Greenhouse At Night

I love to sit in my little greenhouse in the evening - it's the blue hour. The sky is a deep, rich blue but the lamp brightens up the inside and its so peaceful. 

I recently moved this very old green shelf into the back of the greenhouse. We salvaged it over 30 years ago from a local 100+ year old form house that was going to be demolished. I love the scallops. It reminds me of the British Auricula Plant Theatres. Someone wondered if I might paint it to match the potting benches but I like the mix of multiple shades of green out there - just like nature. 

This little greenhouse was an inexpensive Amazon purchase a few years ago and it has been worth every penny and more. I had the old bricks, we used scrap lumber to build the benches, one at a time until the configuration held maximum plants for overwintering and then everything but the plants is thrifted. I could spend hours out there. It's a little "escape' just a few feet from my backdoor!

 

July 1

 July 1. Dappled light.

The dappled light is so pretty in the backyard and gives us relief from the hot summer sun. The amount of shade we have makes growing certain things more difficult - tomatoes are a challenge. But I have learned to appreciate so many variations of cooling greens as the backyard became more and more of a shade garden. I think I enjoy subtlety so much more  now than I used to. You have to slow down and look closely to appreciate the minor variations but it feels like a metaphor for life as I age. It is the little things that catch my eye and appreciation. I'm also more open to working with the things I have - like this old shed - and appreciating the things it does do even if it's not a fabulous, charming garden folly. Gardening definitely gives one perspective. 

Garden Folly - WIP

For years I have loved greenhouses, large and small, made from reclaimed windows. It seemed like the perfect combination of repurposing and gardening - two of my favorite things!

There are tons of images and DIY all over Pinterest and other online resources. About a month ago someone local posted that they had dozens of single pane windows that they needed to give away by the weekend. I decided this was the motivator I needed to give one of these recycled window projects a try. 

I messaged that I was going to come get some, grabbed my gloves and went to get them. I knew I needed six but grabbed one extra just in case. She had so many and there wasn't anyone coming to get them at that point so I decided having one extra "juts in case" was a good idea. 

I bought a variety of hinges at the hardware store and a few L- brackets and started figuring out exactly how to cobble the windows together. They are old, not square and somewhat worn. You have to be willing to make allowances for this but that's what I think gives the whole project charm. 

You can see that the windows are very old and chippy and I had to add a few extra pieces to brace the roof and door. I'm going to see if I can "age" the new hardware a little. 

This is a work in progress and I'm excited to update you soon about the hardware and how it is styled for spring.

Greenhouse

As I shared on my Instagram we 'did a thing' over the weekend. While I dream of charming English greenhouses and Victorian conservatories, I am also very excited to have this utilitarian greenhouse to have fun with. We had reached the point where either the ferns could live in our house this winter or people could. They have gotten huge over the years and I have to vacuum up a lot of little leaves when they "winter" inside.

 I ordered it from Amazon, it was inexpensive and arrived in about 3 days. This is the exact one/size I bought (the price fluctuated over the two week period that I considered which one to purchase. Amazon prices are like the stock market ;) so keep an eye out for price changes.)

There aren't any pictures yet with beautiful plants and gardening accessories in it because it is still a construction zone. I had a stack of salvaged bricks so I am currently, slowly, bricking the floor. The first frost deadline is looming so I'm trying to get it done asap! Stay tuned!

Bringing the Ferns Inside

 I have a lot of ferns and they have gotten big over the last few years. Really big.

I have had some pretty good success wintering them over and the result is that they have gotten larger each year. This is exciting and concerning. It gets harder and harder to find the perfect winter home for each one.

(Ferns hanging out with an elephant in the Family Room) 

When I decided to change things up and redo the room below I wanted it to have a bit of a sunroom feel. It doesn't have but 2 windows but they do get great winter light. It's the closest thing I'm going to have to a true sunroom so I wanted to include room for some of my plants to overwinter. It is the Living Room in our traditional plan but it's never served that purpose and I think this particular transformation is going to be the most beneficial for how we live.

These 3 ferns are so large they are monopolizing the "plant area" in this room right now. 

