OK, I just had to get outside today.

This morning it seemed every time I stuck my head out it rained on me. Hard. In between thunderstorms it was absolutely gorgeous though!

Doubt me? Here is the sky

Gorgeous Sky!

When it cleared off I spent a little time harvesting some young nettles for sauteing and soup-and set some in the shed to dry.

Young Nettles

Nettle is my favorite herb for hay fever season…

Then I went and checked on some little herb seedlings in the greenhouse.

A Few Herb Seedlings

Herb Seedlings in the Lean-to Greenhouse

Everything looked absolutely peachy so I headed back to the house…just in time to get drenched again.

My Cattle Panel Greenhouse

At home, besides my medicinal herb garden I also have a kitchen garden. I start almost everything from seed or cuttings, so I have a nice little ‘homey’ greenhouse to work in.

The greenhouse at home is unheated except for heat mats in raised grow beds, so most seedlings and starts go into the greenhouse around late March. Around here nothing goes into the ground before mid May-except peas- and we wait until the guys down the road have quit spraying in their fields.

This greenhouse is a nice size for home growing. It’s also a cheap affair, my “Cattle Panel” lean to.

The whole thing is a mere 16′ x 15′- and is attached to the back of the potting shed….or as I like to call it-the Mental Health Center.

There is a small mist system for cuttings, and an 8′x 16 shade house for the 100* months of July and August- it’s also a cattle panel job.

Here is the shade house frame, completely naked and without flooring. It will have it’s top on and have landscape fabric laid down by early summer.  See? Nothing fancy. The LP tank for heating the potting shed is to the right.

Oh sure- go ahead and laugh at how ugly they are, but these things have held up through snow storms, straight line winds that took out a goat barn -WITH the goats in it- and more. Since I am in the middle of open fields I need sturdy. The metal arches wired together does the trick.

New plastic is definitely due this year on the greenhouse-I’ve gone 5 years on this bit and it is showing it’s age…and it was just a 4 year plastic.

The fact that the cats insist on climbing it doesn’t help with rips and tears, so until it’s replaced, all I can say is thank goodness for repair tape!

Here is an uber-simple way to start growing herbs early-without a greenhouse and without a lot of snazzy garden gear. Perfect for those of you that garden in cooler (and cold) climates this mini greenhouse is completely portable.

Herb Seedlings in a Tub

Here’s what you need to make your own movable mini-greenhouse/ portable cold frame :

A clear plastic tub-preferably more than 6″ deep for herb headroom

Some containers- or pots. Recycled containers are good.

Potting or seed starting mix or potting soil

Looking through A Seedling Tub

The How To:

Moisten your soil mix, and load up for containers.

Read your seed packet planting instructions and plant seeds according to them!

Place containers in the tub..or tubs.

Set outside on sunny days in a protected area. Prop the lid up, set it sideways on the tub, or take it off altogether-if the weather is warm enough. If you see condensation forming ,it’s too hot in your little greenhouse!

Make sure you give those seedlings some air, or you’ll end up with fungal diseases.

They will dry out in the sun and seedlings do need to be kept moist. Touch the top of the soil-if it feels dry gently water.

Depending on what you planted-you should see seedlings before long.

Bring them in before the temperatures dip in the afternoon. Rinse and repeat!

Recycled Containers In a Tub Mini Greenhouse

Me with antlers and woolcicles

I took a leisurely stroll out to the greenhouse yesterday morning to check on things. It’ was a balmy -2* inside the greenhouse and naturally everything was frozen solid. On the way to the greenhouse I saw that several herbs were heaving up out of the ground in the medicinal herb garden beds.

It happens after a wet fall followed by hard freezes. I will just have to replant the things I will lose this winter.

This is why I rarely have the same garden two years in a row!  Plants come and go, and herbs and plants that don’t do well either get moved, or are lost due to weather conditions.

Although we haven’t had much snow yet, it’s been really cold. More  snow is expected. I like the snow. Besides being beautiful, it protects the plants when they are well covered sith snow. White mulch.

After it all melts though it is a bit disconcerting to see what’s left alive after the winter and what has died off completely, and some years it is just downright discouraging!

I’d better break out the seed catalogs…Who knows? By the looks of it I may be redoing a LOT of garden area this year