Yesterday Lucy the Puggle Dog and I spent the afternoon digging up old an old garden bed and filling the stock tanks we have in the greenhouse with dirt. When we were finished we brought out the tray of lettuce and beet seedlings we started a few weeks ago and separated the tiny plants as best as we could. 
Transplanting seedlings can be tricky sometimes because you have to be careful not to disturb the roots too much or you could damage them and then they’ll die. 🙁
Ideally you’d want to transplant just two seedlings into the designated space, but I like to add in a few more as “insurance.” You can always go back and pluck a few out once the plant gets a little more established.
Here’s what the greenhouse looked like when we were all done. In the far left corner I have peas growing in a pot, then lettuce and a few beets in the stock tank I’m watering, and then two more pots filled with lettuce seedlings on both sides of the greenhouse walls.
I still have a bunch more beet seedlings to plant, but I’m going to wait a few more days until I can get a row cover built to protect them {I’ll be planting them in the main garden}.
How is your garden doing these days?
~Mavis
Are you planning for a winter harvest? The Winter Harvest Handbook By Eliot Coleman is a great book!
kelly says
Hey Mavis! LOVE your blog and all your incredible garden tips and just about everything else you do! As for our winter gardening, we are in zone 5, and in a place that’s 7300 ft. altitude. We have nary a tree on the property for wind break, and believe me when I say we get hurricane winds and blizzards out here – mostly in the spring – when everyone else is planting flowers and peas and potatoes and lettuces, we are at ground zero nasty old man winter. Anyhoo…we have decided to build a walipini. Never heard of it? Me neither, until my HH (Handsome Hoss) looked into it. You can see the beginning of it at http://www.outofcolorado.blogspot.com. We have seeds coming from Victory Seeds, with a nice winter variety of vegetables. Our outdoor garden has been put to bed, all except for the blue and some white potatoes. Everything else we had has been processed and is in the freezer, to enjoy all winter. I hope this thing works!~ If so, expansion and fruit trees are in the future! Thanks for all you do, and all the great deals you pass on/research for us. It saves a ton of time! Happy winter gardening!
Best,
Kelly
Natalie G says
Hey Mavis! TOTALLY LOVING your site!!! Quick question for you… in those containers in the picture in your greenhouse, do you have 100 soil, or gravel or sand in the bottom? I guess I’m really asking how do you assemble a container for gardening?
Thanks!-Nat
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Nat,
I have a mix of homemade potting soil and regular garden soil. 🙂
Dana says
I enjoy your entries so much. As someone who is seriously considering purchasing a greenhouse I’m really curious about your greenhouse. Was it a kit? Where’d you get it? How big is it? What, if anything, would you have done differently/what do you wish you had known before buying/installing the greenhouse? Any other friendly advice would be welcome.
Thanks!
Mavis Butterfield says
I ordered my greenhouse from a local greenhouse shop. I have a magnum glass greenhouse and it is 14’x10′ and yes, it does come as a kit but I had the greenhouse guys put it together for me. 🙂
Jessika Hane says
Hi Mavis! Stumbled on to your site a few weeks ago via Pinterest and l love it! I’m curious what varieties of lettuce you grow in the greenhouse. It looks like you mostly do leaf varieties. I have been trying to grow some buttercrunch and other head varieties, as well as romaine indoors this fall and I can’t quite get my spacing right.
Your “lettuce tower” that frequently shows up in your photos is really intriguing. Is it stacked or does the lettuce really grow that high?
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Jessika,
Mostly mesclun mixes but I have also grown romaine and butter crunch too. 🙂 Yes, the lettuce tower is 3 pots stacked and I love it! 🙂