Blog
December 1, 2009
Winter is about here in Baldwin City, Kansas, but the weather has remained fairly warm. Below are some of the plants that are still hanging in there. Below the shots of die-hard plants are pictures inside my greenhouse.
Some of the aster blossoms have failed but others still look fresh.
Hollyhocks, purple decorative peppers that popped up in the front bed (probably from a pepper that fell out of a planter box) and a fern grow together at the edge of our front porch.
Halloween gourds and a pumpkin turkey that decorate the front proch (in front a of a sandstone rock that reveals my alma mater) have not become mushy yet.
Purple butterfly bush has about died out.
A bird's nest in the front yard maple tree is visible now that the leaves are gone.
Day lily
Some stubborn lettuce grows in the corner of one of my raised beds.
Some peppers from Pepper Joe's are still happy in the whiskey barrel.
Two shots below: a peach tree sprouted last summer and produced many peaches that the raccoons ate. The darker colored tree had died, which was disappointing since I liked to hand bird feeders on thebranches. Once the peach trees branches grew, there was no need to cut down the dead tree since the leaves covered it.
Keeping your greenhouse warm is a challenge if it's not framed with stone and glass and is piped and wired.
Below: my greenhouse is covered in thick plastic. I put "walls of water" around the tomatoes.
Hank the Tank and a window that faces east. You can see plants and bubble wrap through the glass.
Every little bit helps to keep the inside warm. On the south side of the greenhouse I stacked mulch and soil bags along thebase along with all the black items I could find, including an upside down snowboard.
This plant does not have water walls around it. I used bubble wrap and a plastic container that held apples instead.
A variety of kitchen greens grow from seed inside the greenhouse. I put them in small black plastic containers that sit inside a larger one to help retain heat.
Tosh tried to make pumpkin pies for culinary class as Ari pesters him.
I canned a lot this week--tomato, pepper and corn salsa along with pickled peppers and cucumbers.
My butterfly garden has grown well all summer and I expect it to be twice as lush next year.
Below: swallowtail butterflies emerged this week. Here they make their way up the netting to dry their wings.
This one had a very hard time, but eventually his wings unfolded.
A butterfly crawled around on Tosh a while before being released outside.
Here is one of the other butterflies after being released, getting its bearings in the garden.
A Monarch caterpillar has eaten about all it can of the milkweed growing in the whiskey barrel.
Here it is after forming the chrysalis.
A bee enjoys a Buddleia Honeycomb Butterfly Bush
Marvin, our aquarium algae-eater. He also likes zucchini.
A water hyacinth in my small pond. Theses floating plants multiply rapidly and make good cover for frogs and fish.
Below: what appear to be two sulphur moths
I plan to grow a variety of vegetables in my greenhouse this fall. Already the tomato seeds have sprouted. These will be transplanted into larger pots.