I love my greenhouse. I love the life it gives me. I love having animals and thus chickens in the garden. I love being able to eat something from the garden and I love, love, love my greenhouse. It extends the season so I can be in the garden for many more months, days, and evenings than I otherwise would be able to.

Here you see my first greenhouse - or, in fact, it was not my greenhouse - but a greenhouse similar to my first, which I brought on TV to show how much you can do with a greenhouse.

 

I'm in the greenhouse from February to November. When I have guests, I invite them into the greenhouse and we eat, drink tea, and spill the tea. This spring I have even held small garden classes based on the greenhouse - both for children and for adults - and it has been fantastic.

This little girl has been to one of my classes inside my greenhouse.

 

Sometimes I wheedle my greenhouse so I can have meetings out there. I believe the meetings will be more fruitful in the greenhouse.

A team of adults was sharing greenhouse and garden experiences, and it all took place in m greenhouse.

 

Last night I was there too. In my greenhouse with a cup of tea. I actually had to get dressed for a party, but I could hardly drag myself to put on a dress because it was so nice out there. There were buzzing insects and a warm ray of sunshine just hit the bench in there, at the end of the day. It was so nice to stand out there in peace and quiet and arrange the hostess' flower bouquet at the garden table (peonies with wild carrot, jasmine, and lilac hydrangea). And it was warm - compared to the rest of the garden, where it had been autumnally cold all week.

While I was at the party, I heard myself talking about the weather. Like old, crooked gardeners do. For what about the greenhouse, what about those three degrees they had promised this June night, what if the temperature came down even further? I sat in secret, wondering if I could cover it all up with non-woven fabric during the night, if necessary.

What was planted a long time ago in the greenhouse is now lush, so what if the plants get damaged by the cold? Now that everything is sprouting. Then what? Should it be transplanted? And are the living beings - as one's plants are - then lost?

I know. The old gardeners say that you must wait to sow beans (but I already did), plant summer flowers (I have done that too, and they get damaged now), and put cucumbers in a cold house (greenhouse without heat) until June 5th. But it has been so hot, and it has been spring for a long time and of course my cucumbers - three kinds - are also in the ground. At the end of May, the thought of night frost seemed so distant. We slept in a tent on a May night, and everything was fine.

When I cycled home last night there was no frost. I parked my bike in the garden, went into the greenhouse at 2 am at night, and put a blanket over the cucumbers, like an old crazy garden lady. You never know… What you do know for sure, however, is that once you have become fond of your greenhouse, and the life and plants out there, there is no going back. You will be trapped.