Okay....so....this spring I decided that I would try my first attempt at gardening. Now, so you know, I have been known to kill cactus and so, my family thought this was a hysterical idea!!! But I perservered, did oodles of research and determined that, since I live in temperate rain forest (50-90 inches of rain annually), container gardening would be my best bet at a successful yield.
I also decided that I wanted a small greenhouse, to protect my plants from drowning and the ravens, for Mother's Day. So, with a design in mind for small 8x8 greenhouse w/ a pitched roof, I contrived to enlist a small portion of my family to achieve my ends.....isn't family great?!
1.) Get hubby to fork over left-over wood from various projects, hunt down recyclable pieces for use, buy whatever materials may be needed, build greenhouse
2.) Get brother #1 (works in lumber/hardware yard - also ex-landscaper of 10 years.....) to getting remaining lumber & tools needed, build greenhouse
3.) Get brother #2 (landscaper) to build greenhouse
4.) Enlist my teenage children for cheap labor, building greenhouse and hauling soil
while I, snoopervised the construction, kept the guys supplied with beer and hot meals (as we did this in the evenings after work/school, and I, well I...cook like grandma
......) and hunted down any recyclable container (i.e. coffee cans, bookshelves, baskets, plastic bowls and plastic drawers, etc.) to make into planters and got down to planting.......
and voila.....my Mother's Day greenhouse (my family ROCKS!!!) and very first attempt at gardening..........
the greenhouse vents on the bottom of the 3 non-door sides (I just open and secure corner flaps with eye & hook latches on the nice days for full sun and fresh air) and has rebar hung inside for my hanging baskets and as the strawberries & strazzberries mature that's where they'll be hanging out.....with the tomatoes (growing upside down in buckets - I have one in each corner of the greenhouse and all are topped with different herbs (cilantro/corriander, chives, basil and parsley) for companion growing (I googled & looked at many, many different versions of upside down planters and was worried that a soda bottle would just not be sturdy enough - hence the buckets), cucumbers and the 3-in-1 citrus plants. I have the radishes growing in wicker baskets and carrots in a large recycled plastic drawer next to them. Beans and broccoli make up the double row planters and snap peas the single one. Snow peas in terra cotta planters and bush green beans in the coffee canisters, strawberries and strazzberries are in planters in these photos - awaiting transplant. The garlic is doing swell and smells so fine - as you open the door to the greenhouse your first smells are of the garlic and basil (yum-yum
. I also have red potatoes growing in 5 gallon buckets right outside the door.
The 4 leaf clover was a freebie plant (along with a vine peach that I’m trying out) that the company I ordered from threw in with my order and so I thought what the heck.....I love it and have given quite a few plants of it away to friends as a "good luck" gift....they also have enjoyed it very much, the green and purple colors are striking and all are perfect 4-leaf clovers....hurray for freebies!!!
I’m really pleased with how the greenhouse turned out and how the plants are coming along so far….now, the real trick will be, to see if I can keep the bears out of it all summer long – the cats are difficult enough………Anyways, I apologize for the length of the post (verbal and visual). Please....any comments will be helpful, as I'm learning as I go.....Questions? I'll try to answer as clearly as I can.......Thanks for looking!!!