I'm lucky in that I also have a great little "greenhouse/cold frame" situation in my backyard that has helped me successfully winter over a lot of plants in one space. 

We purchased this frame and cover at Tractor Supply for a little over $100.00 a year ago. 

I would love a charming, English Conservatory looking greenhouse but this utilitarian, less charming set up served its purpose. I filled it up, put a small heater in there last Winter and crossed my fingers!

Almost everything made it through the Winter and some things blossomed and thrived!

I did learn a lot about regulating the temperature and about the amount of watering required - more than I expected!

It did not cost much to use the heater to keep the plants from freezing and the savings from not buying new ferns each Spring was significant. And a bonus is that the ferns not only survived they grew and have long, lush fronds. 

I'm hoping that I will be able to rotate my ferns between the house (where they dry out more and drop leaves) with ones from the greenhouse (where there is more humidity and they happily grew and stayed very green last Winter.)

This system worked well last Winter, my ferns grew crazily this Summer on the screened porch so I'm feeling confident that we can repeat our success this Winter BUT I'm always open to any good plant tips!! Please share if you have a any plant "survival" tips!!

Here's one of my best tips:

It's how I get rid of possible  pests before I bring my plants inside!

I use Dr. Bronner's Castile Soaps for everything!! They are clean and safe for our use and the environment. I dilute 1 tablespoon of Dr. Bronner's unscented soap in a spray bottle and generously spray my ferns especially. I turn them every direction and spray underneath. Then I spray with a bottle of clear water. The ferns love all of this moisture! I also dilute a tablespoon or two of the same Dr. Bronner's in a gallon of water and pour through the soil followed by a watering of clear water. Then I wipe the post clean and let the plant rest a bit before bringing it inside. 

It seems to make the ferns happy and I rarely find any pests inside!

A Little Frosty in the South.

 It's November 1 and we have our first frost warning in the Atlanta area. 

It always creeps up on me. We have glorious warm weather all Fall and I'm lazy about planning for my tropical plants on the porch. I have to scurry around, drag things inside, kill random bugs I've brought in with my plants and try to keep the dog out of the dirt. 

It is not fun.

But this year I'm sharing a different story. I planned ahead. I have (what I hope) is a great solution to my "plant problem." 

We purchased a very basic, not charming looking, utilitarian "greenhouse" type thing from Tractor Supply for about $100.00. We are not 100% sure it will be completely successful but the investment isn't large and far less than replacing the plants I have no place to overwinter each year. For the past couple of years I have had what I called a 'redneck greenhouse' on my porch. It was a ladder draped in sheets and plastic dropcloth with my plants shoved against the house wall of my screened porch. I used a lamp to keep the plants under it from freezing. It was not the best solution but my ferns survived. This year when we couldn't go shopping for plants in the Spring we were so happy to have the plants that survived to use on our porch. 

So this structure from Tractor Supply is a small step up from the 'redneck greenhouse' of years past :) Yes, I would love a charming, 'real" greenhouse. I had one at our previous home and loved having it so much. But if this gets my plants through our Winter (which can be fairly mild) I will be ecstatic. 

It is 6 x 6 feet* (more on that later) and it is tucked behind our garden shed in a utility area of the backyard. It is slightly visible from the back porch. We put it together in a few hours. This is a progress picture - we still had a couple of steps to go. 

I chose to put down landscape fabric and cover it with pea gravel. I love pea gravel and will use it any time I can. A brick floor is very charming in a greenhouse and retains heat but this was a quick fix. (The lower back flap will be secured for those of you curious about that. I was waiting on a piece of pipe at this point. Once you slide it in the rod pocket the back is secured.)

And then I put 2 of my many ferns in there. 

And realized that 6 x 6 feet* was not as large as it looked. My ferns are huge. My palms are huge. It's going to be very cozy in there. My advice, go bigger than you think you need to. I had 6'6" between our shed and the fence so I chose what would fit and mostly be hidden by the shed. I honestly need another one to fit everything in!

This isn't everything! I'm excited to see if i can keep my plants warm, pest free and happy in here!

I'll keep you posted since this is completely experimental. This structure will work if we have a mild winter and I can keep the temp regulated and the cold winds out. 

Fingers crossed.