

'07-08 Greenhouse Experiments


Added 11/01/07:

Okay, the GH is built; I think I've "pretty much" gotten the ventilation and heating situation dialed in (Yay!); And my "marginals" are now nicely tucked away for the "Dark Months" ahead...

Wow! NOW what do I do?!! (Well, yes, there's the whole "kick back and enjoy it" thing, but still... ;-)

Okay, I've decided to don my Mad Scientist (Mad Gardener?) Hat and start to do some experimenting!

Last year, I built the "tent" greenhouse over an existing tomato plant, and I was harvesting fresh toms well into December. I *loved* it! I'd thought about moving my potted Goliath Tomato into the GH, but he's Indeterminate (and HUGE). Plus he's kinda infested, now, with white flies. So probably not such a good idea.

So, instead, I'm going to try to grow some cherry tomatoes. I bought 3 varieties of cherry tom seeds. MicroTom, Sungold and Tiny Tim. I'll try to track their progress here. Maybe I'll be picking fresh tomatoes in February? Maybe I'll kill 'em all! Who knows?!!

* * * * *

I've had especially good luck with growing tomatoes from seed, actually.

One AWESOME (and Ohhh, soooo "Green") idea I lifted from the internet is the use of recycled 2-liter soda bottles for starting seedlings.

This site has really good step-by-step instructions on how to make em:

Topper's Place - Pop Bottle Pots. Seedlings and Young Tomatoes grow like CRAZY in these things. Something to do with the steady moisture, maybe? I dunno - but I was amazed at the quality of the plants that I started this way!

Another hint (and I can't remember where I read this - probably Gardenweb!) is to mist the seedlings with chamomile tea to prevent damping off when they're little babies. IMHO - it works! I had ZERO losses this past season.

Anyway... I'm starting the seeds in the bathroom, for now (I think they need the warmth). They're ultimately destined for the Greenhouse.......................

As always, click a pic to see the full-sized version.

Recycled Bottle-Pots No, they ain't pretty, but they're not staying in the house for too long!

Blurry Close-Up of Micro Tom Seedlings These were planted on 10/24. A week-and-a-day later, they're up! :-)


Visitors since 11/01/07