Midwest Gardening 2025: Prepping and Planting in the Greenhouse

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Well, we have a few temps moderating...today is a balmy 70 ish....nights are still quite low, and the heater goes all night long in the Greenhouse. Our average frost date here is listed as MAY 7 which is a long ways away.

My goal for April is to get everything out of the kitchen and into the greenhouse by April 11th, so I can get my house in order for Easter.

This week I Prepped a bunch of containers for planting after I watered and cleaned out the greenhouse to make more room for more starts.

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We bought quite a few on sale LARGE POTS 

last Fall at the end of the season.

This is a 20" double walled pot 

that we needed for PEAS. 

My Peas and trellises blew over several times last year...so I will have to dolly this monster out of the greenhouse later. 

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Here's my hand to give you scale, and that's a 7" wide pot upside down to eat up some of the space in this huge pot. 

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I stuffed a bunch of old stems, wood and dried garden waste in the bottom and then

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Stuffed dried leaves into it also.

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Two 8" pots full of dried leaves. These were tamped down, and then two more pots of leaves.

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Then a thick layer of a heavy potting soil. 

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Then alternating layers of my bin potting soil with peatmoss and vermiculite. This is getting down to the bottom, but the compost pile is still frozen. I have a few pots around the yard I can add to the bin and then modify the soil.

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The layers were stirred around...mixing the damp hard soil with the loose starting soil from my bin.

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I then stuck in my 6' bamboo sticks in and wire tied them at the top. When the PEA Sprouts begin to come up I'll add some fabric trellis around. This will be kept in the greenhouse until it has 3' tall plants.

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Another 14" sale pot was started with two Canna bulbs. I will split these later. Hopefully it is warm enough on the floor in the greenhouse to get them started.

UPSIDE some of my Dahlias in small pots are up about 2-3"---YAY!

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I had to move lots around in the greenhouse to make room for these big planters on the floor and some on the shelves.  All will be started with flowers/vegetables/herb seeds and watered. I have a paper record and sticks to put in for Identification.

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This one I will use by the fisher kids pond...Nasturtiums, Allyssum, some Cosmos and a few Peppermint Zinnas. Some are old seeds, so I plant those heavy.

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I planted 4 of this size railing planters with veggies a few weeks ago, but now we will be starting with flowers.

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I made a second 16" pot for Peas with bamboo. Then I had to rearrange the greenhouse some more.

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Tomorrow I will plant Evening Sun sunflowers in these pots, and some more

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This sad little railing pot will be to be transplanted with  coleus eventually and maybe some bought Impatiens. I think I will move it off the desk to outside--the rim is cracking off from the UV rays and the heat we have been having the last few years. These railing planters I've been using for up to 10 years, so as they die, we replace them. This will be the last year for this one and it will be designated for shady. plants. That's it for Wednesday. I'm all out of water, so planting will have to begin tomorrow. 

What are you Prepping for Planting

 in your neck of the Woods?

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

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Sandi 

Midwest Gardening 2025---Projects and Late March Spring

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You know I crabbed about critters and bunnies last year, and last Fall I dug out our well plot of the 30+ year old Day Lilies...sifting the dirt and getting MOST of the roots out. We splurged and planted purchased Tulips, some transplanted Daffodils and lots Iris I got from a friend. Then the plot was covered with leaves, and we laid heavy plastic fencing over the whole thing and rocks everywhere to keep the edges down. 

Lo and Behold, there was a softball size hole in the fence last week, so that is why we built walls to try again.

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Besides the hole, I very quickly saw the mesh of the fencing wasn't big enough for the sprouts coming up. So, I pulled it all up, replaced more leaves on my bulbs' growth and fenced the whole area in. We don't through anything away, so some fenceposts were new or used, and some really old. The blocks are holding the edge of the fencing down, and so far no critters have bridged my little plot of Spring bulbs.

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The big black pot is currently covering our well, the saucer is balanced against a trellis for the Clematis. Here and there you can see the Tulips and Daffys unfurling. I heaped more leaves in here afte the photo as our night temps are still below freezing.

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Honestly I can't wait....winter has been dreary here. 

TIP: I leave all the flower beds covered in leaves and old blooming stalks until it is warm enough to support the bees and helpful insects that are so necessary for polinations. I do clean up stairs, concrete, walkways and anywhere else that just leaves congregate in winter.

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This is the extra stuff stored in the greenhouse I just had to pitch out for the moment.

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I was so ill last Fall, the last of the garden pickup didn't get done, and Hubby was also dealing his friends illness, death, and then estate. 

