The greenhouse has been in operation for a couple of months now, and beginning to show some results.  Since this is my first real experience with one, I’m learning as I go along, and there are some surprises along the way.  For one thing, it is very efficient at gathering heat on sunny days.

We’ve had a warmer than normal winter with a couple of days even making it into the 90’s during February and March. There’s usually 20-50 degrees difference between the inside and outside temperature on a sunny day, so the interior temperature of the greenhouse has reached 120 degrees or more on the warmest days.  This is true even with the thermostatically-controlled vent and fan.  As a result, I’ve gotten into the habit of opening one or both doors on those days when it will be above about 70 degrees outside.

Along with the heat, it’s been very dry and windy.  This means I’ve had to water more often since the wind really dries plants out quickly, but it has been gratifying to see the greenhouse withstand winds of over 50 miles per hour!  The plants seem to thrive in spite of the heat however.

The hibiscus shown at the top of this page was rescued from the front porch just before  the hard freezes in January  and just produced its first flower the other day.  The veggies in the large “bins” are growing quickly also.  Soon there will be lettuce, greens, chard, beets and radishes for dinner!

Brindle and P.T. are very curious about all this of course.  Since the greenhouse has been closed for most of the winter, they’re not sure going inside is wise — “what y’all doing in there?” seems to be their question . . .