Midwest Gardenign 2025: Planting, Watering, Recording and Heating a Greenhouse.

 Ad-Free Blog

So, it's Thursday March 27 and mildish outside but still a bit chilly, but perfect working in the greenhouse.

With a forecast of some warmer temps tonight and tomorrow I set the timer for the heater for Dusk to Dawn.  I began by re-arranging more shelves for the starts I will do today.

Besides heat and extra sun, the greenhouse needs water. Hopefully we can turn hoses on soon. Meanwhile, I'm schlepping water in the cart, three 5 gallon containers at a time with my little garden cart. YIKES that was a heavy pull. I do it at the end of the day so the water has time to warm up by the next day.

Before I do more planting, I want to show you how the new plants are doing from weeks ago. You can see a bit of green here, and a newly planted tray also.

The four railing planters with Veggies are doing great. Onions, radishes, lettuce and more radishes.

Here are some of my Dahlias beginning to sprout...YAY!

This tray of Romaine Lettuce that was planted last week, these will have to be transplanted.

I moved these to a top shelf...more Onions, Radishes and Spinach.

This is a top shelf---Dill is in the middle, and the other pots are Caladiums, and more Dahlias that take forever to come up. I'll be watering them tonight.

The Dinosauers are old sandbox toys, they come in handy to hold down the plastic lids when the windows are open.

 

This is a scribble log---I know what it says...all entered for 3/27. I also write on the seed packages, bags, where, when and how much I planted and the date.

My dirty work surface. These are bags of seeds squirreled away from plants last year, and sometimes the year before. I started an entire rectangular tray of Petite Marigolds, Red Zinnias, and Tall Marigolds from new/old, and older seeds.

D

Seeds saved from RED/Dk PINK Zinnia blossoms last year. These I plant heavy because not every seed will be pollinated.

Last of my Popsicle sticks or Tongue depressors. I have two packs of 50 plastic sticks for when I begin transplanting. I use wax pencil or permanent marker to mark my plant trays.

These are Sunflower heads from the nicest sunflowers I had last year, in a clear doll bag...it almost looks like a watercolor. I may have to try that...love the beige and brown tones.

Until all the shelves are filled with plants...it's a bit chaotic. I clear the shelves with the best light first. This lower shelf area will be perfect for Coleus, eventually I can move the excess planters and pots to another storage shed. But, at this point I just don't know what I'm going to need to do all the transplanting that will begin the second week in April.

My soil bin is becoming depleted. This will be filled with some pots in the yard that have dirt with added peat moss and vermiculite. We are trying to not purchase too much packaged dirt. 

We may have a load delivered for the two big planters 4'x8'x2' that will go in the garden, and hopefully with an arched trellis between them.

More containers for planting...the bottom one has Nasturtiums, Cosmos, Zinnas/tall Marigolds. I try to move the lids to the plants first starting.

This long boot tray is perfect for putting large planters on...and is waiting for newly planted containers. I've planted a bunch of everything-mostly flowers today. 

Next week we will start the Squashes, large Sunflowers, and begin transplanting the overgrown plants from the kitchen.

WILL I HAVE ENOUGH ROOM?

That is always the question........

Next WEEK: We'll start on the clean up of the Veggie Garden...so Hubby can rototill here and there. I hope to clear the root crop areas and later get the new raised bed planters assembled, the bottoms covered with cardboard  and all the debris placed inside, too. 

Hubby said the compost pile may be ready for tilling, if we don't get too much rain. 

YAY!

How are Your Plants Starts Growing?

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

Join me at these fine blog parties:

Home Matters

You're the Star

Metamorphosis Monday

Handmade Monday

Craftastic Monday

Really Crafty Linky

Senior Salon Pitstop

Farmhouse Friday

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: Garden Starts, Plants, Planters...wishing for Spring!

Ad-Free Blog

It's trying hard to be Spring in Chicagoland, it was 70 yesterday, but will be below freezing tonight, it's already in the low 40's at 1pm. I hooked up the heater in the greenhouse as I have all my Dahlias, Potato Vines, and miscellaneous summer bulbs started in there. Hopefully since it was sunny today, it will hold. I will put it on high tonight.

I haven't posted much about our home, mostly because it has been full of bags of donations, shipments of 'stuff', and barely put away Christmas, and well---PLANTS, lots of PLANTS.

In the Kitchen...I began the garden starts last week, March 5-10, actually and entire month late. But, that is another story.  

