January 16, 2021 – My dream has come to fruition

 

         My email box has been inundated with “Follow your dream. What is your dream? Put your dream into action,” comments from writing blogs and coaches.

 

         Well, I constructed my lifelong dream last fall – I erected a pair of 6 x 8 foot greenhouses.  My entire gardening life I have wanted a greenhouse and I have drooled over them in every gardening magazine I have read for the last 40+ years. 

        

         My dream is now a reality – Oh, I just have to pinch myself every once in a while to believe it.

 

         Right now, I have a nice trough of spinach growing, as they are unheated greenhouses [pictured above]. I will be moving some potted bulbs that I am forcing out to the greenhouses in early February as things warm up. 

 

         Meanwhile, I am still hopeful that the two pots of gladiolas I planted last fall will eventually give me blossoms when the days start to lengthen.  Their leaves still look nice and healthy even though they are withstanding the  coldness of an unheated greenhouse.  But, that is what this dream is all about – experimentation – fun – challenges - surprises!

 

         So, I am living my dream, it has come to fruition, it is real and yesterday I finished ordering all the special seeds I am going to grow in my greenhouse to get a jump on spring.

 

         I ordered seed for Box Car Willie tomatoes only because I loved the name and the description sounded splendid.  I’ve ordered seedling trays and humidity domes and in the trunk of my car I have two forty-pound bags of professional seed starting mix.  I am going bigtime as they say.

 

         In December, when the seed catalogs came in, I took my pen and marked everything I wanted to grow and then I set them aside.  It is like a fabulous buffet when you load up your plate and then can’t eat half of it.  I know that is what would have happened if I actually ordered everything I marked back in December.

 

         First, I would have gone broke and second, I would have needed twenty green houses to accomplish that wish list. Attempting too much would have only been a failure.  I must use restraint. I must use good sense. I am sure I will have extra of everything I grow for lucky friends or neighbors. 

 

         So, I made a list of what I was actually going to eat out of a vegetable garden this year and I weeded my wish list down to the basics with a couple of premium items.

 

         I’ve ordered Shallot bulbs for spring planting, and pelleted celeriac seed, a couple of things I have tried before, and intend on mastering their growing this year. 

 

         Then for the exotic, I’ve ordered Big Kahuna Blue Ring Ginger roots and Petit Gris De Rennes Melon seed – a cantaloupe grown predominately in France.

 

         Both of my exotics will start out in the greenhouse to get an early jump on the season.  Hopefully, I can construct some sort of netting or caging to keep the raccoons from poking their claws into the melons or the deer from munching the melons as I have experienced in the past.

 

         And, then the ginger roots will continue to grow into the fall in the greenhouse.  They will be in giant pots that I can move.

 

         Instead of buying flats of annuals this year, I will be growing my own transplants.  I will be trying easy ones – cosmos, marigolds, zinnia, and nasturtiums to name a few.  I decided to go with easy ones so that I could devote a bit more attention to a few specialty flowers from seed.

 

         The specialty flowers are red geranium and dragon wing begonia from seed.  I found the seed available, let me just try them and see where we get.

 

         Then, I have rounded out the field of flowers with a couple of perennials from seed not certain how difficult they will be, but Chinese foxglove, Ruby port Columbine, and Sunrise coreopsis were ordered.

 

         Lastly, this year will be the year of the decorative grasses.  Black tail wheat, Silver wheat, Bunny tail grass and Feather top grass – all for cutting and drying for arrangements and or making wheat-weaving decorations.

         In the next several weeks, you will hear more about my greenhouse experimentation and growing.         

 

         Circle back to visit me and see what is growing.

 

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Seeds are to gardeners what

words are to writers.

They hold within an entire story

waiting to unfold.

 

- LeAura Alderson

 

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