Visit of a Plant-starved Gardener to Logee's

It's been a tough winter for the plants, with little snow cover and a constant cycle of rain and hard freezes.  Small bulbs and plants were heaved out of the ground and had to be reburied.  On a positive note, my Giant Snowdrops were up and blooming early in January.

Galanthus elwesii, aka Giant Snowdrop

February continued with lots of cold but not much snow.  March rallied with a couple good snowstorms before winter finally started to loosen its grip.  Last week it actually (dare I say it?) started feeling a bit like spring.  (I remain a cynic, though, as it has been known to snow in April.)

common snowdrops in the garden

So how do we northern gardeners survive during the long winter?  Let's see... we spend the first couple of months giving our neglected and abused houseplants some much needed love.  After we put all of our houseplants into shock, we obsessively peruse seed catalogs.  We then try to convince ourselves that this year we really are going to plant all those seeds we order...

another winter project - propagation of Christmas cactus

At some point, however, it is time for a desperate gardener to visit a nursery to get a plant fix!  We are lucky to have a couple nurseries with greenhouses in the surrounding area, but last month we took a day trip to visit the real jackpot - Logee's Greenhouses.

Mr. Red House took me to Logee's as a late Valentine's Day excursion.  He really knows the way to a gardener's heart!  Logee's has not just one but SIX greenhouses filled to the brim with botanical treasures.

Clockwise from top left:  narrow aisles run through the packed greenhouses, unlabelled camellia, rows of Euphorbia obesa and Euphorbia suzannae for sale, Callandra surinamiensis aka Powder Puff plant

Logee's is a mail order and retail shop in Danielson, Connecticut, that specializes in container-grown tropical plants, and it has an interesting history.  It was started in 1892 by William Logee.  One of its most famous plants is the Ponderosa Lemon Tree that was brought to Logees from Philadelphia in 1900 via train then horse and buggy.  It was planted in the ground in Logee's original greenhouse and is still there, alive and thriving, and thousands of cuttings have been taken from it for new plants.  It is also called the American Wonder Lemon, as its lemons can get as large as 5 pounds.

lemon from the Ponderosa Lemon Tree

William Logee's children became involved in running the nursery.  His son Ernest hybridized begonias for the nursery and was one of the founders of the American Begonia Society.  Sadly he passed away at a young age from a fall out of a tree while pruning.

Top: Calathea lancifolia 'Rattlesnake'  Center: Pavonia multiflora, unlabeled Hibiscus flower, Rhaphidophora cryptantha (aka Shingle Plant)  Bottom: Acalypha hispida (aka Chenille Plant), Begonia maculata variegata

William Logee's daughter Joy met her husband at Ernest's funeral, as he was a fellow horticulturalist and Begonia Society member.  They became owners of the nursery after William's death in 1952.  Joy focused on scented geraniums and herbs, while also continuing her brother's legacy of growing begonias.

Joy and her husband had two sons.  One, Geoffrey, became a physicist and professor.  His first wife was now well-known garden author Tovah Martin.  Their other son Byron stayed with Logee's, and he and his first wife now run the still family-owned and operated greenhouses.

profusion of blooms from an enormous Australian Sarsparilla vine

The nursery was a delightful place to visit after some long winter months.

So is it possible for a plant-starved gardener to visit such a greenhouse and not come home with a plant or two (...or seven or eight)?

my new Begonia 'Sophie Cecile'

I think not.

Happy gardening!

The Quest for the Best Tasting Tomato

"You have to grow Black Krims," a relative advised me.  "They are the best tasting tomatoes by far!"  Others disagreed, claiming that the award-winning Brandywines deserved the honor of top tomato.

Black Krim heirloom tomatoes

Both Black Krim and the Brandywines (of which there are several strains) are notable heirloom tomatoes, and both have won many accolades, but which was the best?  This summer I was on a quest to grow these tomatoes that I had heard so much about - and determine once and for all which was truly the top tasting tomato.

