And the beat goes on.

My gardening book says that a Calceolaria plant should be discarded when it stops blooming.

That is all well and good, but, it seems the plant did not read the book, as it just continues to bloom week after week.

It could also be because I did not follow the book's instructions regarding growing Calceolaria. It makes me wonder if anyone else has ever tried growing one of these hydroponically under lights.

Planted my cucumbers.

The sun finally decided to make a rare appearance today, so I decided to transplant my cucumbers into AutoPots and get them into the greenhouse.

These are Little Leaf cucumbers, and they are living up to their name, as the leaves are indeed small.

I found the following description online:

Compact plant produces high yields of small emerald green color cucumbers. An excellent cucumber for salads and pickling. This parthenocarpic plant produces cucumbers without pollinators. Does well under adverse weather conditions. Developed by the University of Arkansas. Disease Resistant: Angular Leaf Spot, Anthracnose, Bacterial Wilt, Cucumber Mosaic Virus, Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew.

The seeds were not all that expensive and let's face it two people do not need a lot of cucumbers. I may very well grow these indoors next winter also.

The season is officially underway.

Today I spent just about the entire day soaking and mixing coco coir and perlite and planting tomatoes. While I was engaged in doing this, the outside temperatures were in the low 40s, and the wind was howling like a banshee. At one point, tiny flakes of ice crystals were striking the polycarbonate panels. What a strange day to be planting tomatoes.

As the forecast for tonight calls for temperatures in the lower 20s I have added a small oil filled electric heater to the greenhouse, in addition to the small forced air heater. Both units are set for the mid forties,however, along with residual heat from the day I will not be raising the temperature all that much. The trade off of running the lights should compensate for the heat

The photo above is the south facing side of the greenhouse, and that is the side where I am using the tomato specific nutrients. The opposite side has also been planted, except for two pots which are reserved for cucumbers.

I hope this one performs as advertised.

Today I planted another autopot with a Trust tomato plant. This plant will be receiving the general purpose nutrients using the same TDS levels as the tomato specific nutrients. As I have several of each variety, I will try the different cultivars on both types of nutrients, but I really do not expect to see much of a difference in growth or yield.

This variety was developed by DeRuiters of Holland and is a hybrid known for heavy production and exceptional taste. Sometime in July I will clone another batch of these plants, and, I will at some point save and plant the seeds just to see what the F2 generation is like. And, a comparison of the performance of this variety to the "plain Jane" Super Beefsteak should be indeed interesting.

In my part of the world April is usually a dismal month, and this year our April weather has been particularly dismal. Still, I will be adding even more plants to the greenhouse this week, but I am holding off on the cucumbers for at least another two weeks.

More tomato tests.

Like everyone else I am anxious to begin the new gardening season, however, I am starting very slowly this year as the weather has been unpredictable.

The night temperatures have been running in the lower thirties, so I have been bringing the tomato plants into the greenhouse during the day, and returning them to the indoor growing area in the evening.

In spite of my near disaster with damping off; this year's plants are among the best ever. They have developed to the point that I must either plant them in autopots, or transplant them again into larger pots. The plants intended for the garden have already been transplanted to larger pots, but I have been holding off on the greenhouse plants waiting for better weather.

Today I planted a Cobra tomato plant in my home built autopot and filled the reservoir. Drip line valves have been placed in the feed lines so that I can control the flow of nutrients to each of the trays, and I am only running nutrients to this one system. I will risk the elements and leave this one system in the greenhouse at night, as long as there is no danger of a freeze.

This year I will be taking a more conservative approach to nutrient levels, so from transplant to second cluster I will maintain the level between 800 and 1,100 TDS. The reservoir, as it now stands, is at 817 with a pH of 6.1, which is exactly on target. Additionally, I will run two different types of nutrients to determine if nutrients intended strictly for tomatoes produce better results than general purpose nutrients.

The plant in the lower photo is a Burpee Super Beefsteak that I originally intended for the garden. I only planted two of these, and both plants are very very impressive. I intend to grow one of the Super Beefsteak tomato plants in the greenhouse to compare to the high priced hybrids bred for greenhouse growing. As usual, time will tell..

Finally finished!

The greenhouse preparation is finally complete, and all I need now is for Mother Nature to begin cooperating and provide some decent weather.

I have installed the plant support systems, feed lines, solar vent openers, ventilation fan and heater.

In addition to the autopots I have several self watering containers, that I will use for flowers, and to grow lettuce that I intend to let go to seed.

As we get a lot of dismal days in the spring, I have added supplemental lighting to use on dismal days.

Finally, a lazy man's greenhouse

I spent the last two days getting the greenhouse in shape for this year's growing season. All of the major preparation is pretty much complete, with only a few minor chores remaining. I still have to install supports on the left side for the tomatoes and cucumbers. And, I still have to install the automatic vent openers and run the feed lines to the autopots.

As a result of someone giving up hydroponic growing, and giving me their autopots, I now have enough autopots so that I can use them exclusively. It will be a much neater operation, as all of the pots will all be gravity fed from the two large reservoirs on the top shelf in the back of the greenhouse. The only pump I will have to run is a two outlet air pump to aerate the nutrients in the reservoirs. There will no longer be a need for timers, or other electrical devices, which makes for a pretty energy efficient operation.

Each day I place the trays of seedlings in the greenhouse, and I return them to the indoor growing area before the sun sets. I will wait a little longer, until the night temperatures are running in the mid to upper forties, before I plant in the autopots and officially open the greenhouse for the season.