theplantshack

Hello all – the greenhouse is full!!! I have some nice tomato plants for ready to go- they are in smaller containers and need to be moved up to a larger container but would be perfect in a kitchen window or on your deck – regular price $3.00 — sale price $1.50

I also have a few herb gardens in containers left – they feature basil, tarragon, chives, parsley etc in cute containers perfect for a sunny window. Those are $8.00 each

I have a few flower containers ready for your deck – come check them out.

Herb plants for sale $2.25 each – sage, parsley, lemon mint, tarragon, dill, cilantro

Hebs for sale this week – Sage, Mint, Oregano, Chamomile- sold out of basil right now

Veges for sale this week – Kale, baby onions, spinach, red leaf lettuce

Give me a call and set up a time to come visit- 787-9894! Happy Gardening!

We had a great day a hosting the assisted living folks from the Renissance Center. They took a field trip to my house and checked out the greenhouses, the bees, potted some heirloom tomato plants, played bocce ball, and we cooked cheeseburgers and made rootbeer floats. The weather was wonderful that day- I think the heavens shined down on us so we could have our outdoor bbq and the folks could enjoy a day outside!

Hey All – hope you covered your gardens last night – and lets hope that is our last frost for a while! Wanted to let you all know I have several varieties of tomato starts, some nice squash starts – most of them already have blossoms and squash and tomatillo starts- kale and broccoli too. Call me at 787-9894 if you would like to get some to plant this weekend! I also have some mixed herb containers perfect for your kitchen window or deck! Happy Gardening!

Had a nice day yesterday with the junior master gardeners at the greenhouse being built at the middle school. It is starting to really take shape now! We planted two bee friendly flower gardens in the front of the greenhouse. We spray painted containers and planted tomato plants for everyone to bring home to give to their dads for fathers day and we planted in John ‘the worm guys’ new invention. By the way John runs Rocky Mountain Worms – check out his website at www.rockymountainworms.com – he is the best resource around for compost, worms, worm castings, worm tea and all kinds of additives to really supercharge your soil for optimum growing. We think we should call his new invention Eco Bales… a bale of straw with an area cut out for planting – but even better than that the planting area is filled with worm castings, cut up paper, soil, and red wiggly worms. The worms are composting machines so we added some veges to compost and then planted a tomato plant, some heirloom tomatillo plants and some parsely and basil seeds. It will be such a neat garden in the bale. The photos show a new straw bale at my house- I will be planting in the bale later today!! Also I have some shots of the Junior Master Gardeners planting their straw bales! In one of the photos is also two large orange bags filled with dirt – those bags are something else I found and really like so far.They are potato grow bags I purchased online from  Gardeners Supply Company – a great gardening resource catalogue also online at www.gardeners.com. The bags are working really well and my potatoes have already sprouted! I will keep you posted on the progress of both the Eco Bales and the Grow bags. Well it is a beautiful day so I am off to work in the garden!!

We took some time yesterday to put up a new flag on our big flagpole and a small flag near the greenhouse. I love to see the flags out there waving! Take some time today to pay tribute to loved ones lost, to the men and women of our armed services- many will not be able to spend time with their families this weekend, to those troops who fought for our freedoms and paid with their lives. Our thanks to them is endless, their patriotism and service keeps our freedoms preserved and our way of life in tact. God Bless America and God Bless our families and friends!

After much work and time the new TUFF greenhouse is up and running. Much – well almost all the building credit goes to Ron and some very nice friends and brother in laws! It was alot of work but so worth it. Ron and I did the finishing touches last week when we put the plastic over the frame. The week before that we brought in 2 green truck loads of top soil and 3 loads of compost/soil pep mixture. All of which we had to shovel out of the truck ourselves! No need to work out at the gym that day!

I will start planting next week. I can’t wait! Getting ready right now for 90 7th graders to visit tomorrow! It should be a very good day. It is their field trip and it has been organized by Full Circle Education. We will be showing them the 2 styles of greenhouses here, the differences between hybrid and heirloom seeds, how to amend soil to achieve the best growth results and how the bees pollinate your plants. I have help from two very special people – Janet Kunz and Kate Yaskot! Thank goodness! I will let you know how we do and try to snap some photos!

My new friends are here and in their hives! It was a great trip to Twin Falls to pick up 2 packages of bees one is Carniolan Bees and the other is Hygienic Bees. We thought it would be good to try 2 different species this first year.

My girlfriend Penny joined me and we had a nice girls trip in addition to picking up the bees and learning more about the hives. The weather is not so great for the poor bees – they would like it a bit warmer. But they are in the hives and I am feeding them sugar water and pollen patties until they have something outside to pollinate. I am enjoying the experience so far- it is fun and exciting to learn about something new and get to be so hands on! Cant wait until we have some fresh honey.

The weather looks like more of the same cold and rainy for the next couple days. But by wednesday we should start to see some sunshine! Oh by the way- if you are traveling to Idaho Falls check the road report. We came home last night over 31 (swan valley pass) and it was really starting to flood down there. About half way up we ran into a small mud slide. They were flagging one lane at a time of traffic through but it must have gotten worse because the road is closed now! Just an FYI. Talk to you later!