So which one won?

Which tomato was the best tasting, 

the cream of the crop, 

the king of the garden, 

all that and a bag of chips?

I don't know.

The *$&^! chipmunks ate every single one of the Brandywines.

Yes, you.

I managed to save some Black Krims and other types of tomatoes that I had in the greenhouse by putting up a screen door to keep the chipmunks out, but every. single. tomato that grew outside in the vegetable garden was a goner, which included every Brandywine I had.

half-eaten tomato

Likely thanks to the drought, the chipmunks went wild in the garden this year, even gobbling up all of my kids' favorite ground cherries while they were still green. (Aren't ground cherries supposed to be somewhat toxic until totally ripe?)  I tried putting pepper spray on the tomatoes and ground cherries, but either I couldn't keep up or my chipmunks have developed a liking for spicy food.

a chipmunk in what he thinks is his own personal ground cherry patch

I did eat some of the treasured Black Krims, and yes, they were amazingly delicious.  But can I say they are the absolute best tomato of all?

It looks like I will be on the quest yet again next summer to determine the answer to that question.

And here I thought squirrels were the worst.

Anyone else have a favorite type of tomato?

And maybe a really great recipe for chipmunk repellant?

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Lessons Learned in the Vegetable Garden

It's been exciting to see how productive our veggie garden has been this year.  In Spring we built raised beds and added drip irrigation, and that has made all the difference from last year's paltry harvest.

Veggie garden this September

But still, there are always lessons to be learned and things to be improved, and here are a few things that this summer has taught me:

1.  No one needs three full raised beds of Tomatillos.  Not even me.

Harvest on 9/18/15 - Green beans, Ground Cherries, 2 Cucumbers, and tons of Tomatillos

These very hardy, prolific plants did well even last year in my garden, but given a raised bed full of decent soil?  They went nuts.  To be fair, I intended half of them to be for snacking as opposed to cooking, as last year I grew a variety that was great eaten raw.  However, this year the same variety just wasn't as sweet for whatever reason.

So what to do with bushels of Tomatillos?  Let's just say that, even though I gave several bags of Tomatillos away, I could supply the whole neighborhood with Salsa Verde for the entire winter.  And maybe next.

2. Bees don't visit greenhouses.

I grew most of my tomatoes in containers in my greenhouse this year.  During the first half of the summer, the plants grew lush and full, with lots of flowers - but no tomatoes.  I was puzzled why I wasn't getting any tomatoes, and I can't believe it took me as long as it did to have my 'duh' moment: tomatoes are pollinated by bees or wind, neither of which I have in my greenhouse.

Apparently one must hand-pollinate plants in greenhouses by either using a cotton swab/small brush to pollinate individual flowers or by tapping on the plant supports to 'shake down' the pollen.  After realizing this, I finally started getting some tomatoes.

That's more like it.

3.  You can actually eat a marigold.  But only the petals.

I love to grow flowers in my vegetable garden to 'pretty it up', and I justify it to myself by planting flowers that are edible, usually Nasturtiums.  This year, however,  I was intrigued by the Gem Marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia), which were reported to be the 'best tasting' marigolds, so I bought and planted seeds for 'Lemon Gem' and 'Tangerine Gem'.  The taste is described as 'floral with hints of citrus and spice, and slightly bitter'.  Curious, I popped one in my mouth one day.

I described the taste as more like 'pungently awful'.

After the fact, I learned that one is supposed to just eat the petals, not the entire flower, as the base is 'quite bitter'.  After getting up my courage to try them again, I found that the petals were much more pleasant and mild tasting.   I don't know if I'll start adding them to my salads, but at least it's doing it's job of looking very pretty in the veggie garden!

4.  'Gardening for food' and 'gardening for wildlife' are not mutually exclusive.

