April Greenhouse Tour

It’s time for another virtual tour of our greenhouse to show what’s growing in there in early April. It’s a busy place this time of year, with lots of flats of seedlings and greens growing in containers and in the beds. I like to work out there when the weather permits, doing cleaning and transplanting as needed. There’s so much growing at the moment it is hard to navigate!

view from the greenhouse door

I’ve got lots of lettuce growing at this point, and we have been enjoying it at every opportunity. I’m growing quite a bit in salad boxes, and replacing plants as they are harvested and space is available.

lettuce growing in salad box

lettuce ready to plant

I have Grazion, Starfighter, Bergam’s Green and Hyper Red Rumple Waved planted in the beds, and those plants are growing big and lush in the fertile soil.

green leaf lettuce

The shelves are starting to fill up with flats of seedlings. Some of the brassicas are ready to be potted into individual pots, and some will get planted out directly from the plug flat.

plug flat of brassicas

I always start a few eggplants for growing in containers and giving us a jump start on the season. I have Icicle, Fairy Tale and Gretel growing in 3.5 inch pots, and these three AAS Winners always do well for me in containers. It will be time to plant them out soon, once I am sure danger of frost has passed us.

eggplant seedlings

I also have have quite a few annual flowers out there, and this E3 Easy Wave Pink Cosmo petunia is already blooming in the 3.5″ pot. I’m growing several of the E3 Easy Wave varieties, which are bred to be early flowering.

E3 Easy Wave Pink Cosmo petunia

I have selection of various greens planted in containers that are sitting on the ground and walkway in the greenhouse. Some of the earliest planted ones are starting to flower, like the Mizspoona Salad Select and Miz America mizuna. I am still harvesting them though, and the leaves have remained tender and mild tasting.

Mizspoona Salad Select flowering

The Dragon’s Fire arugula was planted a bit later, and is still going strong. The leaves are small but zesty, and I have made quite a few cuttings on it already.

Dragon’s Fire arugula

I only recently planted the Tuscan Baby Leaf kale and haven’t harvested any of it yet. The leaves can be harvested individually in a cut-and-come-again manner, and when they are small I like to add them to salads where the mild and sweet flavor can shine. They will be making an appearance in our salads soon as they have really taken off after planting in the container.

Tuscan Baby Leaf kale

Last fall I set out about a dozen kale and collard plants in the greenhouse beds, and sadly they all froze to the ground after a bitterly cold night in late December. Much to my surprise, several of the collards began sprouting leaves from the roots! I made one cutting of them so far, and it looks like I will have enough leaves for a second harvest soon.

young collard leaves

Like the kale and collards, the parsley froze to the ground but it too has come out with a lot of new leaves and is keeping us well supplied with one of my favorite herbs. Since parsley is a biannual, the overwintered plants will soon begin flowering. I have new plants ready to go in at that time, but until then we will enjoy the bumper crop of leaves currently available.

overwintered parsley in greenhouse bed

The protected environment always encourages pests to grow, and this year the aphids seem to be especially bad. They are easy to wash off in small numbers at harvest time, but if they get too numerous they will suck the life out of the plants. So far they have been manageable, but I suspect they will only continue to get worse as the weather warms up more and more.

aphids on lettuce leaf

I hope you enjoyed this look at what’s growing in the greenhouse. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres – including another Harvest Monday!