2010 GH-spring/summer experiment

  Though I grow  seedlings during the summer months in the greenhouse,  until last year it mostly sat empty from the first of May until September or so. I had  assumed it was simply too hot for anything to do well in there. Last year however, I tossed a few extra black eye pea seeds in one of the beds  and ignored them while I let them bake in the hot summer sun beating down  upon  them. To my amazement not only did they grow in there, they did surprisingly well.

After seeing how well the neglected peas did in there and after having a horrendous year   in the gardens we decided that the GH was no longer going to be just a cool weather fun project, season extender and seed starting area.  Our greenhouse was going to become an integral part of our gardening plans around the homestead. It was going to become a place  where no matter the weather outside was doing we could grow a small but nice selection of food crops, that while they may not be able to sustain us, they could provide a good portion of our meals.

After having a  winter season of learning  and growing  a few crops successfully we expanded the in ground growing area in the GH late this winter. We now have about 50 sf of bed space in the ground with another table bed of 10 sf. The remaining area has a shelving unit for seedlings and several  sf of floor space for container plants. My plan is to have 10 or so different types of plants growing  in there at all times depending on the season.

This winter we grew, lettuces, a few herbs,  greens, onions, cabbage  and peas. A few weeks back I sowed some more peas, chinese cabbage, onions, spinach and potato. As each crop is played out or harvested, I will amend the soil and replant the area with something else  on through the year.  Today I  moved a couple of the plants that I had started up in the loft down to the GH and planted them in a bed.

Three roma tomatoes, 2 boston pickling cukes, one lemon squash and 10 okra seeds went into the  a 14 sf area today. I  plan to   move a dwarf zuchinni down as well as plant some watermelon and  asian beans in the next few days and from there  will have to see what else I can cram into the space I have.

Here are a couple pics of the beds this afternoon. I thought I had more downloaded than I do but am too tired to mess with them tonight as I actually helped move wood today.  I was also viciously attacked by the wheel barrow but that's a whole other post.