This week in John's greenhouse the word is Geraniums.
It takes about 3-4 months to get a
Geranium cutting to a nice size for sale.
Installment # 1
|
 |
| Geranium stock plants wintered over from last May. |
|
|
 |
| Geranium cutting 1.5 to 3 inches long. |
|
|
 |
| Cleaned cutting. |
|
|
 |
| Cleaned cutting in oasis wedge strip plugs with optional rooting powder. |
|
|
 |
| Cutting stuck into moistened wedge strip. |
|
|
 |
| Cuttings after 21 to 30 days on a heating mat. |
|
|
Now comes the fun part!!!
Who wants to help me plant these 8,000 plus cuttings into 4.5 inch pots to grow and sell?
|
 |
| Geranium cuttings ready for potting. |
|
|
 |
| It sure is nice with my Sirius radio playing, the sun shining, no-one bothering me. But...I can still see the snow ouside the walls. |
|
|
Tomorrow, Friday the 18th, its off to look for spring. This is my annual after Valentines Day trip to " Another Land." I'll be stopping at all my favorite Amish greenhouses to see what treasures they hold for this planting season. There will also be a stop at Rohers Seed Company in Smoketown for some seed packets. And then of course there is a stop by the Intercourse Farmer's Market for a few loaves of their "to die for" raisin bread that I'm stupid enough to pay $4.50 a loaf for. But... its great and you only go around once in life. Next weeks pictures will be of "Johnny in Another Land." Stay tuned!
|
John's Trip to "Another Land." It was 73 degrees that day! I didn't find much new, but till had a good time.
|
 |
| Ken's Garden. There are 2 locations, one in Intercourse and one in Smoketown across from Rohrers Seed Company. The prices are about as cheap as you can get. |
|
|
 |
| The Green dragon Farmer's Market in Ephrata. It goes on every Friday with a great selection of fruits and veggies - a MUST visit. Plan on spending at least 3 hours, more if you are not walking with me! |
|
|
 |
| A smaller, but just as nice, Farmer's Market in Bird-in-Hand. This is where I buy loaves of Amish raisin bread and often eat lunch at the General Store. You must plan a visit here this spring. There is so much to see. |
|
|
More of March at the greenhouse.....
|
 |
| I do have my work cut out for me starting Monday. The seed flats are coming along well in this sunny weather that we have been having lately. Soon they will have to be transplated into 6 packs. |
|
|
 |
| Anyone want a peaceful job transplanting seedlings into flats - you can listen to music in a great sunny greenhouse as you work! |
|
|
 |
| The Easter Lilies are doing better this year than most - also they are right on time. |
|
|
 |
| Here is a way to judge the Lilies...if on Ash Wednesday you can look down and see flower buds, they are right on time. If not, you need to increase the greenhouse temperature to force them along. |
|
|
Mid- March greenhouse updates from John.
|
 |
| The Fuschias were pinched for the last time this week and are now on the watering system above the Calla bed so they can begin growing into the full planters that I am hoping to have. |
|
|
 |
| These Callas were planted from bulbs last October. They started producing flowers at Christmas. But it is not until warmer weather that they start forcing out the flowers that the girls will use in the spring arrangements. |
|
|
 |
| With all of the rain we had today, it is a good thing that we have these raised beds . |
|
|
 |
| The Rosemary plants that I started last spring are in full bloom this week. I start my plants from seed a full year in advance, for it takes that long for them to be a nice size for sale. |
|
|
It's the end of March at John's Greenhouse.
|
 |
| Got another shipment of plants. This time they are plug mixes. They are a mixture of plants in one plug. They grow and sell as 6 inch pots to sell for use on your patio. |
|
|
 |
| There are 3-5 plants in a plug. |
|
|
 |
| One of my assistants will plant one plug per pot. Oops - that's me - guess I was dreaming again! |
|
|
 |
| Yes, all day long the same thing - one tiny plant per cell - 36 to a tray - tray after tray after tray after tray |
|
|
 |
| It never ends - flats of flowers - its going to be a colorful summer. |
|
|
 |
| These are Blue Salvia ready for the greenhouse bench. |
|
|
It's April 1st at the greenhouse.
