Planting Week in the Greenhouse

Temps haven’t warmed quite as much as predicted. We struggled to get out of the 30s yesterday, but I went out to the greenhouse anyway and planted seven flats of tomatoes. The propane heater is hooked up, the tank is full, and the husband brought in a diesel heater as a backup. The propane heater has the unfortunate tendency to turn itself off in the middle of the night. We learned that lesson the hard way a few years ago. The diesel heater is on a thermostat and will kick on if the temperature drops.

For planting, I use molded trays that hold eighteen 3-1/2" pots. It works best to plant two tomato seeds per pot, then transplant to one per pot after they get their true leaves. If most of the seeds germinate, I should have approximately 250 tomato plants. Some will be for us and some for the sale.

I planted:

Oregon Star Paste
Russian Purple Paste
Aunt Ruby’s Green
Weisnicht’s Ukrainian
Indian Stripe
Cherokee Purple
Abe Lincoln
Dirty Girl
Blue Boar Berry
Dave’s Atomic Grape
Indigo Rose

Other gardeners have also signed up to grow some of these varieties, too, but it never hurts to have backups. All of the pots get individual labels. I never trust myself to know what is planted where. Surprises are fine in my garden, but not when we’re selling plants.

Today, I’ll plant the cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. I’m going to start the peppers on the lettuce growing system downstairs where I think they will have a better chance of germinating. We’re swimming in lettuce right now, but some of the plants will only give one more cutting before they are spent. At that point, lettuce production will move to the greenhouse and eventually the garden.

The greenhouse is a lovely place to spend a quiet afternoon. I also went out to inspect fence damage:

I was standing in the pig pasture when I took this picture. The fence is bent (hard to see), but that is easily repaired.

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Still no sewing. When I do sit down, I’ve been working on a prayer shawl and also knocking out some knitted cotton dishcloths. Those can always find homes. Once everything is established in the greenhouse and the garden has been cleaned up, I should have time to sew again.

Taxes are done and filed. We’re getting a refund, but I always have that applied to the current year.

And what a disaster!—the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore. That was the first thing I saw when I got on the computer this morning. I worked in Baltimore for a couple of years before we moved to Montana, although not in that specific area.