Check out THIS POST it's a great blow by blow of the entire process from the past! YIKES I'm behind this year.

Anyway I had to move plants everywhere ELSE! To the Bedroom with four...

oldnewgreenredo

I have a different piece of furniture here now...but I'm double protecting it...from the water from these plants.....

oldnewgreenredo

And these. Hard to take photos with bright light outside, The hanging spiders have been quite happy in here with an air purifier and a humidifier running full tilt all winter. The only plant not happy is my Rex Begonia..which I think got overwatered...they are touchy but gorgeous.

Back to the Living room and PLANTS!

oldnewgreenredo

The biggest plant was this darn IVY TREE...which I love and hate...each time we transplant it, it becomes HEAVIER. LOL. It's very happy in the living room windows.

I also moved three Mandilla into the living room and  more plants into my bedroom. It's pretty much plant heaven in our house right now. Oh, another one is in the bathroom...very happy there.

oldnewgreenredo

Chaos and Plant Central: The upright box is one of the big garden planters 3'x8'x 2' high (above bunny munching) for the vegetable garden, the other is opened on the floor---a million pieces of metal...that should be lots of fun. 

(Each year from now on we will build or order raised containers for the garden.) We are getting too old to be lifting and bending over so much, and container gardening will be more compact, also less tilling for my hubby. At 78 the tiller basically drags him around. 

Wood will be very pricey with the Canada Trade wars...and tariffs, so we opted early to purchase these metal ones at a steal. They are 50$$ $more now then early February.

oldnewgreenredo

Middle pot: I purchased a lovely lime Philodendron to put in the bottom of the pot with the Dracenas. It will be on the front porch this summer under the eaves, maybe the end of April or May.

oldnewgreenredo

This  LIMEY should look great in that old antique pot with the Dracena spikes.

oldnewgreenredo

The climbing Mandilla on the left is growing so many new shoots, it's going everywhere. I had fertilized everything the end of February and the plants are now kicking into high gear.

Our kitchen is perfect for starting plants, two huge windows facing South and East. Problem was I had so many plants wintering over in the house.

March 5-10 I  planted a bunch of flower and vegetable seeds. When they begin to sprout, the tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and flowers, I will keep you up to date on how everything is doing.

oldnewgreenredo

It takes a lot of room to do starts. Hopefully I can fill the greenhouse with the rest, if the temps would moderate a bit more. It's been pleasant in the 80's in the greenhouse, I actually turned the fan on yesterday.

Later this week, I would love to start Peas, and the lettuce/radish/onion pots for the railings so we can have fresh veggies---as soon as possible in the greenhouse. By April we should be able to put carrots, beets, broccoli, and Kohlrabi into the ground, they are all cool weather plants. 

Since critters ate my zucchini, beans, cantalope, spinach, brocolli, and all my sunflowers last year...I'll be starting those in the greenhouse and move when they are BIG into the gardens. (Another reason for raised planters).

LEFT:  I moved my two rosemary plants into one big ugly pot. It's been okay this winter...and will definitely be happier outside when it is warmer. I'm going to have to replace many pots this next year. 

REDO:  I will garage sale for some.

CENTER: 

The wooden spoons on the covers are holding them down for they were a bit warped. I use big baking trays under some of my starters. I have two layers of plastic covering the surface of my cabinet, which has worked in the past.

oldnewgreenredo

First thing up planted on March 5 was COSMOS. YAY! But this means I'll have to transplant them to bigger containers later. UGH.

The South window has these shelves set up. IF all goes to plan, everything will be in the greenhouse before Easter, so we can eat (10 or so) at the table.

oldnewgreenredo

These are Birthday flowers  (the roses were done)  my from February. I actually love the spicy scent of carnations...so nice to have something blooming now. Of course the roses are drying straight in the hall wall for use some other time.

graphics fairy

I Can't wait for flowers like these!

How are Your 

GARDEN PLANS

Going!?

Thanks always for visiting. 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

I'll be participating at these fun parties.

You're the Star

Vintage Charm

Midwest Blog Hop

Share Your Style

Thursday Favorite Things

Tuesdays with a Twist

Whimsy Home Wednesday

Love Your Creativity

Handmade Monday

Grandma's House Linky

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

Sandi

Midwest Gardening: What's Blooming in Mid October 24

Midwest Gardening: What's Blooming in Mid October 24

Most photos taken the week of October 7th-10th. 

