I planted the marigolds from our hanging baskets in the flower boxes in front of the greenhouse. The interweb says that deer don't like to eat marigolds. What they don't tell you is the deer will yank the marigolds out of the dirt, then spit them out when they discover they don't like them. I salvaged four of them and stuck them back in the dirt, and a few weeks later they were blooming again. The deer haven't bothered them since, so maybe it just required some personal experience on their part.
On Sept. 9, my wife said I needed to take a picture of the sunflower in our back yard, which was blooming. It grew from seed that had spilled out of a bird feeder, and I put a cage around it earlier in the summer to keep the deer from eating it. After I got this image that evening, I put the cage back over it but did not anchor it. Within two days the deer had knocked over the cage and destroyed the sunflower. A potted sunflower, also grown from bird seed and sheltered inside a cage in our yard until we got the greenhouse, survived for several months inside the greenhouse and died of natural causes at a ripe old age after it produced seeds. Next year I'll get some nicer sunflower seeds and figure out a way to protect them.
Final update, Oct. 17: Something, the deer I assume, yanked the marigolds out of the planters again last night. They look devastated and there will be no more replanting this late in the year. It makes me wonder what is going to happen when I put supposedly-deer resistant plants in the outdoor boxes next year. Our deer seem to eat everything except chives and cilantro.
Bird feeder volunteer two days before its demise.
The potted sunflower prospered in the greenhouse. August 14.
In October, the dried out greenhouse sunflower with seeds.
After getting all our dirt and utilities, it was time to start planting. We received a donation of three geraniums in baskets, a tomatillo, a sorrel plant, a big pot of beans, and two sage plants. I had a sunflower, a geranium, two WalMart mums, cilantro and various houseplants in pots. I took a ragged-looking pot of basil from our patio, which needed to be divided. I ended up with four plants in the planter and two in pots. I planted beets, radishes, carrots and cilantro. We had two dry-looking hanging baskets in our back yard containing marigolds and petunias, so I stuck the marigolds in the outside planters and put the petunias in a pot inside. On a whim, I stuck grocery store green onion bottoms and garlic in among the radishes and cilantro, and they both grew.
The greenhouse came with a temperature-controlled fan, which failed in mid-August. Temperatures often got over 100 degrees inside during this time, so I kept everything pretty well soaked and opened up as many windows as I could. It all survived until Jesse delivered a replacement fan.
August 25, surviving the heat
August 25, door, windows and vents all open
We had a trip planned for the first 10 days of September, so I set up a little automatic irrigation system to take care of most of the watering. It worked pretty well, but I took it down after we got back because I figured I would be over there anyway every few days to take care of everything. I'll set it up again in the spring.
Irrigation system in action Aug. 30 just before we left, cilantro, radishes, garlic and onions.
In September, I planted snow peas, broccoli and some cheap allium bulbs I got at WalMart.
September 10, six weeks after I thought it was too late to grow anything.
When the greenhouse arrived, I decided to place a small plaque inside in memory of my Dad, Jerry O'Neil. Horticulture and forestry were his professional life, and he passed along a love for plants to his first three children. I was the fourth, and I haven't had much of a chance to contribute to the family legacy until now. To read more about Jerry O'Neil and his family, go to https://www.thomasoneil.com/family/Jerry.html. The QR code below also will take you there. The second photo shows the plaque just inside the front door, and an Irish hurling ball.
Since we moved to Montana five years ago, we haven't had a garden. Most of the potted plants on our back patio have to be enclosed in cages to prevent the deer from eating them. For a larger planting space, either we would have to enclose an area with a tall fence, or get a greenhouse. We settled on the greenhouse, but for various reasons I won't bore you with (HOA) it was impractical to put next to our house.
My brother provided the solution. He wanted a greenhouse next to his Spruce Lodge vacation rental about a mile from our house, and graciously offered to let me pay to put one there.
But what kind of greenhouse? Chuck built our house five years ago, so we called him and asked if he could build one. He said when he put one on his own property, rather than build it himself he had one built and delivered by Frontier Rustic Designs of Norris, Montana. After we looked at Chuck's greenhouse and deciding it was something we liked, we took the 185-mile ride out to Norris on a Saturday. Their web site said they were open so we didn't call ahead...and there was no one there when we arrived. But they had plenty of finished greenhouses on their property awaiting delivery so we nosed around for a few hours. These weren't just plastic bubbles; they were beautiful rustic cedar buildings.
I saw a 16x9 that I really liked and that wasn't sold to anyone, but I wanted something larger. I originally ordered a 20x12, but they would have had to truck in the pieces and take two days to build it on site. Also it would have required a city building permit since it was more than 200 square feet. We switched to a 20x9, which they could build in Norris and deliver by truck. That 3-foot width reduction chopped the cost by a third, and at 180 square feet we didn't have to get a building permit.
We decided on a 24x18 gravel pad edged with 6-inch cedar timbers. That left two feet of gravel on the back and sides with seven feet in the front for chairs and outside planters. All we had to do was get our landscaper to build the pad and dig trenches for water and electric. I was hoping to have the pad done and take delivery in June, but by the time our landscaper got around to it, it was the end of July. I figured the growing season was shot.
The gravel pad and utilities, facing southwest.
Jesse Esh of Frontier Rustic Designs and his magic trailer arrived the morning of July 29. I was waiting next to the road to guide him into the property, and was so excited when he showed up that I put my phone on the back of my truck and forgot about it as I snapped pictures with a real camera. He passed by and I jumped in my truck to meet him at the pad, and the phone fell off the truck. I went back to find it later and it had gotten run over and ground screen-first into the gravel. Although it still powered on, the touchscreen was unusable and it was impossible to get my contacts off of it. I was doing "New phone, who dis?" for the next few weeks.
But I was excited to see the greenhouse. Jesse expertly maneuvered it into position with the hydraulic controls on his trailer, explained the features as his toddler did a few laps around it on his bike, and we were done.
Jesse arrives.
Backing in.
It's done.
You have to start somewhere.
Here is a drone video of the greenhouse taken the day it was installed. Spruce Lodge is the main house, and the City of Red Lodge is to the right. Hit the maximize button to see it full screen.
Here is a draft of the floor plan. A lot of the greenhouses we looked at had planter boxes all the way around, but that seemed cramped with a 9-foot width. Also, I wanted a bench as a work area and for potted plants, and an open area for larger potted plants. I put both of these on the north side.
Starting with one potted plant sitting alone in a planter, we started filling it up. I calculated I needed 50 bags of garden soil, which Home Depot delivered. To my surprise, it was exactly the right amount. This image is from Aug. 11 facing West. Three of the four planters have dirt, and I was holding back on the fourth (below the camera) to make sure we didn't have to drill holes in it for utilities. (We didn't.) A few things have been planted, and there are pots of stuff scattered around. By mid-August, the utilities were completed and all the dirt was in.
