The Greenhouse

Feb 24, 2009 by pearsonsprogress    6 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Gardening, Grocery Challenge

Here’s the progress on my plants in the greenhouse. Mind you, I’m only interested at this time in growing vegetables. This my attempt to squeeze every penny (euro cent) to death! My goal is to grow 100% of the lettuce we eat (we’d like to eat 2 salads a day) and hopefully the rest of the vegetables too…though I have not been able to see how I can do that yet.

Let me explain to you my “program”. Remember you can see a larger version of the photo by clicking on it.

This is a photo of the outside of the little greenhouse. You can see some of my plants though the plastic.

Here’s another view as I’m standing in the doorway. The 2 big pots are potatoes. The others have already been placed in the garden outside as the weather has warmed.

You can see the lettuce growing and the other containers are: lettuce, mint, oregano, par-cel, basil, mixed greens, dill, eggplant, tomatoes, cilantro, tomatillo, green beans, crookneck squash, chives, & arugula. Thanks to Mary, Jesseka and Rebekah for the seeds!

Here is the other side, on the top row, I have lettuce at various stages. My hope is that I can harvest enough each day to never run out. I’ve also planted some in my garden, with high hopes of a good production. I have scallions, cherry tomatoes, micro-greens, potatoes in various stages, cilantro and parsley.

I have cilantro in the garden plus 3 pots growing as above and 3 more trays waiting to germinate. Cilantro is not that common here and I can find it only at one store, plus, it’s expensive. Thanks again to my MOM for sending me the seeds!

Here is a close-up of some lettuce. It’s very tender and I just pick off what I need for the meal.

By the by, all the ‘trays’ you see, are what meat and vegetables come in here. I simply wash them out, add potting soil and plant. It also keeps my greenhouse more organized.

Each tray is labeled with a popsicle stick that I bought at a craft store in Chicago. I bought large ones and small ones. This is a very  cheap solution to keeping track of what I’m planting. For only a few $ I have enough to last for years and years.

I hope the next photos I post will be of lush plants in very pot! So far, the lettuce, dill, oregano, cilantro, some scallions, micro-greens and arugula are “up”. I water once a day… spend 10 mins. enjoying the new growth and it gets me out of the house and office and I’m having a good time. Growing vegetables gives me hope.