While we have tulips coming up here in the house and we’ve started flats of seeds in preparation for warm weather, outside it has been decidedly odd. We’ve had more snow now in the first week of April than we did in in most of the winter and outside it currently looks like this:
Not exactly what you expect to see when you look out the window on April 7. Tuesday and Wednesday we had winter storm warnings all day long and ended up with about 6 inches of snow here, with some areas getting up to 10. Most of that melted but then we got another couple of inches a couple of days later and there is more snow in the forecast. We’re looking at near record low temperatures in some parts of the state today.
Indoors, though, we’re proceeding on schedule in the hopes that maybe we might get some warm weather. Someday.
The tulips MrsGF potted up a few weeks ago are still going strong with new blooms popping up and it certainly improves my mood when I walk in the room and see those brilliant yellows and reds. I’m really glad she came up with the idea of potting up some old bulbs. It really brightens the place up.
We sat down the other day to sort through the “Bag ‘o Seeds’ we got for Christmas and figure out what we wanted to plant this year, what had to be started indoors and what could be direct seeded, etc. Then we brought up the little portable greenhouse thingie from the basement and set that up.
That’s this thing over here. It’s a folding metal frame with three racks in it with a vinyl cover over the top. It provides an ideal environment for starting seeds. It stays warm and moist inside and lets in enough light to keep things grown and nice and warm in there. Also prevents temperature fluctuations inside the house from harming the plants.
We found a floor pan for a shower that was the ideal size to fit under it to protect the floor. MrsGF already has it filled with flats with seeds, and we already have some tiny little seedlings peeking up through the starter mix.
It works great and was pretty cheap, too, under $40 if I remember right. It’s easy to set up.
It has the added benefit of keeping the cats out as well or you can be sure they’d be in there digging around, nibbling on plants, tipping things over, etc.
grouchyfarmer 
I have been eyeing one of those from Big Lots. But I really don’t have the storage space for it. Or really the need. I don’t really grow that many seedlings. But it was such a bargain.
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You’re right, you don’t really need one unless you have a good sized garden outside. Even a fairly small one like ours has room to start dozens of plants. We generally end up with way more plants than we really have space for and end up giving a lot away to friends and family so they don’t go to waste.
Ours folds up for storage so it doesn’t take up as much room. We don’t bother. We just put it in a corner of the basement when it isn’t being used.
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I live in the upper midwest too. It’s really discouraging to be well into April and it’s still in the 20s and 30s. I should have had my motorcycle out three weeks ago!
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It is, isn’t it? I walk past my Goldwing every day and just shake my head. It’s very frustrating
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