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 Literally the weed cloth is still down, and you can see the veggie garden really needs a clean up!

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Moving around the yard...we had a DRY winter, very little snow--but we did have a lot of rain late last Fall. 

Everything is dry right now, we need rain.

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How about the precision drilling on this branch...these holes are all @ 1" apart. Made me smile! The birds hard at work. This is the reason we have cement panel siding on the house...lots of Woodpeckers...LOL.

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This is a LIME Heuchera or Coral Bells trying to come up in a patch of sun in our shady back yard. I covered it deeply with extra leaves after grabbing this shot.

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I call this my squirrel feeder, supposedly a bird feeder four feet off the ground, LOL! Let's call it a dog, raccoon, possum feeder. Grins.

I'm going to put a vine plant in here, a good excuse to buy a different new plant.

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The birdhouses along the fence are favorites of our little sparrows...and occasionally nuthatches.

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I have so many Iris and new perennials planted here last year, I do hope everything made it. 

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This was our crazy bush sunflowers that grew 10 feet high...I left the branches in the lax cleanup---and they have been filled with birds picking at the seeds all winter.

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I'll pay for not getting this wreathe area cleaned up---that wreath had sweet peas on it. Planted some 40 years ago from a package of seeds. They are all pale pink now---but I bought another mixed colors package to start some near the veggie garden for pollinators.

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The pond is always so sad this time of year. The fisher kids are all dark and cruddy, when the sun hits them they will brighten up. Everything needs new stain and paint this year. A whole year's worth of projects for sure.

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My only actual SPRING blooms, a couple of crocus-peeking up-so dry-and skinny.

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I couldn't stand the lack of color so I jammed a 90% off tulip bush from Michaels in a pot.. along with some fake grass plants I've had for ages. 

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Our Barberry Bush on the left seems to be the only severe winter damage. This is the south side of the house and under an eave. We water heavily during the green months, but clearly it isn't happy. I will trim is out and see if it survives. It's sister looks great they were planted at the same time. Iris and Daffodils are coming up here.

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In the same bed, My Giant Sedum. I call them bushes as they get huge. Amazing how they start like teesny rosebuds.

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This is where I have tried to clean up in years past and bees flew out of the debris...so now I leave it messy and alone. (Besides I'm deathly allergic to bee stings)

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Another OLDNEWGREENREDO project??? This won't fit in the rock bed because the legs bow out front and back...DARN. It will land on the front porch. Everyone needs a six foot long planting bench? Maybe.

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Out on our Mound (now a flat mound) by the street, lots of Daffys and Tulips should come up.  Our Evergreen bushes don't look very happy, they need water. We can't water yet as our exterior faucets may still freeze and hoses burst if water freezes in them.

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Up by the porch I plopped another fauxTulip bush and some faux Grass, it really does help a bit.

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PS our gray carpet on the porch pavement is fading to pink from gray. Oh Dear, in one year, pinkish really doesn't go with a yellow, brown red house? 

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We need rain......and the kids need new poles again...they blow away 

to WHERE?

Happy March Chicagoland Spring! 

What's BLOOMING in 

YOUR NECK

of the WOODS??

Thanks always for visiting, I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

 

Midwest Gardening: No Bunnies in MY Kitchen

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No Bunnies in MY Kitchen?

Garden starts in the kitchen are progressing, everything is coming up green and Bunny Free.

BARELY UP TWO WEEKS AGO.

I WAS PATIENTLY WAITING...

NOW.....

Quick video tour of our kitchen garden THIS WEEK after planting veggies and flowers, three weeks ago.

I could update the sprouting plants everyday, they are growing so quickly. The plants I missed naming while taking the video were Nasturtiums, Holly Hocks, Bell Flowers, Basil, Dill and probably a couple of others. 

TIP: Note to self....seal popsicle sticks before using as ID tags. Like a good REDO'r I was using what I had at the time. I did find some new plastic sticks that I purchased end of season last year. I will have to replace a few of my popsicle sticks. 

Tomorrow's Next Post! 

After taking this video--I ventured to the greenhouse to do some cleanup and setting up pots for more planting tomorrow. I did get my Peas in the Pot set up, tomorrow to be two pots--PEAS are soaking along with more Nasturtiums. 

TIP: Soaking hard seeds helps with germination. Nasturtiums even have to be filed with a nail file to break through their hulls.

How are your 

Spring Gardens,

Plantings, or Plans Going?

Thanks always for visiting, I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

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Whimsy Home Edition

Share Your Style

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi