Cattle Panel Lean-to Greenhouse in April

I’ve had a few people ask about my little lean-to greenhouse so I thought I’d post a few more pictures here for you.

I can only get about half of the greenhouse in a photo, so I’ll show you photos from both sides and you can mentally piece it together…or not.

This lean-to is attached to the garden shed and is about 15′ x 16′. There are two doors, one on either side. One faces east,the other west.  Vents above both doors help prevent overheating.

Grow Bed in the Greenhouse

There are three permanent grow beds in the greenhouse with room for another if I want- but I really like using the Earth Boxes for some things-especially in the winter. I can scoot them around where I like, and move them outdoors when the weather gets nice.

The longer permanent grow beds on the outside ‘walls’ are about 10′ x2′ and have 4″ of builders sand in them.  The shorter one is about 8′ long and 2′ wide, also sand filled.

Potted plants or seedling flats an be set inside them. The grow beds can be covered with half hoops and plastic which bumps me up another zone or two. This allows me to grow a few greens all winter. I can also use heating cables in them for root zone heat-providing we don’t lose power. That happens quite often actually.

Another trick I like is using plain old clear plastic tubs to make mini greenhouses for seedlings and smaller tender plants. I can set the tubs in unused areas of the grow beds over heat cables if necessary.

Greenhouse From West Side

We recently had a huge ‘toss-a-thon’ and got rid of about 14,985,642 nursery pots from the lean-to, garden shed, outside potting bench and wherever else I had them stashed. I don’t know why I’ve kept them all, I sure don’t need that many these days…must be a gardening thing!  Here it’s been tidied a bit.

Herb Greenhouse- Potting Shed Wall

OK…I did not say I had gotten rid of all my nursery and tree pots. A girl should keep about 400 on hand I think. And plenty of cedar herb boxes, too.

This wall is the back of the garden shed. It gets really beat up from the sun and heat so it’s getting stained this year come h*ll or high water! I am also adding a long bench beneath the windows and tossing the castoff plastic dealio on the left. In case you didn’t know, plastic stuff degrades like crazy in the greenhouse. The cute little decorative bench is getting relocated, too. It was never meant as a serious potting bench, but as a decorative thing. I think I’ve nearly killed it over the last few years.

Here is the inside of the garden shed, AKA The Mental Health Center.

One thing I love is that on sunny winter days I can open these two little windows on the greenhouse side and the garden shed heats right up! I originally thought about opening this wall on the left up into the greenhouse, but decided against it. We hold small classes in here and can’t afford to lose the workspace. Besides-the 15′ walk around the corner to the greenhouse isn’t that far.

Interior West Half of Herb Garden Shed

You can see the west half here- one of the 4×8 hanging racks above, and the antique Chambers stove to the right. The stove is nice for preparing my brews, soaps, lotions and potions.

Then of course there is lots of junk like my gourds, half finished concrete projects, greenhouse shade cloth and plenty more. Now that I’m looking at it I realize I probably should have cleaned up before taking this picture.

The other side has more storage, hanging racks, a work table, small TV with the trimmings, and even an itty bitty fireplace. It’s really cozy in here and a very nice place to work in the winter. When my kids were little we’d bring out toys and schoolwork (they were all home schooled) and we would all ‘work’ .

Well, that’s the end of the herb greenhouse and garden shed tour, hope you enjoyed it!

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Growing Herbs In Containers

I love growing herbs in pots and containers.

For me they are handy, and right outside the back door which means I don’t have to work to get at them. Lazy? Nope. Just getting smarter in my old age!

Container or potted herbs are certainly easy enough to keep up, but watering in the summer can be an issue- which is why self watering pots are terrific! The only time they are a problem is when it rains too much. Then you may need to go dump some of the water out of the pot bases to prevent root disease and rot.

Some of the easier herbs to grow in pots and containers are the mints.

