Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the middle of a Wisconsin winter

[politicalcenter]

Yesterday, I sowed more tomatoes, and marigolds. They're a cooking in my microwave right now.
I must be crazy, but I'm going to grow them indoors until I can set them out.

Plus, as I said, I want to sell some to recover my gardening costs. I figure $2.00 a plant* and they'll be pre-hardened off, unlike Lowe's and the greenhouses around here.

Speaking of Lowes: they have a rack where they give away all sorts of gardening containers. I get all my 6 packs and 1020 flats there. One year I even grabbed a huge clay pot with a crack in it.
Fixed it with some silicone and works just fine.
I can grab a bunch of plastic pots for selling my plants.
I've already made a flyer for how to plant tomatoes to hand out.
I LOVE talking to people, so I'm hoping my little stand will attract thousands of buyers!

*Is that a fair price? They'll be at least 6 inches tall. I plan on selling herbs, flowers and veggies that grow well up here. They aren't getting my artichokes! Or my indigo.

I am also growing plants to sell this spring and I have quite a variety started. I have brugmansia, Cardinal flower, butterfly weed , roses, sedum , ice plant, hardy hibiscus, creeping phlox, iris, strawberry, and I just started my first tomato and pepper plants. Oh ya...I also started some Coleus.
I have started other plant too.

Where you live 2 dollars per plant sounds fine. I will sell my tomato and pepper etc, for 2 dollars a six
pack. You may want a few Patio type plants (tomato and pepper) in even larger containers. Some people like to buy them that way.

I have learned one thing about selling plants that has proved useful. Bunch the flowering plants close enough together that they look like one big bloom. It attracts attention from a distance and makes an eye popping display. If you do it right you will hear brakes squeal as people turn around to look.

 

[lazy gardener]

NICE tip about jute or sisal. That would save having to sort the string out.
I can make a structure similar to a swing set to grow on easily enough.

I looked the beans up and they are impressive in size. I sometimes question the descriptions on seed sites they ALL sound positive. It did not say how tall but did say they need sturdy stakes to grow so must be large plants.
Burpee has them and I was going to place an order there anyway. I like interesting plants so why not.

Hard to get the family to try new or different veggies so I am trying to make it interesting without being disturbing to them. Purple beans would cross the weird line for them lol.

Remember that you can save your Fortex seed. I've been harvesting my own seed for about 15 years (give or take a few) Those seeds are expensive, so a good idea to let a few plants mature seed for next year's crop. An other must have is Suyo Long cuke. Also an heirloom, so you can save seed from a mature fruit, if you don't have it cross with anything else. Awesome cuke that grows very long. Tender skin, never bitter. Must be trellised to get fruit that doesn't curl.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I like the idea also of saving the seeds for next year. I will have to do some research on how to keep them ie: in the fridge or in a dry sealed container.

Going to be an interesting year!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I save a lot of different seeds, unfortunately some hybridize, and don't come true and others are F1 hybrids that are fixed so they don't produce viable seeds to protect a patent. So some things like marigolds and ageratums, I save and others like tomatoes and cukes I buy, I figure seed companies need to make money too.

 

[lazy gardener]

Cukes are super simple to save. You just let your best fruit (or 2) get over ripe, let them sit around till they are soft and very yellow, then scoop the seeds out and dry them. Beans are self pollinating, and most are not hybrids. Tomatoes, need to ferment in the liquid goo for a while. Then you pour off the goo, rinse and dry them. This process is supposed to kill any virus or other nasties that could affect next year's crop. I'm moving closer all the time to using NO hybrids in my garden. IMO, saving seeds from other sources, even from stuff you get at the store is a calculated gamble, if you have the room. Kind of like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get... but there might be some wonderful surprises there. Most seed from F1 hybrids will germinate, but won't breed true. Some breeders take an established hybrid, and work with that to develop a stable non hybrid.

