The greenhouse is all planted and has been for about a week, but I waited to take pictures until some of the baby plants had time to put on more leaves and let us know if they were happy with their new living arrangements. So these pictures are the “before” everybody gets with the program and starts growing.
A 3x3 space for basil to grow. Can't hardly see them, they are so tiny, but there are a lot of them popping up.
I put a thin layer of composted manure, then a 1/4 inch thick layer of potting soil mix, then a bunch of basil seeds scattered around artistically, then another 1/4 inch thick layer of potting soil mix. And then we have been waiting for them to pop up. It’s been a week and voila! They are starting to appear.
Two butternut squash plants. These are supposed to be a bush type, and not sprawl all over and take over the world.
These squash plants have both added new leaves and they look happy so we have high hopes. Butternut squash is so delicious.
Four sets of two cucumber plants. They don't have real leaves yet, but soon. And then we'll have to pick one of each set, and remove the second plant.
Dan is thinking about putting up some chicken wire for the cucumber plants to climb because they WILL try to take over the world.
A delicata squash plant.
It looks so little and non-assuming. This plant will get very big so it has a whole bed to itself.
Two different kinds of melon, sharing a whole bed to themselves. Both of these plants will get huge.
We planted three varieties of melon, and we have high hopes of getting ripe melons again this year.
In one of the center beds we had planted some lettuce seeds last November. We planted the melon in the middle of the row of lettuce.
The melon will end up having the whole bed to itself but it can share with the butter head lettuce until they are big enough to eat. We also have several volunteer dill plants growing. And two hanging baskets which will go outside once I have a couple of hooks on which to hang them.
Our herb garden is doing well.
The planter box has a rosemary plant as it won’t overwinter, and six basil plants. We’ll bring the rosemary plant back into the house in the fall. We also have parsley, sage, thyme, oregano, chives, and more dill.
Six hot pepper plants are sharing a bed next to the herbs.
There are two bell pepper plants in the same row with the tomato plants.
We bought one tomato plant from a nursery, and the others are the seeds we planted.
Our baby tomato plants were so small we were doubtful but decided to put them in the greenhouse anyway and see if they could catch up with the nursery plant.
They are definitely doing their best to catch up. They are growing really well now.
Evidently the artificial grow lights just can’t hold a candle to real sunshine!
Looking from the back of the greenhouse to the front.
You can see the screen we put on all the windows. It is really helping a lot to keep the wasps out of the greenhouse. I still haven’t gotten any flowers for the pots, but will do that one of these days, very soon.
So just like the garden, we have everything planted and now we just have to water, week, watch things grow, and wait for them to get big enough. This is the fun part!
Our rhododendron is finally blooming this year.
It evidently appreciated the aluminum sulfate to make the soil more to this plants liking.
A few of the iris are starting to bloom.
They don’t really like getting soaked with water when they are blooming, and we’re supposed to get an inch of rain tomorrow. That’s a lot of rain.
And now for some after. I’ve been working on redecorating and remodeling the upstairs guest room and art room since the winter, and it’s mostly done. I repainted the whole room, and then moved everything around, trying to make it all fit and be accessible at the same time.
The closet in the guest room converted to a place for me to keep all my art supplies, and to do painting and drawing.
All the crystal pieces for the new light fixture are laying on the desk.
There is now an opening window on the west wall, giving great cross-ventilation to this room.
The window is a huge improvement to the room. We haven’t put the window trim back up yet, as we’re not sure it will fit. But one of these days we’ll get around to doing that.
The other side of the room has my loom and one of my spinning wheels, next to all the books.
It’s a very cheerful place to do spinning and weaving, and who knows, I might even get around to doing some of that here in the near future.
Plus I’ve organized all my fiber arts magazines and books so I can actually find something when I want to.
The treadle sewing machine and electronic sewing machine are next to each other, and very convenient for use.
All in all, the room is more comfortable now, and a lot more useful.