Will installed the wall heater in the new greenhouse and screwed down the last board on the last bench. So on Saturday, I began carrying flats of tomatoes and peppers out into their new (temporary) home. I loaded four flats at a time into the back of our Edge and then backed it through the gate to the door of the greenhouse to save many steps for my bad knees. That worked great and by nightfall, I had all of the tomato seedlings cozily in their new quarters. Then, on Sunday, I carried out all of the peppers I had transplanted then worked at transplanting more in the afternoon. I’m trying to finish the peppers as it’s time for me to get the cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli started, about five weeks before planting out in the garden. Whew, spring is flying by!
Meanwhile, Will was tilling, tilling, tilling! He got eight of our nine gardens all nicely tilled up. The ninth is the Central garden. That one still has bean trellises up, so we need to take them down before tilling there. But soon!
On Saturday, our friends Mike and Dara, came for a visit. Mike was going to help Will get started sawing boards on the bandsaw mill. But before they did that, they moved the two hoop houses to their 2021 location, which was already tilled up. So nice! Now we are going to put on new plastic as after five years, the deer had run into the sides a couple of times, making splits in the plastic. But we are very impressed by this plastic, which we got through Growers Supply. They worked on the sawmill for several hours. Being the first run this year, of course there were a few glitches; the up and down wouldn’t do either, needing oil and force to get it going normally. They sawed quite a while then while Will was getting another log with the tractor, with the mill idling, suddenly, it quit. And wouldn’t start! Oh oh! They tried starting fluid etc. Nothing. Then Will found there was no spark. So sawing has come to a halt for a while until he can figure out the problem.
Yesterday, he went out with Old Trusty and continued clearing the logging mess on the Wolf forty. First, he sawed out a small grove of birch, which was right next to the trail, cutting the logs into pole lengths to bring home on his logging dray trailer for firewood. Then Old Trusty pushed out the stumps and branches, moving them on down the hill, into a large pile where it will all rot in a very few years. That bulldozer is earning its keep as it sure is powerful and shoves out big stumps with relative ease. Soon the cows will have a much larger area of pasture to graze on. They’ll sure like that. — Jackie
That’s a lot of tomatoes! Do you sell your produce locally?
So happy for you to have your greenhouse finished!
Knowing you two, you will probably start another one soon.
Received the Hopi Pale Grey squash seed. Can’t wait to try growing them!
They are our absolute favorite squash!! You’ll love them.
It’s wonderful to see all you two are getting done in short order.
Sorry to hear the mill quit working but Will can figure it out I’m sure.
As always you encourage me to keep going forth with gusto in getting my seed starts out and keep starting more. Have a wonderful rest of the week.
Will’s working on the motor today. He thinks maybe it’s the points but it could be a circuit board…. We always are starting more; maybe because we LOVE eating so much!
Good job! Wishing you a great gardening season this year.
Thanks Mardell. That’s our wish too, of course!
Our tomatoes got too big to stay in the house so we transplanted them to permanent pots is the greenhouse. Some were 15” tall. Still in the high 20s nights so I light the propane heater about midnight before I fall asleep. We are getting eighties in there days if the sun comes out.
Yeah, we had 21 last night! Brrr. Luckily, Will lit an additional LP heater! We weren’t expecting THAT cold! We also get 80s in the day if we get any sun at all. That feels so nice!!
I really look forward to your blog. Your property is gorgeous! How’s the arm healing, Jackie? God bless you, from far north California.
The arm totally healed up. Now there’s just a little bump where the stiches were and a faint line. I can sure deal with that! Thank you for caring.
How wonderful! The plants look great !?
We think so to! What a great addition that greenhouse was.
You are both such an inspiration to us all! If all mankind would work hard like you folks do, we would not have the energy for the negatives. Keep up the good work and may the good Lord grant you all the strength and energy to keep going.
Right on, Sugar! Good point!
Thanks Sugar! I sure wish folks WOULD work hard at positive things and not dwell on the negative. We’d all be better off for it. (I wonder what God thinks of all the hate and disharmony throughout the world????)
Beautiful GREEN HOUSE!
Happy you have your LIVING ROOM back. I’ll bet the room looks large.
Well, I don’t quite have the living room back…. The greenhouse was not quite big enough (of course!). But I look at what’s out there and wonder how the heck I ever fit it into the house???
That is a very large greenhouse you built and I am wondering if it will keep the tomatoes and peppers warm without any heat source (other than the sun)? Will it get cold at night and that ambient outside temperature be an issue?
Her picture above shows the heater attached to the wall of the greenhouse.
No, the greenhouse needs supplemental heat. Will installed a wall LP heater but last night it got down to 21 and the wall heater would only keep the greenhouse at 37 degrees so he lit a small portable LP heater and this morning it was 70 degrees in there. Much better! On nights above freezing, the greenhouse keeps at about 50-60, depending on how sunny the previous day was.
The plants are looking great:)
They are getting nice and stocky now and not leaning like they were in our south-facing house windows. Love it!!
Jackie and Will……..you are such an inspiration. I have to tell you that I am almost 80 years old and not even physically able to do much of anything in the garden anymore. But I’m living/planting/growing vicariously through the two of you. So, with everything you plant, harvest, and preserve………just know I’m there with you. Thank you so much.
We’re so happy to have you right here with us!!!
Wow! Fantastic job on greenhouse and plants! When do you start the cucumber and squash or are these direct seed? Thanks!
We direct seed our cucumbers but do start some squash inside as we have such a short growing season and want to ensure we do have mature seeds for our little seed business.
Absolutely amazing. Great working crew.
Yup, we think so too!!!
Are the plants “hardened off” by opening the greenhouse door? I wanted to start hardening mine off but while the temp was good, it was far too windy.
We open both the east and west end doors when the temperatures are warm enough on days with a breeze but not a gale. Otherwise, taking the plants out into a partially protected area during nice days does the trick in about a week.
Awesome greenhouse Miss Jackie. The plants look so strong! I’d love to have a heater this spring but I need a plug moved first. Well, I’ll have it by fall for sure.
Ours is LP so we don’t have to worry about electricity. Everything comes with time if we have patience to wait. And sometimes that’s hard.
Jackie, forgive me for asking a question that you’ve probably already answered a million times, but do you rinse and reuse the white styrofoam cups? Do they hold up well enough to do that? I imagine the red Solo cups can be reused too?
Many of our Styrofoam cups have been used for eight or more years! They just get dumped out, dried and put into a garbage bag, nested together inside, and stored in the basement until the next year. We lose very few, usually from being stepped on in the garden after emptying them. I like the Styrofoam ones as they help insulate the roots from cold or too much heat.
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