The Ivan’s ride to the Market – Part 1 – Growing the Ivan

I know I have been out of touch and remiss on that front.  But frankly, since about mid-February, I have been a farmer, as such and my life has been driven by mother nature’s processes.

We started the first trays of Ivan’s in February. We planted two 72 flats and put a couple of seeds in each plug. The trays went traditionally in my kitchen window on one of those $20 greenhouse stands.  The window is south facing and has lots of warm light that come through each year to nourish the starts.

So the starts were sprouting and doing their thing as per expectations.   I knew we would need a lot more than we had and that we would need to get these babies into a greenhouse before they had any chance to get leggy.

We were working on three greenhouse options. They all work into the story in a slow dance.

1. The greenhouse we built in my backyard.  I will do an entire post on this process soon.  I promise.  Learned lessons from this process.
   1. It always costs more than you think.
   2. Making ground flat is not easy.
   3. Ventilation is more important than we thought.
   4. Green Houses can double as Saunas in the summer.
2. The greenhouse in Ashland that we were being offered by the wonderful and incredible Heartland Family Nursery. aka original home of the Ivan.
3. Our new Hydroponic incubator is in town at Jordan’s and Curtis’s place.

We ended up using all three in some way.  I will explain how this is possible and how without any of them we would not have made it.

My greenhouse was built in March.  It took a lot of effort and money. I was forever hitting the hardware store for wood, nails, caulking,   So it was helpful but not immediately.  So some of the starts continued to grow out in my window.