A Greenhouse Winter Garden

For an extravagant indoor display, start flowering plants from seed in autumn

It ’s other March in the Chicago area . The temperature are still in the twenty , and it ’s snowing again . When I get home from study , I head immediately to my glasshouse , which is attached to the kitchen through a sliding glass threshold . With a flip of the light switch , I ’m recognize by an absolute debauch of color from the 200 or so flush in heyday . slip the room access open brings the sweet aroma of blooming jacinth and petunias wafting into the house .

Starting in mid - February and keep through March , my married woman , Barbara , and I have the pleasure of dining in front of this display , and share it with friends , relative and fellow garden - club members . It ’s a dandy way to make use of our glasshouse in tumble and wintertime — a meter when many glasshouse stand empty — and it requires only a few packet of seeds , some saltation bulbs and a few minute of winter horticulture .

If you have a greenhouse or are suppose of building one , please do n’t look at these pictures of my flower and say , “ It ’s too much study for me , ” or “ I ca n’t do that . ” As I always tell my visitant , a wintertime greenhouse garden take on very trivial time to start and needs almost no attending once it ’s planted . So if you ’d like to have a display like mine , keep reading and I ’ll tell you precisely how to do it .

Growing conditions

Our nursery measure 12 by 20 foot . It is oriented east to Cicily Isabel Fairfield and receives full sun . Over the retiring 20 years I ’ve had two greenhouses in other locations . I ’ve had succeeder with due west and south picture , but I ’m sure east would be fine as well . Full southern exposures seem idealistic .

We installed 3 - foot - wide workbench along the distance of both side of the nursery to maximize the produce area . A 3 - human foot - in high spirits , 5 - metrical unit - long workbench forms an island down the middle . A Modine 50,000 - Btu instinctive accelerator pedal forced - air heater takes care of our -heating needs . Plexiglas acrylic resin panels , measure out 2 feet by 4 metrical unit , splay into the runners of the ice panes on the -inside of the greenhouse ; these help keep the heating bills in bank line . A battery - championship power supply is always ready to keep electrical energy flowing to the motor and restraint in the event of a force outage .

Because unlike plants like different conditions , I find it advantageous to utilize the three climates -available in the greenhouse . Eventhough the thermoregulator is set to 50 ° F , the 8 - foot - gamy roof creates a warmer clime ( 55 ° F–60 ° F ) on top , with 50 ° Fon the benches and as low as 40 ° degree Fahrenheit on the floor . Most of the seed – propagated plants like the temperature at bench height , but this climate variation devote me the chance to place the works that like warmer temperatures at a high level . Petunias , impatiens , wanderer works and burro’s - tail cactus do very well in basket hung from the ceiling . Spring bulb go on the level under the bench , their pots covered by dark plastic codswallop cup of tea . The nerveless 40 ° F temperature and dark surroundings are consummate for the eight - week chilling period require to force the bulbs into bloom just when I desire them .

Our winter garden favorites

The outgrowth start in August with the pick and ordination of seeds and bulbs . My favorite catalogs are Parks and Stokes . Between them , we get a wide potpourri of suited plants . We select varieties that we know from experience will do well at 50 ° F . We keep the glasshouse at that setting for economize vigor , but it also pass off that a lot of the flowers we wish to maturate thrive in cool temperatures .

One of our best-loved flowers isCineraria‘Cindy ’ , which produces daisylike blossoms in vibrant blue , royal , pinkish , red and clean . We get brilliant yellows and reds from the pocketbook plant(Calceolaria‘Any - time ’ ) . Its distinctive , balloon - work flowers are so unique they always get out attention . And this yr we tried the miniature yellowCalceolaria‘Gold Fever ’ with great succeeder .

The seldom rise pitiful - man ’s orchid(Schizanthus)is always on my inclination . A young cultivar available from Stokes called ‘ Star Parade ’ produce only 8 inches mellow , and it was a real hit last class . The top two - third of these mound plants were covered by hundreds of orchidlike flowers with shining centers and pastel margins .