After an extremely wet summer up until September and SUPER HOT,  plants and flowers are actually happiest right now, mid October here in Chicagoland. It's been dry for at least 6 weeks, so watering has been a must.

oldnewgreenredo

I did water these poor Coleus after this photo. 

oldnewgreenredo

My planters under the back eave were magnificent, and are still blooming. White Caladiums (from tubers) and Coleus grown from seed. The Giant Coleus were huge this year, they loved the hot and wet climate we had. 

Impatiens are still prducing some flowers...waiting for frost to end that.

oldnewgreenredo

Over three feet tall, these were gorgeous, no matter where I planted them.

Leaves are already dropping with the dry weather.

oldnewgreenredo

The last pot was the thinnest, but it gets the most sun and wind in this location, probably the reason the plants were smaller.

oldnewgreenredo

I got a second blooming on my 'grown from roots

 Delphinium. This plant will get transplanted next year. This is a fenced area is where I cater to root/tuber starts. 

Rich ground, a fence, and some serious shade actually helps to start new plants/tubers safe from critters.

oldnewgreenredo

Water, water water is all we have done the last month.

oldnewgreenredo

My annuals are still in bloom, Peppermint Zinnias, 4-foot tall Marigolds and lots of other colors of Zinnias. They were ALL really late this year. The Coreopsis are already done, and I have spread their seeds hoping for more next year.

oldnewgreenredo

Zinnia pod, prime for picking for seeds. I select the bigger flowers and let them dry on the stem...then pluck and harvest seeds. 

oldnewgreenredo

Zinnias are wonderful and prolific, also pretty hardy for light frost, perfect for our location.

oldnewgreenredo

This is the second growth of Sage...IT"S VERY HAPPY this year. Lower right is Majoram, which I have to cut back several times in the summer or it will swallow the whole bed.

oldnewgreenredo

Our garden is pretty much finished, but the carrots are super lush and thick. I have 4 varieties, anxious to see what they did. This area gets partial shade during the summer, so we will see.

oldnewgreenredo

Behind the carrots is my ragtag Swiss Chard, hit or miss. 

My broccoli plants  performed ZIP, we had two scant meals. Between being chewed by critters and then attacked by bugs, they were a waste of space. Same for the Brussel Sprouts. I will try a different location next year.

I emptied all the fence and patio pots last week and dispersed the dirt to: the box in the greenhouse, permanent planters, or the compost pile. That's always a big job.  later I will mix in fertilizer and new or composted dirt to freshen the soil.

I had surgery on the 15th, so all this had to be at least under control before then.

oldnewgreenredo

Such a jumble of half dead plantings, time to recycle the dirt. I will have hubby bury 6 pots of peppermint in a plastic bag in the compost pile. Saving me $$$$ in Spring when I restart them in the greenhouse. Leaving them in a bag, stops them from spreading where we don't want them. 

Peppermint is my Bee protection, as I am severely allergic. We keep Peppermint pots by the grill, the dining tables, the entrances to the house. That way they don't interfere with their busy bee pollination missions.

oldnewgreenredo

Here's the back porch with all the potted Coleus and some peppermint, this is total shade here.

Jumping to October 18th, I walked around the backyard and took a few more photos for the next post.

Also have a Fall project....NEXT

DEPARTING LILIES! 

If You enjoyed this post please FOLLOW IT in the upper right hand corner, to get just one email of each AD-Free post.

I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.

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

Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. Please don't use my photos without my permission.

 Sandi Magle

OldNewGreenRedo

 

Midwest Gardening: IN the Kitchen!

  Ad-Free Blog

 

Gardening in my Kitchen

oldnewgreenredo

First, I scrubbed all my trays and containers with a bit of bleach, soap and complete rinses. Normally I do this in Fall outside, but we were still dealing with our basement mess and everything from last season just got thrown into the Greenhouse.

End of February, Hubby gave me seeds and bulbs for my birthday, which is a great idea, so I prepared them for planting. I had bags of 3 kinds of Dahlias, Ixia, and Ranunculus bulbs as well as my Elephant Ears I need to start early. 

oldnewgreenredo

Waste not want not---I used all the filler soil in the bulb bags and put it into my dirt pot, and then added moisture control dirt and mixed it up...this I used for the seed trays. This is perfect for seed starting.

