Pseudo-Greenhouse

Truth be told, I always wanted a greenhouse. One of those fancy greenhouses that they have in the UK... where they are separate buildings or attached to the house. Well, I now kind of realized that dream with my makeshift greenhouse.

The idea came to me when I was out in the Wet Kitchen (more info about Malaysian wet kitchens in an older post here.) pictured above. This wet kitchen serves mainly for washing big pans and other cleaning activities. Although the Malaysians use it to cook in. See in the photo above the yellow gas tank under the counter. It is the gas tank that connects to my stove in my kitchen. But, the wet kitchens usually have a countertop hob burner placed on the lower counter in the photo above (where the water bottle is sitting). Anyway, one day I was potting some seeds out on that countertop and looked over to the empty covered patio to the right of the wet kitchen.

When we first moved in I thought we would put some furniture back here and would sit back here. But that didn't really materialize one because the space is just behind the bathroom on the first floor and two because there are upper floor bathroom pipes running above it to the second floor master bedroom bathroom. Third because the neighbor's house in the back backs ours so there is no real view except the wall. So it just isn't the kind of place I want to lounge around, I'd rather go to the front patio.

So I had this idea while potting plants that the space could be a pseudo-greenhouse because the roof on that part is clear not tile. I thought it would be a good place to grow seeds and cuttings for the garden. I made some concrete and glass platforms with glass that was in the house when we moved in and now I have my own greenhouse! It is hot and humid enough here that having a fully enclosed greenhouse in Malaysia, I'm not even sure if that would work it might be too hot. So this clear cover roof with open sides, I think allows for air circulation. It's been working pretty well so far, the space gets good sun but not too much.

I have planted some seeds and some are starting to sprout. I've also taken some cuttings and have them in water bottles some have started to root as well. My thought on that is everything here in Malaysia grows so fast, so some of these plants should root. The greenhouse is more of an experiment to see what I can grow from seed and cuttings. For example, I took some cuttings from the hedge around the front of the house as I'd like to fill it in with some more plants. But I don't think those are going to root. If not, oh well. I've also taken cuttings from the passion fruit vine and some other orange plant vine which grows on my neighbors property. I've got Thai basil attempting to root as well as some Christmas palm seeds, the bunga kantan experiments, chili peppers and peacock tree seeds. There's more I'm forgetting too. I'd like to have an herb garden around this space with herbs I can't get in the stores easily here like tomatillo which I have never seen. Also grow herbs we use a lot of like Thai basil. But it will all be very slow to start.

The clear plastic??? roof