|
 |
| The Geraniums that I took the first cuttings from after Christmas are now starting to flower. I ususally cut off all flowers until mid-April to increase plant size, but these are too nice to cut. |
|
|
 |
| The patio tomato plants are off and running. These will go into 8 inch pots and will be 18 inches tall by Mother's Day. |
|
|
|
 |
| Here is it 5 days later and I thought I would be done with the first day's cuttings. It's like they will never end! |
|
|
 |
| Here was Thursday at quitting time. There were about 5,000 cuttings planted and all ready to go. |
|
|
 |
| The Geranium mix I use is 5 - 5 gallons buckets of soiless mix and 1 bucket sand and 1 cup super phosphate 0-46-0 and 1 cup of lime. |
|
|
 |
| The hanging basket plugs are in and oh no...I am still working on Geraniums and the Pansy flats are ready to be transported. I may need help! |
|
|
 |
| This is how we receive the plants that we do not grow ourselves. They come either 72 or 144 to a tray and then get planted 3 to a 10 inch hanging pot or 1 to a 4.5 inch hanging pot for sales. |
|
|
 |
| Fuchsia hanging baskets have to be started very early - usually in January. |
|
|
 |
| Fuschsia is planted 3 to a pot and are left to grow until February 1st. On that date, the centers of every stem are pinched out to force side branching. The pinching is repeated on March 1st. Every center has to be pinched out to insure a full and beautiful pot of flowers. |
|
|
 |
| It's time to get the seeds started in the greenhouse - here is how I do it. |
|
|
 |
| I start out with a soil-less growing medium drenched with ZeroTol and water. |
|
|
 |
| I use an electric seeder to spread the seeds out evenly in the flat. |
|
|
 |
| I try and use only 250 seeds or less per flat. |
|
|
 |
| After about 3 weeks on a heating mat, the seeds are ready for transplanting into 6 packs. |
|
|
Here it is March. Let's check in at the greenhouse.
|
 |
| I thought I would be done with the hanging planters this week. But, surprise - I had to order more pots because I got more plants than guessed. |
|
|
 |
| As you can see, it has been over three weeks now and the Geranium cuttings have been transplated to the 4.5 inch pots and now the side branches are breaking out from each side node. |
|
|
 |
| Time is flying and the Fuschias that have been pinched are well on their way to becoming bushy planters. They will get their final pinch this week before making their way to the automated watering system. |
|
|
 |
| Look at the Fuschia plants! |
|
|
 |
| Time to divide the Aussie Basil plants into cuttings. These are plants that Louise McCormick gave me years ago. It is the only Basil that I know of that you can keep alive all year. |
|
|
 |
| This week I was able to look at the beautiful Crucifix Orchids blooming. They bloom all year. I think they are the easiest Orchid that anyone can grow. Did you notice that spring is coming early this year? It was February 28 when the first flock was flying north. |
|
|
More Mid-March greenhouse updates from John.
|
 |
| In the perennial cold frame all of the plants started last year and kept in cold storage over the winter want to get going. I guess they heard the Robins singing this week. This Vinca is wasting no time throwing out its first set of blooms. |
|
|
 |
| The Forget-Me-Nots are also off to a good start. |
|
|
 |
| The Marigold seeds that I planted last Saturday wasted no time getting started. Next Thursday they wil be ready for me to transplant them to 6 inch flat packs. |
|
|
 |
| Its funny how seedlings grow at different rates. These Wax Begonias were started in January....yes, January 5th! They are still in their flats growing and waiting until they get a good planting size. They take about 4 months from sowing to planting as the Marigolds only take 2 weeks. |
|
|
 |
| This is where the seedlings will grow and mature into sale size plants. |
|
|
 |
| Millions and millions of little babies it seems.... |
|
|
 |
| When I get bored with planting, I place some of the hanging baskets on the watering systems. Its a good mental break. |
|
|
 |
| Well it snowed again and what a mess it is to walk between the greenhouses. But the good news is that soon the weeds will be growing and snow will be but a distant memory. |
|
|
It's April 1st at the greenhouse.
|
 |
| This first set of herbs for spring are gorwing just fine. An order of these are being used as favors for a bridal shower next Saturday. |
|
|
 |
| The hot pepper seedlings are ready for transplanting next week - and I am still working on the flower seedlings - better get moving! |
|
|
 |
| I had to cut back the plants that I have as singles to get them to branch out more. They should be nice and bushy by Mother's Day. |
|
|
 |
| As you can see, the Wax Begonias that were seeded in January and transplanted last week are growing nicely. |
|
|
|
