The past month has been so hectic that I missed writing in the blog entirely, missed the May 15 posting of what's in bloom, and missed documenting a lot of what's gone on in the greenhouse and garden. Suffice it to say for now, that the greenhouse and garden along with their associated tasks have provided both mental and emotional respite from work and from family health issues (my mom falling and needing to have daily care for a few weeks), as well as much-needed physical exercise.
Major accomplishments since the last posting in April:
1) the evil vole has moved out of the greenhouse and ceased its damage, as far as I can determine NOT because of any deterrents I tried, but because enough tasty things are now growing outside that it no longer needed the greenhouse goodies.
2) 2 of three types of tomato seedlings did GREAT and are ready to go into the garden tonight; Sun Gold did great, Better Boy did fine, and Roma never sprouted - who knows why. Purchased a flat of Romas to plant - should feel frustrated, but figure I'm still in the learning phases of growing veggies from seed.
3) Found out that while seeds may sprout well in soil-less mix, they need to be moved immediately after sprouting into a mix with soil (and/or fed), or they will stay tiny, tiny, tiny. Can I re-use this mix next year or is it contaminated with potential greenhouse "stuff" that shouldn't be in there? We'll find out next year (or sooner if I find something written about this).
4) Lilac seedlings that have been coddled in the greenhouse and in pots in the yard the last two years were (apparently successfully) planted into a new wind-break row. The wind from the north-west kind of battered the poor things initially, even though I had spent several weeks hardening them off, but so far all seem to be doing ok. It will be interesting to see if they all make it through the coming winter.
4) Chrysanthemum cuttings are nearly all doing well and blooming. I've had about 90% success rate with the cuttings, and that is fun to experience.
5) Goldfish didn't fare so well in the greenhouse this winter - lost some to illness, but will be ready to move them into the outdoor pond later this week I hope. This is about a month later than I usually move them, and I think the heat in the greenhouse may have been the culprit in affecting their health this spring.
6) Other cuttings have done reasonably well - more about those in a subsequent blog.
7) Put in a new shade garden this past weekend. This was my first chance in years to do that and do it correctly, right from the start; we'll see if it fares better than the ones I just kind of threw together in years past.
8) Cleaned out and renovated herb garden; redug, tilled, and replanted perennial herbs, added more this past weekend, and planted some annuals as well. Still more room to plant, which is great! Am looking to expand the edible flowers in this garden area.
9) Planted three varieties of potatoes, two varieties of beans in the main garden several weeks ago. Added peas about a week ago, and re-tilled this morning to make room for all the things that need to go in next, now that we've passed the Michigan "last-frost" date (at least on paper).
10) Planted a new row of flowing shrubs to serve as both summer windbreak eventually and flowing back-bone of a new area of flower garden. Finished planting yesterday - this morning already discovered deer browse damage on two of the shrubs, which means more deer-deterrent spraying, which I hate to do.
Whew, now that I've taken the time to write this stuff down, I realize it's actually been a productive month, since these are just the major accomplishments - there are other smaller tasks that have been productive but too much to record for now.