Pansies develop well in cool temperature , and their smile faces are always welcome . glasshouse varieties of snapdragons make great swing flower , and I ’ve even had succeeder with ranunculus and primrose from seed . I had rattling result from petunias grown in baskets , and marigolds did just okay in the cool mood too .

To these sown plants , I add refugee from the summer garden . Before the first frost , I turn over up fibrous begonias , impatiens , geraniums and enough herbs to fill Barb ’s culinary requirement all wintertime long . This year a seeding of gelt render salads as well as cosmetic greenery .

There are also year - beat occupant in the greenhouse . We have advert baskets of spider plants , miniature cymbidium orchids and a variegated bougainvillea . Pots of Christmas and Easter cactus , night - blooming cereus , kalanchoe , aloe , tropical hibiscus and legion varieties of cactus and succulent seem to survive the coolheaded temperatures in winter and the hot temperatures in summer . Cyclamen bulb that come back to life-time each yr are normally the hit of the winter season . To complete the assortment , we purchase spring bulbs for forcing . darling let in tulip , daffodils , hyacinths , crocus and grape hyacinths .

Starting seedlings

We plant seeds in late August or early September . Conditions in the greenhouse are too spicy at this time of year , so I part the cum in the cellar . I have a marvelous three - tiered wooden plant bandstand ; its shelf are lined with heavy credit card to retain water . Evaporative mats insure a thermostatically moderate heating mat that I set to 75 ° farad to promote sprouting .

I use seed - starting tray that have 20 shallow rows . Each plant diversity gets its own quarrel and stays nicely secernate from the others without tak - ing up too much blank . I plant the seeds per the instructions on the software package .

While I ’ve accumulated these -planting aids over the long time , you may be just as successful using something as wide-eyed as a shallow credit card tray left over from a rooted -dinner . perforate hole in the bottom of your icy food tray to make a germ tray . The purpose of the holes is to permit watering from the bottom of the tray . I plainly water the evaporative mat , and the water is drawn up through the golf hole . This eliminates the demand to water from the top , which can damage very tiny seedling . you could do the same matter by dip the tray in a pan of urine , then removing it when the stain is wet .

I arise my seedling under fluorescent lights that are on for 12 hours per day . Placing the plants by a bright window without direct Sunday will also work . Be sure to cover the tray with a shroud of light charge card to keep in the moisture if you are not setting the plants on an evaporative matting . In about four week , or when four honest leaves are visible , graft the seedlings .

Transplanting

I prepare a mixture of 4 portion ProMix BX ( a mixture of peat moss , perlite and vermiculite ) and 1 part needlelike sand . The Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin helpsdrainage and bestow weighting to the intermixture . I add liberal amounts of Osmocote 14 - 14 - 14 fertiliser , which -provides food for six months . After transplanting , I also feed with Miracle - Gro about once a month .

I transfer only once into 6 - inch - diameter plastic pots big enough to reconcile the fledged plants . When purchased in bulk , the price is reasonable . Although petite seedlings with only four leaves look ridiculous at first , they shortly fill up all the infinite .

transplantation is the part of the program that requires the most work , so Barb and I get our garden - club supporter , Sam Solomon , to help . We fill all the pots with dirt mix and then train the seedling . It ’s very authoritative not to damage the root . When you remove the plants from their tray , they will be bound together by their roots . To separate them , I use two pointed wooden skewer , the kind usually used for barbecues . Once the plants are divided , we lift each one by its leaves and set it in the slump already made in the center of the ground - fill mess . Then we but rap the side of meat of the pot to lightly drop the voiced soilaround the roots . I feel this aristocratic intervention is key to the ultimate success of my plants .

At this gunpoint the amount of employment is drastically reduced . tearing is about all that is needed , and I irrigate about once a week after the solar day noticeably bowdlerize and temperatures set down . I keep an eye out for whiteflies and aphids but have had few problems with them . If a problem occurs , an program of Tanacetum coccineum in a premixed spray form usually bring around it . Pyre - thrum biodegrades within 24 60 minutes , so I do n’t worry about a buildup of chemical in the greenhouse .

Alan Schulman ’s glasshouse lighten up his plate in Highland Park , Illinois , all four season of the year .

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