Drip System – A drip watering system usually sets down in the pot or soil and has a slow, steady drip that keeps plants moist without over watering the soil. Drip systems are usually made from hoses or bottles with tiny holes. The holes in hoses cause a high surface ratio and only allow small amounts of water through. If you don’t have the means to buy a drip system, you can always make one out of a gallon jug or a 2-liter bottle. By cutting a few holes in the cap of the bottle and a few around the sides of the bottom, you can make your own drip system that will keep your plants well watered even if you forget about them from time to time.

Misting System – These systems are good to use for plants that only need a small amount of water, such as cacti because their root systems make the most of any water applied. In addition, these can help to cool your greenhouse and add humidity in dry climates.

Running Water – Running water systems are probably the easiest to fabricate and can be made using PVC pipe, just like any other irrigation system. A great idea for the running water systems is to use barrels to collect rainwater. This is a great way to water your plants by conserving water and cutting down on the costs of upkeep. When designing your running water system with rain barrels, be sure to put in a good working valve so that you can retain all of the water you catch from the rain.

Greenhouse watering systems can be as unique as the gardener who is using them. There are many different types and uses and can either be pre-made or designed yourself. It is best to keep the plants together which have the same basic watering needs, just to make it easier to adequately water each plant. If all else fails, consult your local gardening expert to help determine which type of watering system is right for you and you might be surprised to find they could already have a system drawn out that fits your eco-friendly watering system needs.

While the controlled environment in the greenhouse is favorable for many reasons, nutrient depletion is a definite drawback. To help keep your greenhouse plants green and healthy, fertilizers and food additives are essential.

Fertilizers and Foods for Greenhouse Plants

Plants require essential elements for proper growth. These elements are boron, carbon, calcium, chlorine, copper, hydrogen, iron, oxygen, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, sulfur, and zinc. Plants extract carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from the air, and the remaining nutrients are obtained from water and soil. A depletion in any of these essential elements can inhibit plant growth.
Fertilizers and plant foods supplement these essential elements and allow the plants to thrive under optimal growing conditions. Some common supplements are peat moss, compost, and water-based fertilizers.

Serious greenhouse gardeners are known to fertilize varieties of plants according to professional recommendations. Certain greenhouse plants often suffer from common element deficiencies. For example, geraniums cannot tolerate high soluble salts. This calls for a water-soluble fertilizer containing calcium and magnesium, often referred to as a geranium special.

Most greenhouse gardeners keep a reference book on hand or consult their favorite greenhouse gardening website for specific recommendations on fertilizers and plant foods. This plant-by-plant look up method ensures proper feeding of plants by pinpointing common problems and solutions.

Some greenhouse gardeners choose to select only organic fertilizers. The backyard compost pile is the most common source of plant food for organic greenhouse gardeners. Other sources include powdered milk, coffee grounds, powdered lime, and aged manure.

If you are interested in learning about the specifics involved in selecting the best fertilizers and foods for your greenhouse plants, your local library holds a wealth of fertilizer knowledge. The specific may become complicated at times making you wish you had a degree in chemistry to better understand the complex processes. Overall, understanding the basic of fertilization in the greenhouse is well within the grasp of the everyday greenhouse gardener.

• Don’t transplant seedlings until they have 4-5 full leaves. This ensures that your delicate seedlings are big enough to survive outside of the greenhouse.

• Some crops need to be transplanted while the weather is still cooler. You should wait until the risk of frost has passed, but these crops prefer cooler temps and may wilt if transplanted during warmer temperatures. Some cool weather crops are lettuce, spinach, carrots, and beets.

• Leave the root ball intact when transplanting seedlings. Dig a tapered hole similar in size to the plant’s previous container and water the cavity well prior to planting.

• Tomato plants can be burried deeply in the soil during transplantation. Up to 2/3 of the current plant height can be buried beneath the soil to ensure a strong root base and a healthy plant.

• Use the bottom portion of the soil from the old container as fill in the new transplant area (without disturbing the root ball). Water this soil well before placing the seedling in the earth to provide an immediate water source for the delicate plant.

