Mini Post: (IV) Everything All Right In The Greenhouse

I was one week away from the beautiful greenhouse, and oh boy, how much it has changed in such a short time. It’s definitely a blooming period, just take a look at it!

What’s Blooming?

Honestly, everything in the greenhouse is growing exceptionally well. The plants keep reminding me of how important it is to stay patient and consistent. Every time I see another plant with new flowers, I feel a burst of happiness. It just makes me feel like something’s going right.

Here’s the cucumber bed and its companion plants. Marigolds and nasturtium in the corners, radish in the middle, garlic, and Wisconsin and Marketmore on the sides in between. Should I have planted more of everything in these garden beds?

Still not a sign of the French Beans… It has been exactly three weeks now since sowing.

Soon, it’s going to be time to harvest lettuce, too, and basil is looking absolutely crips. Should I use it for a homemade pesto, maybe?

Moreover, all the tomatoes are now blooming, too. What a victory! For the sake of experimentation, I had planted one of the cherry tomato plants in the garden bed (others in pots). Seems like it’s enjoying the big space so much that it keeps growing bigger and taller, and as a result, it fell down because of its heavy weight. I had to support it by tying it from the top like the other tomato plants.

And what about these big buddies! Hello, big growers.

Fixing The Problem

I have’ve been having an aphid problem in the grape vine. It was the end of May when I noticed the nasty crawlers in the plant and immediately took the necessary precautions to fix the situation. Today, a few weeks later, it seems like manually removing them and spraying the stems with nettle ‘juice’ is working. There are definitely a lot fewer now. Also, I learned that usually the ants have a special mutualistic relationship with these pests, so I am not sure anymore whether having ants is more beneficial than harmful for me in the bigger picture…

The ants and I are teaming up against the aphids… or are we?

Making the pests’ lives harder in my greenhouse has been one of the ways of repelling them. The wonderful aromatic rosemary found its perfect place right below the grape vine. I planted it directly with its pot.

I also grabbed a tiny peppermint plant from the garden and replanted it in the corner of the vine bed, and I did the same with lemon balm (or herb melissa) in the other corner. They seem to like it there, because after all, the soil is the same as in the garden plot.

First Harvest

❤ Yes, baby, it’s the FIRST HARVEST, first fruits! ❤

The first radish I tried was so juicy and so delicious, not too spicy, actually – just how I liked it. But I must say it took surprisingly long before they were ready. I am talking about a timeframe of roughly 4 weeks or 33 days (from the 7th of May till the 9th of June). Patricia has been the best. Woohoo!

Varieties: Patricia, Saxa 2, Cherry Belle

After many months of desperately caring for the chili plant(s) and starting to believe that I had totally failed growing it, today was the day I proved myself otherwise. Please, take a look at these baby chili peppers! I cannot ❤ See how much can happen in just a few days.

Oh boy, those baby chilis just make everything so much better. It’s another victory for sure.

But now I think that this will do it for this post. I couldn’t squeeze it any shorter, so this Mini Post will stay at a 4-minute read. That’s OK, because what a week, I promise.

Let’s just remember to be patient. Sometimes, good things take time ❤

Project: Sprout & About