My newly made sign!

Here is the sign I had made! I dreamed it up and the sign shop made it even better! I plan to put it on a sandwich board--both sides, and also add some smaller signs below that tells what flowers I am selling.


I am also working on a flyer that "advertises" what flowers I grow that. My loving husband is spearheading that. Need to get that done pronto!

Cloudy and Cool

I can't believe how fast the petunias are growing!
























































Here is an example of the purpling on the leaves I was talking about in an earlier post. This was most likely caused by too cool of temperature...
But thankfully my heater is working again pumping out nice warm temperatures!




The hardest thing about this stage in the greenhouse is just waiting. Sometimes the best thing you can do for the plants is to do nothing. It's tempting to water them but they just don't need it everyday since the weather has been cloudy and cool. So I just go in and look, and just wait until it's the day to fertilize. Just keep my hands off. :) Patience















Parsley Krausa-I think these little starts are extra cute.














Some baskets I made. Experimenting to see what is the best amount of flowers to plant in each one. I made a basket last year of rose and purple wave petunias and it turned out gorgeous. I make up some different combinations to try this year too.

















I drilled 4 holes in the side of this and planted flowers in each hole. I used this basket last year for my wave petunias and I really liked how it turned out. Not sure if it's necessary to cut the holes out or not really but since it turned out nice last year, I will do it again. This basket has different colors of petunias and white bacopa.































This above is my grandpa's experiment. Upside down growing tomatoes. He saw this in a catalog and had to try it out. I planted 2 tomato plants in this bag. We have 4 other bags we need to plant too. We are working on making a special stand for one of them...another experiment :) Talking to the people at the hardware store here in town, and they said a couple people they've talked to have said they would never grow tomatoes another way after trying this.

(I am not sure why this looks all messed up after I post it because it looks great before I post it. If anyone has any advice, please help!)

List of Flowers/Herbs/Veggies I"m growing

Nothing much new going on in the greenhouse the last few days. We are continuing to transplant. Getting closer to being done with the transplanting. We have a few trays of herbs that I started later on so we are waiting for those to grow a little more.

My heater wasn't pumping out heat, only cold air so I am in the process of getting that fixed. I guess the gas valve needed to replace. We should be getting that part today so hopefully we'll be able to replace it ourselves.

All the flowers are looking pretty good. Just waiting for the weather to warm up so they will start growing faster! Some of the petunias have a little purpling on a few of their leaves. I am learning that that means they are lacking some phosphorus, or they are getting a little too cold at night. (One reason the heater is getting fixed!). Thankfully it hasn't been really really cold lately.
It was recommended that I use the 20-10-20 fertilizer continually for the next week or two instead of alternating weekly with the 17-0-17 since 17-0-17 has no phosphorus in it. That should help to reduce the purpling on the petunias if that is the problem.

The only other letdown is that my impatiens aren't doing that great. Looks like they got some cold damage. I guess they are a very picky plant to grow. I didn't realize that they really don't like the temperature to get below 55 at night. They are still alive and growing but the person who is teaching me says that they won't really turn out that great later on. So I may just dump them. I don't want to sell anything that doesn't look great.
(Sorry Renee. I know you were really hoping for some impatiens!)

No pictures this post but I figured I better write since it's been awhile.

I also promised I would list what flowers I am growing so here we go:

Flowers:

Petunias-



Wave Rose (spreading)





Wave Blue (spreading)






Tidal Wave Silver (spreading)






Shock Wave Purple (spreading)






Fantasy Crystal Salmon (compact, upright)






Celebrity Red (compact, upright)






Voyager Coral Morn (more upright)





Verbena-

Tuscany Scarlet





Romance Mix (reds/whites/pinks)





Serenity Mix (pinks/lavenders/whites)







Bacopa Snowtopia- (trailing habit with small white flowers)




Snapdragons-



Sonnet Mix (tall)





Bells Mix (dwarf)






Salvia-




Vista Red (bright red)



Marble Arch Mix (pink/purple/white)








Fairy Queen (purple)







Lobelia - Mix of colors




Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan) -



Rudbeckia Toto Rustic (yellow/brown/black flower)







Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy (Red/Black flower)







Alyssum - white






Echinacea Bravado (pink flower)




Herbs-

Basil
Dill
Chives



Marjoram





Greek Oregano






Thyme






Cilantro






Parsley Krausa






Spearmint




Vegetable Starts-

Tomatoes



Pepper Karma Hybrid






Pepper Gusto






Sweet Slice Hybrid Cucumber




Yellow Squash
Romaine Lettuce
Spinach


I will continue to figure out how to get pictures of these flowers onto this blog. I only know how to do it from pictures I take myself, not from the internet. I will learn!

later
I did learn! Thanks to my brother, you all now have pictures! A few without will still have pictures to come.
(Note: Not sure why the pictures are not in line...they are before I post them.)

My husband hard at work!

Many of the flower starts are ready the transplant. The work begins...although fun work! My husband gets the pots all filled with soil first and gets a stock pile going.


Here he is transplanting petunias. I am growing several kinds and colors so we have to make sure to label them well because they all look alike!



It is easiest to wait until the plugs are full of roots, because then they easily slip out of their squares. Otherwise they are very delicate and it takes longer because you are trying not to break roots, etc.


He transplanted 720 plugs this morning! We look back at the heating beds and it seems like we didn't even make a dent! There will be many more plants to come! Hope we have enough room in the greenhouse. I figured out ahead of time how many flowers I could fit, but then I planted one more plug tray here, one more there, plus some additional veges. We will have to get creative!



Here is the Dramm watering head and wand I was telling you about in the earlier post. See how I turn it upside down....waters a lot more delicate but you still get a great amount of water. It will allow me to water everything so much faster this year. What I used last year just didn't cut it.


Sometime I should write all the different kinds of flowers I am growing so you all know. Hopefully on the next post I will do that.