I then started Peppers, Tomatoes, Alyssum, Chrysanthemum and  Coleus. In a few weeks, I will do couple of trays of marigolds. Hopefully by April 1 we will be able to move everything into the greenhouse. 

oldnewgreenredo

I'm not working in the greenhouse, this ends up on the kitchen table as it was too cold and windy to do it on the front porch. Cold temps alternate with lovely days here, but you can't count on a nice day. 

Here I am soaking my summer bulbs in prep for planting. I soaked the Ixia and the Ranunculus for a few hours in warm water. The Dahlias were quite moist so they went directly into the pots.

oldnewgreenredo

Meanwhile, I filled my pots 2/3 full with water-saving potting soil---which is a good combination. I haven't had great luck with seed starting soil, it just isn't worth the extra price and you need to transplant into better soil later---trying to skip that step.

oldnewgreenredo

I placed multiple corms in the pots, they will be easy to pull apart later as they will all be planted in large mixed pots, rather than in the ground.

oldnewgreenredo

Here are my corms after soaking---they really perked up with the water.

oldnewgreenredo

I'l really interested in the IXIA as I haven't planted those before, but spikey plants are always interesting in pots.

oldnewgreenredo

I used some old barbecue table cloths from last year to cover my table and the floor, makes for easy cleanup. I use a canning funnel to cut down on the mess, which works perfect with the 4" pots.

oldnewgreenredo

After the corms were placed I filled up the pots to the top. This will all settle below the rims with the first watering.

oldnewgreenredo

Every dirt company now makes moisture control soil...with our last few dry summers this has been a MUST to use here in the upper Midwest. We also add peat moss to our dirt in the compost pile as well as all our vegetable, eggshells and coffee grounds from the entire winter. This will be churned up soon, and I use that in all my large planting pots for outside as well as 10-20 larger pots for peppers and tomatoes.

oldnewgreenredo

Inside, this is our set-up in the South window of the kitchen. These are old racks I used for art shows over 20 years ago---and I still use the door panels for shelves. We've definitely reused everything I had from my shows or when I had the shop. Many of those shelves are built into the garden sheds for storage.

oldnewgreenredo

My hubby doesn't read my blog and doesn't know I DISLIKE the seed starting pods.You have to first squeeze them all around to loosen the the compacted material before planting. And, then DON'T plant them directly into the garden...because they don't break down the way the directions say they do. In Fall you'll end up with a miserable plant with rotted roots all knotted up in the sack. They do start plants well, but I cut the sacks off and transplant the healthy seedlings into larger soda drive-thru glasses,  especially the peppers and tomatoes which want deep root systems. It really is easier to just start seeds in small pots with soil or in full size trays.

I planted these pods with 2 trays of peppers and also 1 tray of 10 small pots for Heirloom Brandywine Tomatoes seeds. We are cutting back on Tomatoes this year, because my canning shelves are still full. We plan on purchasing 2 cherry tomatoes and 2 early tomatoes plants. 

oldnewgreenredo

The Heirloom Brandy Wine Tomatoes

should produce until frost...so we will have fresh tomatoes for the whole season. 

Purple Alyssum 

Mixed Coleus

oldnewgreenredo

I also started a large tray of Purple Alyssum, Coleus, and red Chrysanthemum plants. My colors will be yellows, reds, oranges, purple and lime green in the front of the house this year! I have two packages of  Nasturtiums (lower right)  which I'll start in their long planters directly in the greenhouse in April as well as lots of Marigold seeds. 

After frost, I'll purchase lime green sweet potato vine plants....to cascade in my pots. Some of the Coleus will be lime/ or white green to use in pots with all the warm colors. 

We also have a huge Hibiscus camping out in the garage, if it lives it is orange/red and an abundance of dark green leaves. 

This is all the plants I have going at the moment. In two-three weeks I'll start some more, mostly flowers. When the greenhouse is going---I'll add packages of sunflowers, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, green onions and lettuces in small pots and planters. Planting in the garden won't happen before the second week in May---maybe later---we never really know??? with the weather calendar being so topsy turvy in the Midwest.

Next project: The MOUSE HOUSE otherwise known as the GREENHOUSE.

DO YOU HAVE BIG PLANS FOR GARDENING?

If you enjoyed this post please follow this blog by blogger or 

FOLLOW IT which you will find in the upper right hand corner of this page. 

Thanks always for visiting. 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

I will be sharing at these fine Parties!

Metamorphosis Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Vintage Charm

Happy Hearts and Home

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