During the winter Bill starts his selection of seeds in containers under lights in the kitchen. Camomile tea is used to prevent dampening off. When the seedlings are big enough he pricks them out and plants them in plastic six packs. When the seedling are well established Bill bundles up the trays of seedlings in covers and ferries them outside to the greenhouse which is attached to the south end of his workshop. This greenhouse is heated with a wood stove. Many temperate perennials (leptospermum, callistemon, eucalyptus, Martha Washington geraniums, lantanas, fuchsias, figs and phormium tenax to name a few) are wintered over here in pots. We have two pit greenhouses. The newer pit greenhouse is used in mid-spring for the seedlings and it is heated by a woodstove which is only used for really cold nights. During the day the sun warms the space. Bill constructed the greenhouse so that its floor is four feet below ground level to make use of the ambient heat of the earth. Bill moves the trays of seedlings from the first workshop greenhouse to this pit greenhouse when there is enough warmth in the sunshine to heat the pit greenhouse and when he becomes desperate for space. |
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Bill maintains a close watch on the weather, opening the door and two windows if the pit greenhouse gets too warm. On frosty evenings he stokes the woodstove for the night. Each morning Bill checks the plants for moisture and waters them if necessary. As the season gets warmer watering becomes critical. He uses shade cloth spread over the tops of the plants to prevent burning of the leaves on really hot and sunny days. We are considering the feasibility of installing a solar fan. |
When they have matured sufficiently the plants are taken from the greenhouse and potted up in 4" pots. These potted plants are then kept in plunge beds until they are ready for sale or for planting in our gardens. In the plunge beds the same vigilance is needed for moisture and shade. The plunge beds are located just south of the pit greenhouse. They are made with a frame of barnboards in 4' by 8' rectangles. We put sawdust inside the frames and "plunge" or sink the pots of plants into this material. Each plunge bed has removable lids which are made of smaller frames of 1x1 pine with shade cloth stapled over the top. At the beginning of the season these shade covers aren't needed. Later in the season plants are sorted so that the sun lovers are together in one area that does not have to have the shade covers while plants that require shade are adequately sheltered by these lids. |
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In winter the plunge beds are used as storage places for plant stock held over at the end of the season. We used to fill the plunge frames with raked leaves so that the plants were all covered for the cold season. We don't bother to do this any longer and the plants seems to survive just as well. Cleaning up the pots of plants in spring is much easier without all that leaf mulch to remove!
In this photo you can see the mirrors on the back wall of the greenhouse. These reflect light on to the plants. The peafowl love to sit outside the greenhouse gazing in at their reflections in the mirrors! |
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The original pit greenhouse was built over twenty years ago. A back hoe dug a wide trench into a steep bank. The trench was then lined with concrete blocks and the top portion of the greenhouse built on this base. Recycled glass was used for the slanted windows on the south side. The soil from the trench was pulled up over the roof and plantings of sempervivums made in a berm-like area. Planting benches full of soil line the southern side of the greenhouse.
Steps lead a path down to the entrance of the greenhouse at the western and lower edge of the bank. The door in the photograph leads into a porch and storage area. A heavily insulated door opens from inside this area into the greenhouse. There is a window on the eastern end of the greenhouse which can be opened for ventilation. We heat the greenhouse through the winter with one 100 watt light bulb. The plants we house here for winter include figs, agapanthus, crape myrtles and cymbidium orchids. In the autumn we stockpile containers of water so that in late winter when the blanket of snow starts to recede from the windows and the plants need water we don't have to haul buckets through the snow. |
| Other winter storage areas for plants include an addition which Bill and a friend built on to our home. For want of a better name we call it the Greenroom. There is no heating in the room though some warmth comes through the french doors from the living room. The winter sun warms the room surprisingly, especially in late winter. This is a delightful place to sitting with a cup of coffee amidst the greenery, looking out on the winter landscape in the woodland garden. |
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In the floor of this room there is a soil filled garden bed. In this bed we have planted a permanent assortment of temperate plants. Passion flowers, jasmine and potato vines twine around some birch trees which were cut down and then placed in the bed. Bamboo and nandina do well here. A few exotics such as the kowhai trees from New Zealand are also housed here for winter. Plantings of gerbera and begonias, daffodils and ivy fill up the bed and provide us with colour early in the new year.
On the tiled area of the floor we have pots of plants that will be outside on the patio in warmer weather. We are able to winter over large patio pots of figs and bamboo. The clivias blossom beautifully in the late winter. These pots sit in the shade of some birch trees for the summer and look luxuriant with their long straplike leaves. There are hanging pots of cactus which bloom at Christmas time and in early spring. We hang these pots in an old apple tree for the summer. |