My Indoor Zippered Greenhouse! LOVE it!!

You may remember me talking about greenhouses last month, well, I bought one.  No, not one of those lovely larger outdoor beauties (I WISH), but an indoor zippered greenhouse with shelves.  They have them at Big Lots for $20.  Here it is with my starters going strong:

And HERE is my heirloom tomato plants growing heartily!  If it looks like there's too many in each cup, that's because there is.  We gardeners sometimes plant more than one seed, just in case one doesn't germinate, then 'thin' them.  Well, I hate thinning...not because of the work, but because I HATE throwing perfectly good plants away.  So, tomorrow my bestie is coming by with her starter cells, and as I thin the weeker ones out, she's going to plant them into her flats.  This way, none will go to waste!!  I HATE waste!!  Don't they look lovely?!  They're gorgeous!

My Basil harvest of 2010

I love the smell of basil...so I grew at least 5 varieties last year, and have started about 7 or so varieties for this year.  Below is the picture of the dried and bagged seed harvest of my basil plants from last year.  I think it's safe to say I have plenty of basil seeds, lol...especially since each tiny pod holds no less than 2 tiny black seeds, with some holding up to 5!  If you're in need of some basil seeds, let me know...maybe we can do a seed swap or something.



I have Boxwood, Lemon, Thai, Cinnamon, and SOME reg. Sweet Basil.
This year, I'm adding Spiced Globe and Licorice!

You've heard how marigolds among your plants help to keep the bugs away, but did you know that basil does an even BETTER job?  The marigolds work from the roots, not the greens or flowers, so they help keep those kinds of bugs that like bore, or head for the root and such, but BASIL will help keep your garden smelling WONDERFUL, AND once mature, will keep the mosquitos to a minimum for while you're working in the garden in the evenings, plus many other bugs.  I planted a gorgeous boxwood basil about every 2 feet along the outside of my raised bed on both sides of the tomato bed....and you know what?  we had NO bugs in our garden AT ALL!  none, zilch, and only occassionally had to swat a mostiquito...the basil works perfect.  Also, keep a pot of basil growing outside on or near your patio, for when you entertain, to help keep the mostiquitos away (or even a small pot sitting in the center as a centerpiece).

I have bunnies in my GARDEN again!! grrr

This is LAST YEAR'S pic, but this is the basic idea of what we do...we walk the garden, lol
As SOON as I say, 'lets go to the garden' the dogs are waiting at the door, then race each other
down to the garden and stand at the gate and wait for me to open it, lol  they're hilarious!

So, many times a week, the dogs and I go down to the garden for a walk-thru, I love my garden, love being inside that fence, lol.  Mainly, because last year, the guy I bought my topsoil from gave me JUNK topsoil, meaning rocks galore!!  So after each rain, the dogs and I go down and pick rocks out of each of the garden bed, then I run my Weasel through and wait for the next rain and we do it all over again...of course Angel, AKA Booker, the rat terrier, has a rock fetish, so I have to watch her, for she'll snatch a rock in her mouth and run off with it...idiot dog.  So yesterday, I look for Sienna, the golden, and she's fixating.  Ok, for ya'll that know how golden retrievers, they are just that, golden and they love to retrieve, but when they retrieve, they focus on the object, that way they know exactly where to run to get the item as it falls from the sky.  Well, Sienna fixates continuously, all day long...a chewy, something that she doesn't even know what it is on the book shelf or counter, it doesn't matter.  So, back to the garden, she's fixating on a spot UNDER a low white metal garden that I have centered in the middle for the sprinkler to rest on.  I go over and see just dried grass, but it's in a swirl, so I know something's down there.  I ask her, 'whats down there girl?' and she reaches under with her paw and pulls the grass back to show me bunny fur (the mamas put their shedded fur in the nest to help keep the babies warm).  She looked at me as if to ask, 'can I have them?' lol  then I'm like OMG, ok, dogs, everyone out of the garden...which they didn't do. I had to swat them to run them to the gate, then they ran back to the nest, then I did it again...it took several swats to get them out of the garden.  Then once out of the garden, they circled it.  Like the bunnies were gonna jump out for them.

ughhhh, why me???  seriously!  and since it's so early, I know that it's a nest, and the babies probably don't even have hair on them, so I have to leave them for a bit.  ughhhh, whyyyyyyyyyyy me?????  The fense this year will be double reinforced with rabbit wire...we have chicken wire halfway up...we'll move the chicken wire to the top half of the fence and put the tougher and tighter (and more expensive) rabbit wire on the bottom half of the garden...which means, a very busy weekend!!!