Updates from the Greenhouse

Today was the first snow fall of the season.  Nothing stuck.  It was barely enough to even say it snowed but....infact it did...kinda.

So this year was the first time I have ever tried to grow anything that can be eaten.  Until reacently I had a huge black thumb.  I couldn't keep anything alive unless it was planted outside....and sometimes not even then.  But something changed.  With my Greenhouse I have come to trully enjoy gardening and found out that I do have a bit of a green thumb...it just takes patience. 
Anyways I have been turning on a small heater on the greenhouse floor every night and it seems to keep the over all temp above 40.  Now I was smart and the heater is on the floor....heating up the dirt and so on...as heat rises I put the guage near the top....this way I know that above the plants it is staying over freezing.  So far it seems to have worked.  The damage was already done for the tomato plants but with luck they can hold on long enough to rippen the fruits on the plant.  So here are some visuals of what is now going on.

After some pruning to remove the dead branches and a few tomatoes gone bad this is what Bob looked like.  I tried to cut as much back as I could so that what was left would have a chance.

Here is one of his tomatoes.  Still small but looks good.  Can't wait for them to start turning.....I do hope that they still will.

And like her counter part Bobbet here got a good pruning as well.  She had a lot less to cut off except for the top.  But again I wanted to give the tomatoes on her the best chance they have of maturing

A really cool picture that almost includes all her tomatoes.  Most are indeed still to small like the others but with some luck and a few more not quite so cold days maybe they will finally mature.






The pepper plants on the other hand have needed no trimming.  I belive part of this is due to their location.  They are along the north wall...which is right up against my house....and they are about a foot away from the west wall.  The tomatoes are all along the south wall.  They get the colder windows.  Not sure if this is the reason or not but thats what I think.  The top few leaves on the tallest of the pepper plants have begun to crisp but the peppers themselves still seem to be growing.

I stood on my tippie toes to get this pick from over the peppers.  They weren't supposed to be this close together but somehow they are.  But they don't seem to mind.   The ones that are the tallest seem to be having the most problem with crispyness in the leaves....but other than that all seems to be ok.

Something I have found out that unlike tomatoes peppers don't have a universal shape.  Granted in the store they all pretty much look the same...and most of mine are but how they get that way is not the same.  This guy here is long and skinny...but I have others that are short and fat. 

While my son and I were checking out the plants a few weeks ago this little pepper fell off.  Total length is less than 2".  But it was cool to look at.

Although small they packed quite a punch.  They tasted very good.  These are the first of the peppers that were actually picked.  I could have waited longer but I really wanted to try them.

Here is one of those 2 peppers that were harvested.  You may have to enlarge the picture but if you look close you can see black dots...nope not bugs...the seeds.  Proof that I guess I should have waited longer to harvest.  But something that I learned about peppers is that the seeds are  not mature untill the pepper is ripe.  Now here is the kicker a pepper isn't ripe till it is red...much like a tomato.  So did I harvest too soon?  Well no actually.  To get a Green Pepper I have to harvest before they turn yellow and then red.  Could I have waited another week or so?  Absolutly it would have been bigger. 

This year gardening has been full of surprises.  Things I didn't think would grow did...and some didn't.  Others well lets just say I have learned a lot.  I don't regret anything that I have done as next time I will know better.  I will learn from my mistakes. 

Gardening has be educational in my house.  The kids are learning how things grow...the most basic circle of life.  Shannon was most interested in harvesting the plants and then the seeds.  She now loves salad all because I grew some lettuce and she just had to try....after she helped me harvest and cut it up.  Aiden has learned that not everything can be touched.  Sometimes peppers fall if you touch them.  But he has also seen tiny plants become large ones and then watched them develop.  Infact he was the one that told me a tomato was turning different colors.  Just a simple observation but he knew that it ment something else was going on with the plant.

I will try to update on the garden's as often as things change....hopefully it's another harvest.