Bonsai - Japanese Maple/Olive

Planted 12 Japanese Maple seeds 5/18. NONE have sprouted so far.

Planted 8 olive seeds.

Old seeds have sprouted instead.

Still nothing but old seeds...

Greenhouse

I recently got this greenhouse on sale from Harbor Freight. 6ft x 8 ft Greenhouse

One Stop Gardens Item#47712

It took someone with the skills of an engineer (me) to actually complete the assembly. The door would not install because the distance between the lower and upper rails was 2" too far. The end brace was far too long. It was not vertical but that was okay because the upper rail would not reach anyway. A couple of mending plates solved the problem. However the upper rail is VERY FLIMSY with the result that the wheels come off the track VERY easily. The lower part of the door frame MUST be lubricated before it will slide AT ALL.

The vent windows must be placed in one of the central 2 panes. The model I got had 2 vent windows. This one only has one. Even with minute attention to having the base square and level and the upper rails level, one of the vents binds a little. The other goes in an out (on the direct opposite) very nicely. Added a pair of the automatic openers that were another adventure. If you do not do that you will be making 2 trips a day at least to open and close the vents or lose plants.

Every panel has a covering to protect the UV coating over the double wall construction. This was hard to remove on some panels. The clips used to hold the panels in are pretty easy to install and do a good job of holding them tightly.

Two (2) of the One Stop Gardens - Item#96909 4 Tier 5 foot greenhouse shelf

Fit perfectly against the back wall. I have another three to use to harden off plants before transplanting. The ones inside do not need the plastic cover. This gives me two spares!!! I have the plastic on two as an intermediate place before the final hardening.

Tomato Growing Aids

The red plastic cloth for tomatoes and other plants is a total waste of time and money. Weeds grew faster under it than the tomatoes did. It also faded VERY quickly

The Tomato Trays are much better but they are very flimsy plastic.

The Tomato Craters are much more substantial but cost 3x more.

Both of the tray thing accept the legs of cages. The legs can also be placed outside the borders. The plants that had the Craters grew faster, greener and have put more fruit on faster.