Greenhouse Days...

April 10, 2009 - The growing season officially began at Hardeman Orchards just a few weeks ago. Once the new plastic was on the greenhouse, John got busy seeding. Here are the beginnings of many happy vegetables that hopefully many people will come purchase from the farmstand!
After filling the seed trays and planting the seeds in the greenhouse, he places the trays in his germinating chamber inside. There are lamps and heat mats to keep everybody warm and toasty until they're ready to wake up. Some things germinate very quickly while others can take several days or even weeks. Once they've germinated, it's back out to the greenhouse, which is kept at 50 degrees at night and is generally quite toasty during the day.

With my work schedule, I haven't actually been able to spend a huge amount of time in the greenhouse yet. But I have had a few hours each weekend to spend helping out. The first project I participated in was potting up some flower plugs John had purchased. They come looking like this -

All tiny, cute, and happy. Then we pot them up into something bigger where they can have a long and happy summer. These geranium hanging baskets are going to be beautiful once they've filled in and begun to bloom -

Last weekend I spent a few hours seeding cabbage, collard greens, and lots of tiny little flower seeds. Hopefully sometime this weekend I'll get to go over and see if they've all come up!