The Moosey Glass-House
My glass-house is in the back corner of the house gardens, near the water race and the shade of the Wattle Woods. Naturally I do lots of important garden things in here...
Selfie - Me in My Glass-House
It is surrounded by gardens, with small paths leading past rugosa roses to the not-so distant leafy woods. On sheltered side I have laid out tables where my cuttings and seedlings are hardened off.
My Glasshouse
Haphazard Horticulture
The space inside my glass-house is my horticultural hub. I use the word 'horticultural' in the loosest possible sense, as my regime of growing and watering seedlings and cuttings is at best haphazard.
A Romantic Retreat
There's a romantic air about a small glass-house nestled in a leafy garden, and many visitors ogle and coo at the sight of mine. It looks cosy and peaceful in the warm embrace of the majestic Wattles, particularly when its surrounding lawns have been neatly mowed. In spring and summer the Glass-House Gardens are full of life and flower colour.
In late-winter the Wattles are in bright yellow bloom. Two cosy garden benches have been placed in the lawn on either side of the glass-house door, to rest and enjoy the views after a pottering session.
Spring Glass-House and Wattle Flowering
My glass-house is a retreat, a warm little potting shed where relaxing cups of coffee sit on the bench, as the gardener, mellow, simply potters. When the outside temperature is a little crisp, it's a magic, sheltered place to be.
Moosey's Messy Glass-house
Never mind the mess...
Never mind that there are towers of pots and containers to be sorted, or that the floor is full of dead and abandoned gardening tools, or that there are old seeds in faded envelopes, and a mouse has been chewing things...
Spring seedlings...
Inside the spring glasshouse, pots and pots of seedlings cover the benches. Seed (from flowering annuals) has been gathered from the garden, while some has been ordered from my favourite seed catalogue. There are a dew select vegetables. I read up about my seeds' needs and predicted dimensions carefully. It's just a pity that I don't ever remember these when later planting out!
Inside My Glass-House
And cuttings...
My cuttings get used to my come-and-go moods of glass-house righteousness. They aren't impressed with my consistency, but soon enough they're outside, potted in their own personal pots and enjoying natural sun.
Tomatoes in pots...
I have grown tomatoes in my glass-house in large pots. The little plants look so full of promise, and I solemnly make my glass-house resolutions. There will be stakes. I will not slacken off my watering habits. I will feed my tomatoes. And I will be a vigilante destroyer of the dreaded whitefly.
Wily Whiteflies
In summer, every summer, it's the wily whitefly that get me. I use the friendliest sprays (pyrethrum based) first, but the little critters seem to cling on underneath the lowest leaves. Whitefly can have a life cycle of three days, so I make a roster of days with boxes to tick and pin it to the laundry wall.
But I miss out days, and then I run out of spray, and then I give up. Watering the pots and harvesting the tomatoes in summer is hazardous, as clouds of whitefly get up my nose. I try to hold my breath as I zoom in, grab, and zoom out. This is ridiculous!
Given up...
Then suddenly it's autumn, and I've given up on the tomatoes - maybe next year I'll be better organised. Maybe I can smoke those pests out, or use up the fly spray from the house. Or better still - try some Neem oil. Whitefly, beware! Next summer I'll definitely get you!
Gardener's Glass-House
Looking Ahead
In the months to come I'll use the glass-house to shelter for the frost tender plants that I use in plantings everywhere - pelargoniums with the variegated leaves, and the peppermint big-leaf type, daisies, penstemons that I've divided up and repotted, and salvias. The glass-house isn't heated, but our winter temperatures rarely drop below minus six degrees (Celsius) of frost. And winter days are often sunny.
I'll clean up the leaning towers of pots, and I'll cut out lots of plastic labels. I'll buy a new permanent marker pen. I'll become the tidiest, best organised small glass-house owner ever. At the end of winter it's time to get the next lot of cuttings going, and start the pansy seeds that I've collected and optimistically labelled 'big purple'. And will the variegated Honesty seeds bring me the same joy that their parent plants have? Ooh, I hope so...
My Summer Glass-House