It's not the zone

I still haven't put my Supertunias in baskets and am still awaiting delivery of the strawberries from Burpee. But even though I hope to be clear of both of those by early May, I will have to keep the heat on in the greenhouse into June.

But that's why I have a greenhouse. Without it, I never bothered to have a garden here in the Beartooth Mountains foothills (elevation 5,588 feet) because the growing season is so short. (And because the deer eat everything that isn't protected, but that's another story.) The planting Zone is 5a, but that doesn't give a complete picture. The zone just tells you the coldest it can get; it does not tell you how long winter lasts.

The average last frost date is June 9, and the average first frost date is Sept. 12. That is a growing season of only 95 days. Most of the larger cities in Alaska have a longer growing season.

Rapid City, SD (elevation 3,200 feet) where I grew up also is Zone 5a, but the frost dates are May 24 and Oct. 12 for a growing season of 141 days! Sioux Falls, SD (elevation 1,463) where I spent a large part of my career is Zone 4b-5a, but the growing season is longer than both of the others at 147 days. I'm guessing that is due to lower elevation. It can get very cold there, but it doesn't snow in June like it does here sometimes.

With the greenhouse, I tack extra time onto the growing season. Without heat it's probably an extra 4-6 weeks, and with heat it is 3+ months.

Here is how it looked today. (Why I take pictures with my phone when I have my little Canon with me is inexplicable.) Stuff is going on even though the main events are still weeks away.

The first image shows the bench with the shelves above, and the open area. I've decided the shelves will be mostly for succulents, and right now 10 Sempervivums are there, plus one Echeveria Purpusorum. The bench itself will keep only two of the plants shown, the oregano and rosemary in the middle of the back row. Obviously the seed starting trays are transient and their departure will leave plenty of room for succulents. The two 14" coir baskets above the bench will have strawberries and will remain in the greenhouse. The other ten coir baskets are all 16".

Big pots in the open area currently are my overwintered geranium, which looks great if a bit lopsided; sunflowers; my 2025 petunia which does not look good; and the hodgepodge pot with overwintered geranium and pentunia clones and volunteers. I'm thinking about wishing the old petunias into the cornfield and replacing them with two clones, just in front of the toolbox back on the bench. Above the open area are two borrowed geraniums. The one on the left has become stressed in just a week, I think because it is cooler here at night than it was in the greenhouse where it spent the winter.

To the right of the open area is the mini with the plastic cover removed. It would be 120 degrees in the mini if I left it on, so basically it is now a shelving unit. That's probably where the repotted 'Velveteen Aromatic' ™ and aloe and the extra rosemary and mint will reside. Some of the grow bags shown will end up at our house but most will remain here. The baskets shown here will have Supertunias and strawberries and eventually will be hanging outside somewhere. The strawberry bed is over by the window and is currently lined by mint plants that will go elsewhere.

Not shown are the beds along the south wall because there's not much going on yet. There are two baskets with peas. All six seeds have sprouted in one basket, but only three in the other. I don't know if I should thin the one basket to three, which was sort of the original plan, or just let it ride. I'll hang those baskets outside next to the strawberry bed, and eventually turn them over to cucumbers sometime in June.

When I acquired this greenhouse last year and filled the beds up with 50 bags of typical garden soil, I did not anticipate that I would transition within a year into an Australian woman of Asian descent. Look up "succulents" on YouTube and you'll see what I mean. "Growing Succulents with LizK" is the best example. LizK has done 776 videos on succulents in five years, one every couple of days. I've acquired a lot of succulents just since the end of January, more than 80, and succulents require a different type of soil than tomatoes. The 2026 growing season isn't underway yet and already I am thinking of making major changes to the two planting beds on the west side which currently have lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and onions. I might transition them to hardy succulents (Sempervivum, Sedum and Delosperma) and hard herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage). In order to do this, I need to replace a substantial amount of the garden soil with pumice or something similar. Rough estimate: 14 cubic feet to replace 50% of the soil to a depth of one foot. Where do I buy half a yard of pumice?

The two east beds would remain flowers, strawberries and soft herbs, and I'll still have various grow pots with vegetables, flowers and herbs.

Strawberries, the hardy succulents and some of the hard herbs would remain in the beds over winter. Rosemary, marjoram and golden sage are borderline and might have to go to the garage, but thyme, oregano and regular sage should be able to overwinter. One of the sage plants I had has died, but I think it was due to bugs, not the weather. Anyway, best case, three of the four planting beds would be primarily hardy perennials. No seed starting, no plant buying, no succession planting, and (except for the strawbs) minimal watering. I'm talking myself into it.