This year, in particular, I noticed just how much wildlife was enjoying my vegetable garden.  Possibly even too much, as there were the Potato Beetles that enjoyed my tomatillo leaves and the Squash Vine Borers that wiped out my zucchini plants. But the garden was also a big hit with the beneficial wildlife.  In fact, the parts of my garden that attracted the most bumblebees were (1) my catmint patch and (2) my vegetable garden.

I was also surprised how many birds were constantly in the garden.  They do love to eat my Ground Cherries, and thankfully the plants are prolific enough that there are plenty for the birds and for us.  But they also help me out by eating unwanted bugs, and, in at least one case, by helping out the bees with pollination:

the little hummingbird that loved my veggie garden

When you take a closer look, even the vegetable garden is teeming with life.

dragonfly

And I think that's how it should be.

I'm joining in 'Lessons Learned' with Beth at her blog Plant Postings, where you can find out what other gardeners have learned this past season.

Hummingbirds Like Vegetables, Too

There has been a little hummingbird hanging around my garden the past few weeks.  Yes, I see him visiting the standard hummingbird fare, such as the stand of Cardinal flowers in my yard...

...however, I usually spot him in a more unlikely place:

in the vegetable garden.

Almost every day I see him among the tomatillo plants, drinking nectar from their little yellow blooms.

He often perches on the sides of the veggie garden as well.

In fact, this little hummer apparently likes vegetables so much that one day I found him in the greenhouse.  I can only suppose he was checking out the tomato and pepper plants I keep in there.

hummingbird perched on a tomato stake

He seemed stuck in the greenhouse, flying back and forth along the top of the roof.  I usually keep the roof cracked open, but had closed it that day due to the chance of rain.

(For the record, hummingbirds are amazingly loud when they fly.

Especially when the sound is amplified in a little greenhouse.)

The poor little hummer couldn't figure out that he needed to go out the open door, even though I'm assuming that's how he got in.  I had to go and open the roof back up for him.

I do wonder if he regularly visits the greenhouse, as hummingbirds are creatures of habit.

He also likes herbs.

hummingbird drinking basil

I never knew hummingbirds liked such things, did you?

By the way, I'm not quite sure if this little hummingbird is a he or a she.  In one photo I thought I spotted a red dot on his throat, indicating this might be an immature male.

Insulating and Winterizing the Greenhouse

The temperatures are dropping, and it's time to get my new greenhouse ready for winter!  I'd be thrilled to keep my greenhouse above 55°F (13°C) for the plants that I want to keep in there, but I'd be fine with above 45°F (7°C) with our winter temperatures. We're using a space heater right now to heat the greenhouse, but in order to keep energy costs down, we want to insulate it the best we can.

After researching insulation techniques, here are the things that we did:

1. Insulate the inside with bubble wrap.

We're still working on bubble wrapping the entire thing - it takes awhile!  We used the kind with larger bubbles.

2. Place styrofoam insulation around lower half of the interior walls.

We have wooden walls on the bottom of our greenhouse.  We bought some styrofoam insulation, as well as supplemented with all the random pieces of styrofoam (and boxes of styrofoam bits) that we have been saving.

3.  Fill up large containers with water.

The water helps stabilize the temperatures.  During the day they will warm up, and at night they will release heat.  The more containers, the better!

4.  Stop air from leaking through.

We put foam weatherstripping around the door, since that is where a lot of heat escapes.  I also plan to make a weatherproof cushion to place at the base of the door outside, to further insulate the gap at the bottom of the door.  On the inside, we have a blanket pushed up against the door.

We realized that we had a lot of heat escaping from the foundation of the greenhouse, where the greenhouse meets the base that it sits on.  Since we had already put the styrofoam on the interior, we decided not to spray foam insulation into the cracks (and such ventilation is good in summer anyway.)  Instead we put salt marsh hay (this area's equivalent to pine straw) around the exterior.  It immediately made a difference and helped tremendously in keeping the greenhouse warm.

