing.  None the less it will be happening in the next 2-3 weeks! We entering the time where there will probably be more pictures than posting! But it’s all exciting!