• Give your seedling a taste of the outdoors for an hour or two in the early morning or late evening for several days prior to transplantation. If the plants respond to this outside exposure by wilting, bring them back inside the greenhouse and try again another day. You should also slightly reduce the amount of water and fertilizer the seedlings receive to help them adjust to their new outdoor living environment more easily.

• Set up a fan in the greenhouse for a week or two prior to transplantation to help simulate wind. This will help stimulate your plants to grow stronger stems that will be better equipped to withstand the elements.

Transplanting your starts from the greenhouse involves preparation and additional work for about two weeks prior to the transplantation date, but the added effort results in vigorous crops and better yields. These transplanting tips can help you get the most from your greenhouse efforts.

We arrived at 11:30am and the place was already packed!  One of the things I love about summertime in the Pacific Northwest is the plethora of garden tours and festivals we have to choose from. Instead of going to the same events over and over, I try to attend a few each year I haven’t been to before.

One such event is Sorticulture which was recommended by a few garden friends in Seattle. The festival is held each year in Legion Memorial Park located in Everett, Washington from June 12 – 14, 2009. The 4-acre park had the unexpected delight of housing the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens to explore as well.

Sorticulture featured hand crafted garden art, outdoor display gardens, kids’ activities, food vendors, wine garden, and live music. There were Washington and Oregon garden personalities on hand for garden focused presentations.

Washington-based specialty nurseries offered reasonably priced plants to take home. Lush and tropical Honey Bush (Melianthus major) for $9.00 in a gallon pot was a steal!

Sorticulture has the same feeling as the Salem’s Art Festival held at Bush Pasture Park July 17-19, 2009 only on a slightly smaller scale and with more of a plant focus.

Parking was easy if you arrived early. If not, the city of Everett provided free parking and bus service from Everett Community College. The event was free to the public and on a bright, sunny clear day in June there was nothing finer.

One of the inspiring display gardens was created by Planscapes landscape designer Pam Roy.
Housed in a round metal animal watering trough, Pam created a self-contained garden island. She carefully place two bubbling rocks and filled the space ornamental grass, Acanthus mollis, Irish moss, and glass artwork topped off with crushed gravel and rocks. It was a perfect example of how even in a small space – a miniature, peaceful garden space can be designed.

I am not opposed to driving to find treasures that may escape us locally. To make it a worthwhile day trip from Portland, I stopped by Ravenna Gardens and Smith & Hawken at University Village on the drive up. Dana, my Seattle plant buddy and I strolled through the vendor booths at a comfortable pace and finished in about two hours. Arms bursting with books, plants and garden art we had a successful garden fair.  On the way home, we rounded the day out with a stop to Molbak’s located in Woodinville, Washington.

Please consider adding Sorticulture to your garden event must do list for June 2010!

Photos taken by Dawn Hummel, June 2009.

Cultivation Tools

Any gardener will tell you it’s quite important to have a cultivation tool on hand when gardening. Tools such as trowels, shovels and spades are quite popular for digging. While traditional gardening requires larger digging tools, most greenhouse gardening tools for cultivation are hand-sized and smaller than traditional tools. After all, you won’t need a full size shovel for your greenhouse gardening. The great news is greenhouse gardening doesn’t typically require the gardener to use large tools such as tillers, often rented for soil cultivation by traditional gardeners. In fact, greenhouse gardeners choose their own soil for growing.

Pruning Tools

Some greenhouse gardening tools many gardeners can’t live without fall into the pruning category. Depending on what you plant, you may need a set of pruning tools for your greenhouse. Pruning shears, lopping shears, hedge shears, pole pruners and pruning saws are commonly used in gardening. Of course, many of these are too large for the greenhouse and are often used when taking care of trees and shrubs. So, you may not need all of them. However, having a handy pair of hand-sized pruners available is a wise idea.