I do realize we've probably just invited all the mice in the area to come stay in our nice hay filled bed.  Mr. Red House says they'll add body heat and be of help.  I have my doubts about that and just hope that they don't do too much damage to my flower bed.  (My next order of business is looking into rodent repellants!)

The other option I've seen is to dig a trench next to the greenhouse and half bury sheets of styrofoam right next to the exterior for insulation.  After just building a wall around my shade garden, we were not keen on doing more digging, and a trench would disrupt my flower beds, so we decided against it.

I have to give a shout out to Mr. Red House for all his help with the sensors in the greenhouse.  As soon as I talked about wanting a greenhouse, he's been excited to integrate as much technology as he could in there.  One day, thanks to my technology-loving husband, I'm sure I will end up locked in my own house by an evil computer, but other than that I have to admit that technology is very useful. (Don't let Mr. Red House know I think that.)

The sensors Mr. Red House has put in the greenhouse have been immensely handy, as they feed information about the greenhouse status wirelessly to my phone and computer.  For all those techies out there, here is what we have:

top: Aeon Labs MultiSensor
bottom: Smart Sense Multi Sensor

The Aeon Labs MultiSensor senses temperature, humidity, motion, and light levels.  I have it placed next to my plants.

The Smart Sense Multi Sensor is placed near the greenhouse roof and detects when it opens or closes, as well as what the temperature is up near the roof.

The awesome Mr. Red House has also made a nice app displaying my greenhouse stats in real time.  Check it out at the bottom of my blog page!

the display of my greenhouse stats around 1:30pm today

Our greenhouse is coming along pretty well, but I know temperatures will be even colder in a couple months.  If anyone has other ideas about how to insulate greenhouses, I'd love to hear them!

My New Red House

Well, I didn't even realize, but last week marked the third anniversary of the Red House Garden blog!

I can't believe it was only three years ago that I started this blog, as so very much has happened since then. I was sure that I would be gardening there at my first Red House for many, many years, but life does always have a way of surprising you.  As most of you know, last spring we moved to the Boston area.  I was sad to move, and I missed North Carolina and my Red House.  However, a project has been in the works ever since we moved, and I think my three year Blogiversary is a great time to unveil it...

My new Red House!

Mr. Red House (in the effort to get me to move up to the cold North) promised me that if I moved, he would get a greenhouse.  I honestly thought it would be a couple more years before we would be able to get one, but Mr. Red House was determined.  (After this very long winter, he was probably very motivated to do anything to help his cabin-fevered wife regain her sanity.)  And of course, if we were going to have a greenhouse, we knew it just had to be red!

my red greenhouse

The project started as soon as all the snow had melted after winter.  As handy as Mr. Red House is, a greenhouse was a little too big for him, so after a lot of research he found a company in Maine that builds hobby greenhouses. We first had a couple guys come out and help build a base for the greenhouse.

Tubes were buried in each of the corners and filled with concrete in order to bolt the timbers in place and avoid the problem of frost heaving.

Sticking out in the middle are lines for power and water.  After the base was done, I stained it red, and then the greenhouse was ready to be built!

The greenhouse company built the pieces for the greenhouse in their factory up in Maine, and then they assembled them in our backyard.  The assembly was fast, taking only a little more than a day.

Of course, my new Red House needed a garden around it!  Needless to say, my garden budget is shot for the next few years, however, I've still managed to start a garden around it using plants grown from seeds and pass-a-long plants from other gardeners. (Gardeners are some of the nicest bunch, don't you think?)

I am beyond excited about my new greenhouse.  I think we all know where I am going to spend this coming winter... 

Do you think I can plug a coffee maker in here?

And since I can start my seeds in the greenhouse, I'm sure my parents and other visitors will be very glad they won't have to share our guest room with hordes of seedlings and grow lights anymore :)

Some of you have wondered why I didn't change the name of my blog, and this is why - I knew we would eventually have some sort of Red House again. 

(And I'm so very excited to have it before the next winter hits!)

Happy Gardening from the new Red House Garden!