Dirt

It took a day and a half to mix all of my dirt, excuse me, "growing medium" and fill the various pots and baskets. We were getting high winds this afternoon so I didn't finish spreading compost on the planter beds, but that shouldn't take long. This is what the compost load in the back of the truck looked like yesterday as I got started. I'm certain the guy at Rocky Mountain Compost gave me more than a cubic yard.

I tried to be precise in the early going to get a handle on how much each size container was taking, but after a while the measuring became more casual. In the image below, the three small grow bags at right marked with a green post and most of the hanging baskets (not pictured) got the strawberry/petunia mix, which was Promix and compost with vermiculite. Most of the containers shown here got garden soil and compost with some Promix and vermiculite. The other mix was the same as the previous one except I used perlite instead of vermiculite. That went into the two barely-visible small grow bags marked with two posts at lower left and most of the other relatively small containers such as the clay pots.

The planting beds got/will get straight compost, and I probably will mix in some vermiculite as I'm raking them. I'm going to have a little bit of compost left, and my hope is it will fit into my five buckets.

The large 15-gallon grow bags are dominating the middle of the above scene. I'm planning on moving one of them outside of the greenhouse to the side, and one to our house. I was relieved to find out that I could pick up a 15-gallon grow bag loaded with dirt...dry dirt. If they were waterlogged, I doubt it. A few of the other grow bags also will make it over to our house, but it will be this crowded in the greenhouse for a few weeks at least. BTW, the dead-looking plants in the back row are the mums, which were liberated from their holes a week ago. There is some new growth.

The mini greenhouse/shelving on the right contains the mint and rosemary which have been staying alive in the unheated greenhouse. It hasn't gotten below 30 outside in the past eight days. Add six degrees for being inside the greenhouse (and maybe a degree or two for being in the mini), and they have not been exposed to freezing temperatures. Since my AC Infinity app failed March 14 I don't really know how cold it has been getting in there. But I got a second Elitech temperature/humidity unit today and I will know from this point forward, AC Infinity be damned.

Outside the greenhouse, I placed this Home Depot oak barrel and filled it with the compost/soil/Promix/vermiculite mixture. I did water it down to expose any air pockets that would cause major settling, so there is no moving this one without taking the dirt out.

As soon as I finish spreading the compost on the planter beds, I'm going to turn on the heat to 40 and plant 75 onion sets. And with that, the growing season will be underway.