Zack and I were surprised when, a couple of days ago, we noticed that some of the seeds we planted had already started to sprout. They were hardly noticeable, just barely poking their heads out of the soil. I wasn’t expecting to see growth that early as the dining room, where we have the seeds growing, is a bit on the chilly side. We even put a plastic cover over the carton because of this, but noticed quite a lot of condensation building up. To avoid mold growth, we poked a few extra holes in the plastic and it seems to be working. This week, because we were waiting for the seeds we were planting to grow enough to measure,, Zack and I decided it would be a good idea to get outside and start preparing the greenhouse for growing our seedlings. For cleaning, I’ve always used a bleach/water mix for my greenhouse and gardening tools, even though there are many other ready made products available. I tend to stick with bleach, probably because I always have some on hand, and I know it works. We used some scrub brushes and cloths and made sure we were wearing clothes that didn’t matter if we got bleach on them. Zack was a pretty big helper scrubbing pots and containers and was very pleased to be using protective gloves. They made him feel like a ‘big boy’ and he was very careful not to splash the solution. (He would proudly reminded me every few minutes how careful he was being!) Thankfully, there weren’t any signs of mildew or fungus so it wasn’t a difficult job. This coming week, because the weather still isn’t prime for growing, and the seeds have just begun to sprout, I don’t think there will be a lot more we can do in terms of preparing our greenhouse for growing. I think, to stay on the  topic of gardening, Zack and I will head out into the main garden and pull some weeds while they are still small and relatively easy to pull out.

https://ag.umass.edu/greenhouse-floriculture/fact-sheets/cleaning-disinfecting-greenhouse