Showing posts with label patio block floor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patio block floor. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Midwest Gardening: Late Start in the Greenhouse Part 1

 The weather has been hideous this Spring.  Today is the first sunshine and above 40 degrees we have had in ages(April 5) Long range forecasts show us frost free after Sunday.

DRUMROLL PLEASE! 

We will finally move all the plant starts into the greenhouse on Sunday April7. Only about three weeks late!

NOT: It was beastly Sunday with rain, cold and wind!!!!

Anyway these Photos are from March 30th. It was crappy all week though and everything looks the same today as when I wrote this post, April 5.


In desperation, I planted a faux bush in a pot for Easter just for COLOR!


The pond is very sheltered and that's the only place where the Daffodils were/are actually in full bloom.


In the back yard we are still going through all the stuff from the greenhouse and working it back in.


Several storms and wind damage are apparent everywhere. 


The garden itself has pretty much cleared of all the weeds, tiny bits of moss are growing. I love that the frost pushes up missed pegs. When I do clean all the flower beds all the leaves and refuse will be great mulch for the garden when it's tilled.


The Greenhouse on April 2. I had started to move back in...not even sun and the temp was now over 60. Hubby dragged in all the planters from around the yard and we lined the floors with them for the dirt to warm up. 
I'll be planting those on Sunday April 8-9.

The block floor is still settling and we swept the excess sand around to fill in between the patio blocks. Once water is sprayed in there...it will settle more. We will hook up the hose to the sink this week and bring out the heater.


I can't wait to have radishes/lettuce/onions. I may try a planter with beets also. I'm also starting Sugarpod peas in some round pots with bamboo trellis towers. Last year I got one pea pod from 3 packages---seems the bunnies ate everything despite our fences. I might try some spinach in a container also, all that was eaten also.

We eat a pound of fresh spinach a week. Actually growing spinach will be a savings and super fresh and delicious!

All the containers aren't where they will stay, but we have to clean up the yard. I think I have a plan.



Hubby did a great job finishing off the plastic wall panels (waterproof) over the insulation. This should keep critters out and really keep the greenhouse warmer in cold weather. 
We have a storm/screen door on the front (south side) and a huge fan and 5 windows to adjust the heat build-up. The fan can suck up the dirt off the floor to the ceiling and it sounds like a jet on high. Upside the low setting is perfect for making our plants stronger, it seems they love a little 'wind' during their growth.

Hoping to have some more shelves under here for planting. We usually have a large container of dirt in this area, a mixture of compost and bagged moisture control potting soil. This area is on the north side so the sun streams in here and hits this area early in the season. Perfect spot for pots and planters.


I recycled an entire garbage can of containers, trays, and pots, weeding through all of them and only keeping enough to put in the black trays. These containers are all ready for transplanting or starting our cucumber, squash, pumpkins, zucchini in two weeks. The greenhouse will be stuffed for  then. I will be transplanting the tomatoes into my McDonald's plastic glasses. One thing, they are stronger than anything the greenhouses give you for pots and taller---allowing roots to be strong and longer. 

The great watering can collection...I found three more today to add...I will have to find another place for  all these. This will be a good place for some of my large pots to start.

More when I can actually work in the greenhouse!

What Plans do you Have for Your Garden?

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

I will be sharing at these fine Parties!



The photos in  this blog are my own or I have permission to using them from family. Any others will be attributed to source if possible.
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









Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Midwest Gardening 2024: Mousehouse back to Greenhouse

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Our Mousehouse back to Greenhouse!

oldnewgreenredo

Last year we had some real issues with mice and worse than that---the ticks that bred on them.  But with our disaster, the greenhouse barely got any attention. We threw in some annihilation bombs for the ticks and set traps, etc. for the mice. Mice can wiggle their way into anything. We thought we had it sealed up tight.

NOT!

We had a lovely day last Sunday in the 70's, so I dashed out to the greenhouse and began ripping everything out on the North and West sides...YUGH!
I had on a mask, eye gear, gloves, long sleeves, and my pants tucked into socks, just in case, and a long BBQ tongs and a long fork to fish out all the insulation and anything 'mousey' that I might come across.

I filled three huge contractor bags of insulation and refuse: cracked containers/pans/starter bins. 


oldnewgreenredo

Here is where they were coming in---on the eastside, apparently a bit of wash-out outside made it open underneath and they dug under the 10" beams on that side. The fluffy fiberglass insulation was full of icky..yep, really disgusting. How can mice live snuggled in fiberglass. Amazingly the North wall, to the left, was done in some left over foam insulation originally...this hadn't been touched and that wall was intact, apparently MOUSE PROOF????

We had origninally attempted to use left over fiberglass insulation from the the garage to save money,---MISTAKE! 

oldnewgreenredo

After stripping this wall of everything I sprayed the whole thing with a solution of bleach and soap! 
Hubby just picked up three-4'x8' huge pink 2" thick insulation foam sheets. $$$$$ it's $25 more a sheet than before the pandemic. YIKES. And, also some rubbery waterproof surface facing panels to cover it.

oldnewgreenredo

The next warm day I will do this side! We will add some more gravely stuff to the floor and then complete the floor with patio blocks fit tightly together.  This should help eliminate the mice, ticks and anything else that wants to climb in and camp out.

oldnewgreenredo

Emptying an 8x10 greenhouse...
Not a big deal you say----well THIS is what was on those two sides of the greenhouse---I will be drastically culling, recycling, and then scrubbing anything that goes back in. Right now everything is sprayed with cleaner with bleach. We got 1.5" of rain last night so that will help clean everything, also. Sunlight will to---and it will all be out in the yard this month as we morph the 
Mousehouse back into a greenhouse!

Hubby already started yesterday...he did get this far.

oldnewgreenredo

The foam board is attached, glued and screwed, the plan is to trim it all in one swipe, when I help and hold a board as guide.

oldnewgreenredo

Hubby went right over the existing north wall in order to make the corners sealed and the walls even. Once the white wall sheeting is on it will be trimmed out, also closing off more ways for mice to camp in.

oldnewgreenredo

We removed the shelving braces on the eastside to work on the walls and floor, but they will easily be replaced once the new floor is in. Patio blocks will also provide seasonal warmth and still allow for natural drainage, since I do spray when watering our big trays of plants.

oldnewgreenredo

More stuff to go through. The large planters all get used, though we have given many away in the last few years. I think we have 8-10 watering cans. I will line them all up when I'm sorting, LOL.

oldnewgreenredo

I'm going to make room for garden tools also this time around.

 Luckily we have a month, before I will be moving plants to the greenhouse, maybe by Easter if everything goes to plan! 

oldnewgreenredo

I'm looking forward to enjoying working in there again. 
Eventually it should look like this again, some older photos of the greenhouse at it's prime!

oldnewgreenredo=
Full of plants, and organized and not cluttered. 

oldnewgreenredo

We have Water Hose hookup at the sink- which drains to the garden.

oldnewgreenredo

The greenhouse has 5 windows and a screen/storm door which give great air circulation and an overhead fan that exhausts the ceiling when it's too hot.

oldnewgreenredo

Here's hoping for a few healthy tomato plants just like this in a month or so. Tomato planting really needs to wait until the last half of May at the earliest here in Chicagoland.
I can't wait!!!!!!

HOW'S YOUR 
GARDEN 
PREP and Planning GOING? 

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

I will be sharing at these fine Parties!
The photos in  this blog are my own or I have permission to using them from family. Any others will be attributed to source if possible.
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