4th and Virginia: Dreaming of Greenhouses

January is for sorting seeds. Right now, while the weather is really crappy, I like to start sorting through my seeds to figure out what I need to order for this year's planting season. It is a fact that seeds get old, and sometimes they won't grow if they are old. This sucks because you don't really know they wont grow until you try and then you are mighty disappointed when nothing comes out of the ground and you find yourself suddenly behind in starting your garden.

This year we are thinking about moving our shabby little cheap-ass greenhouse across the property so that it is closer to the big garden rather than where it is - in the little garden. I've had some success and some MAJOR FAILS with starting seeds in a greenhouse. Most of my problems happen because I'm not at the farm during the week so I can't control temperature and moisture in the greenhouse - and have at times gotten to the farm to find that all my seedlings have been COOKED because of unexpected heat. Other times, waterlogged. Other times, all the tops eaten off by a few bastard slugs.

My other problem is finding the appropriate amount of time to harden the seedlings off before planting them in the ground. What works best is a daily schedule over 5-6 days of gradual introduction into "nature". But, when the weekend is just 2 days, I have had to advance the gradual schedule and that often results in bolting - where the plants think it's suddenly end of season and they race to flowering before you get any of the growth. It's awful when this happens. A lot of cursing happens.

So, the point is, I might move the greenhouse to conditions that are better - more sun, less moisture. Also, I saw that Home Depot is selling a solar fan that will control internal temps in the greenhouse. I've figured out a watering system that seems to work, so if I can get them in a regulated temperature I might be ok. Then I might be able to control the temp into a gradual hardening off setting - we'll see.

Anyway, it made me start dreaming about greenhouses, and if I could have any kind, what would I like. Check these out!