Finally! After a very long and cold winter, all snow has disappeared and I am digging in the dirt! Things are growing! Above is a picture of one of my most valuable plants. It's a hellebore and I grew it from seed!This will be it's second summer. If you know anything about hellebores, you know that growing them from seed takes a great deal of patience and sometimes two spring seasons. I am hoping more of the same seed will sprout this spring, maybe. Germinating hellebore seed is tricky. They are very expensive plants to buy but so beautiful and very hardy! This one was growing in the snow!
I also have primulas from seed. These little babies are doing well after their winter's sleep! I love primulas!
This year I am putting in a second cold frame. My first cold frame is already full! It is planted with all my tender bulbs. I just planted them directly into the soil in the bottom of the cold frame. They can grow in there permanently, although I will put one dahlia in the "chair". They filled the entire cold frame space and so I need another one. I have a small portable greenhouse, but it is very small and doesn't even hold my seedling trays, much less the larger trays of potted up plants. Don't take that wrong. I love my little greenhouse but I need more room.
It has been a couple of years since I installed the first cold frame. I had forgotten about the rocks! I think the builders buried all their excess rocks and boulders beside the deck where I have decided to put the cold frames! I can use the rocks in landscaping but they sure to make the digging a lot of work! Some are so heavy I can't lift them and just have to roll them out. Sometimes I sit in the hole and roll them out with my feet. (Anything to keep from having to ask for help! I'm ever so slightly independant...) Needless to say, I'm quite dirty when I come in (and my friends wonder how I get dirt in my hair! lol! I'm happiest when covered from head to toe in dirt! You?)It will be well worth the trouble.
I am considering making a three sided compost bin with pallets (skids) that sits beside the two coldframes. It will be so handy, right beside the deck where I can just walk out and toss the kitchen compost bucket in it during the wintertime.
That's a project that can wait until I have nothing else to do...(LOL! Now, that's funny!)
