Last year, I bought a 4-shelf stand with a zippered plastic cover: a small greenhouse to use once my seedlings become plants. This year, I had to buy another one because I have so many plants that I now need two of them.
I'll be leaving for 10 days later this week so I really had to hustle to get all of my plants in order so, I now have a greenhouse in our hot tub room that contains seedlings that need lots of light and still need to be kept warm. Outside (out of the wind where it will get the morning sun) is another greenhouse filled with the ones that I'm now classifying as plants. Despite the mild weather, I think I'm still quite a while from putting things in the ground so I'll need to nurse them along. The way the sunflowers are growing, though, they may need to go into the ground with some kind of sheeting or other protection at night. Not sure the greenhouse will hold them for two more months!
The current count (indoor greenhouse holding seedlings):
40 poppies
8 snapdragons
8 hollyhocks
8 ponytail grass
8 pumpkin-on-a-stick
16 flowering tobacco
2 stevia
9 zinnia
2 peppers
32 marigolds
Outdoor greenhouse holding those that are now classified as plants:
17 sunflowers
2 ground cherries (gooseberries)
2 yellow pear tomatoes
3 cherry tomatoes
2 heirloom tomatoes
1 Big Boy tomato
5 lupine
1 cilantro (brought back from Florida)
1 Salsa tomato (brought back from Florida)
That's a total of 167 plants and I have 15 ordered from the Master Gardener plant sale that will take place in May, plus 6 ordered from Gurney and another 19 ordered from Springhill. I bought a whole bunch of plants at our Master Gardener sale last year (from other Master Gardener's instead of a nursery) and I'm guessing that I will again this year. Additionally, I brought back violas and ferns from up north last year and they're doing well so I'll probably want to get a few more of those. All told then, I'll probably plant between 200 and 300 plants this year (and my myriad of containers).
My gardens are becoming more lush and beautiful every year. I've really felt the downside this past week, though, as I've cleared out the debris, leaves, sticks, etc from last Fall. We've re-mulched the front garden and some of the back, but there is a lot more mulch that needs to be put into the back gardens. Lots of work! Glad that I'm no longer working full-time and can devote long hours every day to getting everything ready.
