The greenhouse is open for business!

Well, today was the day to get this finished! I still needed to stain about 100 short boards that make up the shelves on these benches, but every time I went out to work on it, it was HOT in there! Who woulda thunk it?! Hahaha! So this morning's weather report called for a lot of fog this morning, so I got out there and finished the job. I wanted to get it done now as I'm going back under the knife on Friday and didn't want that hanging over my head.


One thing that is really neat is this 'sink' they sent that is used to hold soil. I have about 1 and 1/2 bags of that nice nursery mix in there. I put the rest in the area below the single bench that you can see in the following pictures. My first planting project is to take all the runners off the strawberry plants and put them into pots to sell or give away. There are probably 30 or 40 of them and there is no place for them to plant themselves by the strawberry planter they're reaching out from. I'll take a picture of that once I get it set up nice.


So when you go into the greenhouse, on the right is the single bench with the soil below it. You can see the six swiss chard plants that I have planted here. They are doing so well already. It will be neat to see if they really do grow all winter. I'm not sure what I'm going to put in the back half...maybe spinach? We don't eat much lettuce in the winter, so I'm trying to come up with other ideas.


I guess I just wanted to show a picture with everything so nice and clean and tidy, because I'm sure it will never look like this again. I have barn pictures like that as well. Now it looks...hmm....lived in, for sure! No use having these great things like a barn and a greenhouse and not use them! Thanks for looking!

A lovely early Fall day!

We've had kind of a wet and chilly September, but today is making up for it. Highs in the 70's and a nice breeze. A great day for harvesting the potatoes!


Frank was out in the garden bright and early to go on our annual potato treasure hunt. We planted four varieties this year and we were happy with the quality and quantity of each one. Here is Frank digging up some of the reds that we have planted from our own seed potatoes year after year. This is such a great tasting, long storing variety. Sure wish I could remember the name of it!


The basket above is holding one of our experimental varieties this year. It is a dark purple potato with purple flesh! I guess the big test will be to see if we can stomach eating purple potatoes. I sure hope so, because this basket full was the product of ONE purple seed potato I bought on a whim in the produce department at the food co-op in Mount Vernon. This is just an amazing rate of production!


OK, here is everything that came out of the ground today, from upper left going clockwise: the purple fleshed potatoes, red with regular flesh, red with red flesh (another experiment), another red, and the last two are Yukon Golds. While I think the reds outproduced the yukons, the yukons grew a much more uniform size and shape. I think the flavor is a bit more 'potato-y' too. This is our first year with yukons, so it'll be interesting to see how they store and if we can use some for seed next spring.


Everything seems to be ripening on its own schedule. I am finally starting to get some cherry tomatoes, and the grapes (table grape, variety Red Sussex) sure look like they have a long way to go. Hope they can ripen in these shorter and cooler days!


On to progress with my lovely new greenhouse. After the two-man crew set the greenhouse, the rest of it was all up to us. I leveled the dirt the best I could, then we covered it with landscape fabric and a few inches of gravel. The area to the right (you will see this later) is going to remain dirt so I can plant some things right in the soil (like chard, spinach, lettuces) and hopefully have some kind of harvest year 'round. Just as a side note, I am also going to try to sprout some grains for the chickens to eat during the winter.


Frank also dug out the 'patio' area in front of the greenhouse door and lined it with more landscape fabric. I didn't think the grass there was too bad, but Frank was right in pointing out that it would be a muddy mess in the rainy season. This will be so nice once the gravel and pavers are there.


Here you can see the gravel in the area in front of the door as well as all around the greenhouse. The installers recommended we back-fill gravel all around the exterior of the greenhouse and, besides the issue of helping secure it, it sure does look nice...at least until the grass grows up through it!


Here are my favorite pictures so far because they show how it's all coming together. The stained benches are in. You can see the slats that make up the benches still have to be stained and put into place. I was going to work on it today, but it's HOT in there! Hahaha! I still need to do a bit of leveling of the benches, too, but that will just take a few minutes hopefully tomorrow when it's supposed to be rainy again. It is such a wonderful feeling to be out there when the rain is tapping on the roof, yet it's warm and dry inside!


In this picture you can see the board we put into the ground to separate the gravel area from the soil area under the single bench (the benches on the other side have two levels). I found some nursery soil at a bargain-basement price (fall is a great time to buy garden stuff) so most of those bags will be emptied under there. I'll save one or two for planting stuff in pots. Or maybe I'll just go buy some more!


One veggie that I have really fallen in love with and can hardly live without is swiss chard. I've been growing it for two years now, and can hardly make a soup without it now. We also love it sauteed with garlic in olive oil, in quiches/frittatas and casseroles and just about any other thing I can think of. I made a chard tart the other day in a buttery pastry with jack cheese and it was wonderful and we ate the whole thing in one day. So anyway, the first resident in the soil below the single benches will be these great chard starts I found at Lowe's for 1/2 off the lowest priced ticket, so something like .48 cents each. I was going to plant them from seed, so these were a great find! We'll be able to start taking leaves off of these in a couple of months, which is about the time the chard in the garden will finally succumb to a hard freeze.

I just want to take a moment to publicly thank Frank for all his hard work on our little farm-ette. I'm not sure he knew what he signed on for when he married me, but he never complains and is always supportive of my vision for this wonderful place. Thanks, honey, I love and appreciate you very much! Smooch!

We got a greenhouse!

I have always wanted a greenhouse, and a couple of years ago we saw one of these displayed at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe and almost bought it. But time went on, and I actually started collecting old sliding glass doors to cobble together one of my own. But when we went to the fair again this year, we saw it again and decided to take the plunge! The first thing to do, once we new it was coming, was to prepare the area:


Now I don't know if it was good timing or not, but since my foot surgery is only a month old, I was not able to help poor Frank with this task. Luckily, he said it wasn't too hard of a project. The dimensions of the spot are 8'6" by 12'3". The two installation guys, when they got here, leveled it quickly.


Since I wanted the greenhouse behind our garden shed and next to the garden, they were able to drive their truck right across the lawn and nearly up to the site. You can see that our greenhouse came with two double benches and two single benches that are open below so you can plant directly in the soil of the greenhouse under them. I plan to put swiss chard in SOON so we can hopefully have it all winter.


The two intstaller guys were able to manage this big bulky thing amazingly well and got it into place quite quickly. The only thing left for them to do was to drive six stakes through the about 6"-8" inside lip of the greenhouse into the ground to help with wind resistance. The main thing you're supposed to do is put down landscape fabric and then a layer of rock right up to the wall, as that weight is important to settling it in and holding it down in high winds. I did put the small end toward the prevailing winds, so it shouldn't have any trouble even in the highest winds that we can get here.


I didn't take any pictures of the inside yet because there is nothing to see. You can see from these pictures that we are having quite a gloomy day here in the northwest, but truly, it is quite bright inside the greenhouse. Nice! I left the benches out so I could stain/protect them so they would last longer with damp things setting on them and in that more humid environment.

I just looked back at these pictures and chuckled at all the 'supervision' we had. Sandy's head is in the bottom of one, Katie the kitty is heading for the door and of course the donkey are always in charge of everything that happens around here. The only ones missing are the chickens, but I hadn't let them out yet. I'm sure they'll be checking it out soon enough! More later once we get the inside set up!