Watering Tools

All plants need water to live, thus an important greenhouse gardening tool addition is a hose, watering can or sprinkler system. Outside gardens often rely on the rain for watering. However, inside a greenhouse plants will need gardeners to provide moisture. Sprinkler systems can be well controlled and save you time. However, a watering can is much less expensive. The size of the greenhouse is something else to consider when thinking about what watering method will work best. If the greenhouse is small, a watering can might be effective. However, a large greenhouse will obviously need a larger watering system and method. Otherwise, you may find yourself spending three hours a day watering your plants. It really is up to the personal preferences of the gardener on what type of watering tools to include in their greenhouse gardening tool kit.

Basic greenhouse gardening tools are essential to have on hand before you begin this year’s greenhouse gardening adventures. Many greenhouse tools can be purchased at gardening centers or online. They are often made of durable materials and will last for years, when properly stored. Be sure to keep all gardening tools out of the natural elements to ensure they will last longer.

Winter Cleanup: Chances are, when spring arrives your lawn will no longer be drenched with winter water, allowing you to better see what the cold winter weather left behind. It’s a great time to get out the rake and run it over the lawn to get rid of any dead growth, leftover leaves, and other winter debris. As an added bonus, when you allow more light and air to penetrate the soil, your grass will be encouraged to grow as the weather warms, making your lawn lush and green.

Re-seed Your Lawn: Spring is the ideal time to re-seed your lawn, preventing the spread of any bare or damaged areas of the grass harsh winter weather may have left. Be sure to run your rake over the re-seeding area before beginning. This ensures the seed will take to the area well. For best results, mix a small amount of soil with the grass seed before spreading it on the bare spots. Keep the area well-watered until the seeds germinate and new grass begins to show through.

Remove All Winter Protection: If you put any tree guards and other burlap winter protection items on young trees and shrubs before winter, it’s time to remove them. Be sure never to leave tree guards on throughout the summer months, as trees don’t need them during the warm weather. Sure, they can keep small rodents and rabbits from eating your trees but they won’t allow enough air to move around the base of the trunk for growth promotion.

Cut Back Dead Plants: If you have old perennial foliage you need to get rid of in the garden, be sure to use the warm weather as an opportunity to cut it back during your routine Spring gardening tasks. Ornamental grasses and other perennials will need to be prunned in this manner before they can fruitfully grow back. (Be sure to use the dead trimmings in your compost!)

Don’t Dig Too Early: While you may be tempted to start digging in your flower beds, don’t do it too early. If you damage the soil’s structure you may find it difficult to work with. A few weeks into Spring you can start digging and preparing your beds for compost or manure to prepare for planting.

These few early preparaions can make a world of difference in your yard and garden.

If you grow flowers in your garden greenhouse you will be able to deliver beautiful bouquets to friends and family members on special occasions.  Put together a pretty arrangement for mom’s birthday or friend Rebecca’s promotion.  Don’t forget about Valentine’s Day or Thanksgiving!

You may even be able to provide the corsages and bouquets for a small wedding.  Think about how wonderful it would be to design a lovely arrangement of flowers for that special bride.

Maybe you would prefer to dry flowers and use them to create breathtaking wreaths or fragrant sachets. You could put together a unique blend of potpourri and give it to a friend as a Christmas gift.

Speaking of the holidays, you can combine the fruits of your garden greenhouse with items from your kitchen and create gifts that will be appreciated by anyone who receives them.  Develop a vinegar using herbs from the garden greenhouse or make festive centerpieces that combine fruits, flowers and vegetables from the greenhouse.

Delight someone who is recovering from a cold with a delicious chicken soup that contains vegetables and herbs from the garden greenhouse.  Add a loaf of bread or a dozen homemade cookies and you will have a scrumptious gift.

When a friend or relative is having a baby or bridal shower, your gift could be the decorations for the table.  You could use some of the flowers from your garden greenhouse to decorate candleholders and place cards.  Let your imagination run wild and you will be able to come up with all kinds of decorating ideas.

You may want to give small pots with flowers or seedlings to friends in the spring.  If you need a more substantial gift you could give a basket that contains three or four small terra cotta pots with seedlings ready to transplant, gardening gloves and a few tools that can be used in the garden greenhouse or the outside garden.

Gifts of love abound when a garden greenhouse owner is the giver.