Progress report on the Greenhouse

We've been working hard on building the high tunnel greenhouse.  Slowly it is coming together.  We ordered the plastic for the roof and it should be here on Tuesday of next week.   It is special for greenhouses, 6 mil thick, and has a 4 year guarantee (we'll see about that!).  Meanwhile we bought some plastic/fabric netting for the sides and some thick plastic (clear) that goes around the sides and rolls up on a long pvc tube when you want air into the building..  A neighbor has a used door we can have (combo storm/screen door).
This morning Harold was tying together the roof panels with wires :

By late afternoon, one side of the greenhouse had the netting on and support boards.

Here is a view from inside:

The roof panels are held inside with fence steeples.

Our ever-present cats were always "inspecting" the progress:

Besides the greenhouse work, today I worked on transplanting some of my seedlings.  The plants are looking very nice:

I turned on the grow lights for the evening.

If you recall, last September I collected a bunch of petunia seeds (see the post for 9-3-14) and wondered if they would germinate.  Well, I had almost 100% germination, and I have been thinning the trays for a couple weeks now, gradually.   Today I transplanted the crowded cell trays, and spread them out into larger trays to grow.  I still had to thin out a bunch.   You know, I just hate tossing out plants!  I tell myself:  "the poor things never had a chance"!  But I know it has to be done.  I must have had 1000 petunia seeds germinate, and several hundred are still around and growing!  For some reason, though, the yellow, white and blue striped ones never germinated.   I am thinking I either harvested them too late (after they froze) or they were too dry.   I'll have to do some internet research to figure out what happened, and if temps or time of collection make any difference.  The red, purple, and mixed colors germinated just fine.  Go figure.

Way too many petunia plants in one pot!  They need thinning and transplanting!

This is much better! Six or 8 plants to a pot. 

At least I proved that a person CAN save petunia seeds, and they will grow, and you can save a lot of money doing it yourself.  Yes, it's a lot of work, but I do love gardening! 

Stay tuned for further progress reports on the greenhouse!   I can't wait to get in there and start planting things!  One thing about having a closed in greenhouse, I can even work out there when it's raining or windy or even at night!  We have built this about 30 ft or so from the plug-in at the power pole, so there will be electricity in the greenhouse.   We need it anyway, as we are putting up a double layer of roof plastic with a small fan to blow air in between the layers.   This will serve as a cushion for any hail and winds that might puff out the roof too much - it will equalize the pressure.   I told Harold that I can already see that I want an extra set of garden tools for out there, a shelf for a radio (so I can listen to political talk radio, also my favorite Christian radio station,  and oldies!), and also some kind of small table for potting and setting supplies on without having to stoop too much.   Yep - this is going to be very enjoyable!