Update on the Greenhouses

There's plenty to do in the greenhouses now: seeding, cutting, plugging, potting, basketing, etc. We had some neat perennial starts to arrive a couple of weeks ago, and as they come into their own I'll post some pictures and more information. Last week we received plugs for our Wave petunias, trailing vinca, and gerbera daisies which saved a lot of space in the germination room. This, however, is what some of them looked like when they came in:

"This Side Up" is apparently just a suggestion.

Seedlings were scattered all over the trays and had to be planted immediately, but all is well now.

Our biggest order arrived yesterday, and the starts look great. Most are going to be put into hanging baskets, such as double begonias and impatiens, bougainvillea, lobelia, verbena, and calibrachoa, but there were a few herbs too, such as Provence lavandin, lemon thyme, French tarragon, Salem rosemary, and pineapple sage (which actually does smell like pineapple!). And we also got what I was most excited about:

Stellar Geranium 'Vancouver Centennial'

Isn't it beautiful? 'Crystal Palace Gem' had better watch out! Unfortunately, that's probably the only other unusual geranium I'll get until the summer when I'm planning a scented geranium hunt to expand our stock.

We've plugged out over five thousand tomato, pepper, and dianthus seedlings this week, but there's much more to go and heated space is at a premium right now. In the germination room we have bedding begonias, hardy hibiscus, variegated heliopsis, asparagus ferns, thyme, Greek oregano, Munstead lavender, and some rather pungent chives coming up. And that's still just a fraction of what we have planned.

Happy New Year

Where did the year go? Let's try again, and hope for a better one.

The weather's taken out our crops in the field, and it's also slowed down the chickens considerably (so I may be selling half-dozens for a while), but there's still plenty to be done in the greenhouses. We built a new seed-starting room in the main greenhouse which is working better than we could have hoped, so we have tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants already up along with dianthus, begonias, impatiens, and more. We moved up the Boston ferns into baskets last week, and we finished potting the geraniums today. We'll offer twenty-three types of geraniums this year: seven standard zonals, six ivies, four ivy-zonal crosses, four variegated zonals, and two stellars. I'll post more on my favorites as they size up, but Crystal Palace Gem is still at the top of my list.

Some of the geraniums before potting up.

The geraniums after potting up.
We'll have to spread them soon, which will not be so fun.

We're starting out small with perennials this year too, if I can keep myself from planting everything in my own yard. We were supposed to be starting out small with herbs as well, but I think we'll be starting out fairly big instead, as long as everything goes as planned.

In other news, the Saturday farmers' market will open up on the 23rd of April, and the Wednesday market should follow soon after. We also hope it will continue on into September this year. Maybe we'll make it to Thanksgiving one year!