Every year after the plants that overwinter in the solar space are moved to the greenhouse, S. and I need to scrub up that space for summer use. Today was the day. There was not that much to do in the greenhouse, I was available and the sun was shining brightly, warming up that space. Actually, we had left the doors open all night to insure that it was warm enough to work in.
The "solar space" is the area underneath the balcony that we had enclosed many years ago with walls of windows. The glass is double glazed, but clear and lets in the full spectrum of sun's rays. It serves as a good area to overwinter several plants and also for the smaller plants that have been seeded and now are a few inches tall. It's a kind of intermediary space between the basement room with its benches and grow lights and the full greenhouse.
We started at 10 a.m. and worked like ???--like we were twenty-year olds! Jim and I had swept up the worst of the dirt earlier and this morning S. swept the windowsills and the floor and then vacuumed the floor.
The "solar space" is the area underneath the balcony that we had enclosed many years ago with walls of windows. The glass is double glazed, but clear and lets in the full spectrum of sun's rays. It serves as a good area to overwinter several plants and also for the smaller plants that have been seeded and now are a few inches tall. It's a kind of intermediary space between the basement room with its benches and grow lights and the full greenhouse.
We started at 10 a.m. and worked like ???--like we were twenty-year olds! Jim and I had swept up the worst of the dirt earlier and this morning S. swept the windowsills and the floor and then vacuumed the floor.
This year S. and I worked out our best arrangements yet. One of us dropped hot, soapy (Palmolive dishwashing liquid) onto a 3 x 3 tile area, and another tile area and then scrubbed up the tiles in 3 x 3 tile sections with hot soapy water and a stiff scrubbing brush on a long handle. That saves going down on our hands and knees for scrubbing. If any stains remained we "blasted" them with Fantastik with Bleach. Poof! the stain scrubbed up. Then the other on of us using the small shop vac vacuumed up the soapy water and OOOH, just lovely--all clean!
We worked really, really hard until 11:30 and reached the halfway mark. Time for a cup of coffee and a cookie! Then we were back at it, just as hard, having switched jobs. By 1 p.m. the whole place was slicked up! Jim helped us carry the "summer furniture" back into this area. Looks wonderful!
This is the southern facing side, now sporting two day beds. And this is the western facing side, with a futon, a rocking chair, a coffee table (used as a footstool) and a pretty comfortable upholstered chair. On the far side is a nice wooden desk with a chair.
All we need yet is a lamp beside the futon and a hanging plant in the corner. We spend lots and lots of time here on spring, summer and fall afternoons. It's a very pleasant space that looks out over the blooming gardens in summer and also allows us to keep an eye out for customers coming to the greenhouses.
It left behind somewhat of a mess in the t.v. room where all the solar space summer furniture is stored over winter. Guess what's next on the To Do List?
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