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A Room of One's Own

Thursday, January 17, 2013







Things that are good for the winter-weary soul.

I made a lot of noise about what a pain in the asp it was to build the Groanhouse. Well, it was. But even as I wrote those posts and cursed those curses, I kept a vision in mind that, in the end, it would all be worthwhile doing. That one day I'd have this fabulous structure I would love even more than I loved my little Garden Pod.




That vision was like the end-of-the-day glass of Sauvignon Blanc, waiting to soothe me as the sun sinks in glory. And it seems it has arrived.

All the plants are installed. The geraniums I tore so violently from their pots, the divisions that lost all their leaves and apparently died have all resprouted, and most are in full bud. I cannot wait until Graffitti Red breaks out in fireworks.



Happy Thought Pink won't be far behind. She has a flower the color of rose gentian.



Chet Baker and I spend a significant amount of time in the greenhouse, especially on sunny afternoons. Which are rare as Reba's upper lip this winter.





Don't let his expression fool you. Chet is very, very happy in this picture.



Most of the time, it's warm inside and cold outside, so the greenhouse is one big condensation tank. You can't see much through the windows.





It fairly drips with humidity. Which is really, really nice when you're feeling parched by forced air heat. It's relaxing, right, Chet?






On the rare warm day, touching 65, as it did on January 12 and 13, the temperature inside and outside equalize and the condensation momentarily disappears. O joy! And the greenhouse contents are revealed.






And it looks so cool, like something's going on in there. And something is. Growing and thriving and changing and blooming.







Come in!



the weather's fine.






Heat is provided by a little space heater (left corner) which runs off the gas which comes out of our land via a wellhead on the back 40. It's piped up the meadow and right into the house. That heater's been working overtime, but it looks like it's got what it takes to keep the place warm when the temps dip into the 20's. We'll see what happens should we hit the single digits.

9 comments:

I would love to have a green/groanhouse! However, I live in an area of Central Oregon with lots and lots of wind. Short of structural steel, I'm not sure the normally available ones would stand up... I have started my raised beds (I have 2, with 4 more planned this year), one of which has hoops and plastic over it. I've heeled in the rosemary there, and in spite of a low of 1 F, it's hanging in there. The beets are toast, however, but the ground is frozen in there and I can't get them out! We're in a warming trend, so I may be able to get them out and processed in the next few days.

How cool that you have your own gas well - makes choosing energy sources pretty easy!

What a bright happyplace! I'm glad that you and yours have this room of life and color to enjoy. Thanks for letting us see into and through it.

This comment is just for Chet Baker (a la that wonderful Far Side cartoon).

Blah blah blah, Chet Baker. Blah blah blah blah blah. Chet Baker blah blah blah blah blah.
Blah.

I'm so glad you have a happy ending to all your trials. Did you ever get all the weatherstripping in? I'd so love to have a collection of Geraniums. For now, I'm sticking with perennials, and taking the winter off.

Posted by Barbara Manicatide January 17, 2013 at 1:07 PM

I can just smell it! Isn't that one of the finest things about a greenhouse... the smell of growing green things in mid-winter?

Those two warm days you talk about January 12-13 made my daffodils pop up. I had to cover them loosely with leaves to prevent them from frosting in the future.

I adore your greenhouse. You Go You Virginia Wolf "Room of One's Own" great writer you.

I like your overall blog design..

Its seems unique...

Great creativity

So glad for a peek into your greenhouse and to find a greenhouse blogger who actually has plants and photos rather than giving instructions on how to choose and use a greenhouse but no 'show and tell' -- you know the kind?

Love your Boston terrier.

Salad mix in winter makes the groanhouse all worthwhile!

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