 

[Miss Biddy]

Thank you for the hints! I like the idea about the flowers in particular

 

[21hens-incharge]

It catches my eye when I drive past a favorite greenhouse and see the flats of flowers from the highway. I have actually turned around to go have a closer look.
Bunching the blooming ones together works for sure. It gets me to stop in.

http://www.wayfair.com/Rion-Greenhouses-Automatic-Roof-Vent-Opener-702107-RG1140.html

Thinking about using the automatic vent opener in the link on the new greenhouse.
If anyone has experiences with that sort of thing I am interested in hearing your input on if it is durable or if I need to keep looking.

This is the style greenhouse I am going to build. Not buying a kit but making my own plans.

http://www.wayfair.com/Mt.-Rainier-GardenHouse-Extension-Kit-GKP8124EXT-UG1008.html#

I am looking at making mine an 8x8. Good size to start seedlings and maybe overwinter a couple things.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Very nice, very jealous, you will have to share photos when you get it built, you can be my guinea pig, what plant zone are you? I am a sucker for any plants this time of year, I end up with too many houseplants.

 

[21hens-incharge]

They say we are zone 5 but more like border between 4 and 5. Some years we are mild and zone 5 things will make it while other times it is a complete die off of all zone 5 plants.
I try to stick with zone 4 as my warmest plants. I have a few zone 6 things that make it every year. They are planted up against the south side right next to the drier vent. I think that is the only reason they are still making it.

I am mapping the yard on graph paper and watching the sun to figure out placement of the green house. I did plant several trees in the yard that are now large and cannot be moved easily. Have to think about when they are leafed out too.

I only want to do the build once. The chicken coop taught me to do it once and plan for expansion lol. I had 5 separate coops now just the one huge one. To much money and effort doing it over and over.

I am worried about the apple tree. We had fire blight last year move through the area. I lost a peach tree and a crab apple tree. The apple was hit pretty hard losing one large branch then later got necrotic leaf disease. It hit the main leader branch really hard. What I read on the issue was to let it pass and hope for the best. If the tree dies off I will be bummed but I guess that opens the space for other items. The tree is about 16 feet tall and 9 years in the ground. I got it as a 3 year old tree so pricey but not super expensive.
I did learn that Golden Delicious is the most likely to get both fire blight and the necrotic leaf disease. Wish I had known that before.

There will be pics for sure when I do the build.

 

[politicalcenter]

They say we are zone 5 but more like border between 4 and 5. Some years we are mild and zone 5 things will make it while other times it is a complete die off of all zone 5 plants.
I try to stick with zone 4 as my warmest plants. I have a few zone 6 things that make it every year. They are planted up against the south side right next to the drier vent. I think that is the only reason they are still making it.

I am mapping the yard on graph paper and watching the sun to figure out placement of the green house. I did plant several trees in the yard that are now large and cannot be moved easily. Have to think about when they are leafed out too.

I only want to do the build once. The chicken coop taught me to do it once and plan for expansion lol. I had 5 separate coops now just the one huge one. To much money and effort doing it over and over.

I am worried about the apple tree. We had fire blight last year move through the area. I lost a peach tree and a crab apple tree. The apple was hit pretty hard losing one large branch then later got necrotic leaf disease. It hit the main leader branch really hard. What I read on the issue was to let it pass and hope for the best. If the tree dies off I will be bummed but I guess that opens the space for other items. The tree is about 16 feet tall and 9 years in the ground. I got it as a 3 year old tree so pricey but not super expensive.
I did learn that Golden Delicious is the most likely to get both fire blight and the necrotic leaf disease. Wish I had known that before.

There will be pics for sure when I do the build.

I do not envy you. I can not imagine having to deal with a greenhouse in that kind of cold. I live in zone 7 and it is close to zone 8. In fact; we can grow zone 8 plants that die down in the winter using a heavy mulch.

Have you decided to heat? I would love to know your plan for heating.