They like lots of water anyway, but you really have to keep them hydrated when they are in pots. The other issue with mints is that they grow out of their pots quickly and will stop producing leaves as they become root bound. Re-pot or root prune them often!

Another easy container herb is Rosemary.

Potted Rosemary plants kept outdoors should not be allowed to dry out completely. You will want to keep rosemary watered, but don’t go overboard or you may have problems with rotting roots.

When you water your rosemary check to make sure the leaves look plump, and watch for yellowing or browning on the tips. Over watering or standing water produces droopy, limp, yellow leaves. Many people see this as a sign that the plant needs water.

Guess what happens next?

Yep, you got it. They water the plant some more and it dies. An easy fix is to simply poke the soil. If it’s wet an inch or more down into the pot, allow the plant to dry out. Moist soil is what you want, just like a wrung out sponge.

Rosemary that has dried out can die without so much as a gasp. This is one plant that can’t produce new leaves fast enough to make a fast come back- particularly if you toast it.

In the heat of summer I give all of my potted rosemary herbs some light afternoon shade and they seem very happy!

Rosemary in Pot

Chives.  ‘The Super Easy No-Brainer, Nearly Carefree Wherever You Grow Them’ herb.

Potted chives will need a weak fertilizer once every 4-6 weeks (I use an organic compost tea) and occasional re-potting to be happiest. If possible, they also like a chilling period, so you can leave potted chives outdoors all winter.

Just make sure they aren’t in one of your beautiful ceramic or terra cotta pots that will weaken and shatter in the ice and snow.

Chives

Chives will spread quickly become root bound in small pots.

You can pull the roots apart and  divide them when re-potting to make more room for yours, and you’ll have extra to share with a friend!

I love bringing pots of herbs indoors for the winter

In the late summer and early Autumn I start getting pots of herbs ready for the house. This includes re-potting, clipping back and setting them in a partly shaded area for a few weeks. This allows them to adjust to the lower light in the house. Do not just bring your herbs (especially Rosemary) indoors without having either acclimated them first or having bright supplemental lighting available. Rosemary has a tendency to drop all it’s leaves when going from a high light to a low light situation. It often doesn’t recover.

Let There Be Supplemental Light!

On dark winter days all the herbs indoors get supplemental light, but even grow lights can’t compete with  full summer sun!  Here in Illinois a minimum of 8 -10 hours under grow lights will give most herbs enough light to keep them producing leaves.

Some herbs just seem to barely hold on through the winter, and that’s about all you can ask of them. If they survive, they are likely to come back better than ever when you set them out in the Springtime.

Re-potting, clipping back and lowering light is a good idea for any herbs that you plan to bring inside for winter or at any other time of the year.

While you’re at it, check for insect infestations and eggs. That way you can take care of any big problems before you move them indoors!

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If you want to learn to do something new, study the subject, but more importantly – get in there and just DO it!

*Disclaimer*  This advice does not apply to fields such as surgery, welding, or electrical work.

I think they are the easiest culinary herb in the western world.  Chives are fast growing, quick to cook with (very little prep time)  and they are one herb that I’ll grab to add a mild oniony flavor at the last minute of cooking…or just use freshly snipped.

In the fall I bring in a pot or two of Chives and keep them in the kitchen window. These pots will go for a month or two and provide me with fresh chives. They do like a rest period though, so I also keep several small pots on ‘standby’ just outside my backdoor.  This usually means those pots are buried in ice and  snow for awhile, but they like it!  The plants rest and are dormant during this time.

Eventually the chives I brought inside in October start to look tired. I don’t fertilize them at this point, but instead I set them outdoors and just bring in a new pot.

The old pot gets a needed rest and the chives that have been dormant and resting in the snow for a few months are ready to get growing again.

For them Spring has Sprung-even if they come indoors during a January blizzard!

Here is what they look like as dormant plants:

Dormant Chives in the Snow

 I have tidied them up a bit and just several days later you can see they are growing like crazy.