#work in the greenhouse

[adelha-mathilde]

Continuation of this thread with @despairforme here:

After a couple of minutes, Nnoitra's phone would start quacking again. The reply being another audio message. "Wonderful! I could use a strong pair of arms to help with several tasks I keep having to put off. One of which is fixing a table that I use for mixing potting soil. So feel free to come to the flower shop. The greenhouse is actually on the top floor of the building."

Another message soon follows the first for the phone to quack again. But this time it is a photograph. That of the greenhouse interior. Which looks very pristine and full of greenery. From berry plants to lots of flowers to herbs and even a couple of tree saplings. Nnoitra would even see that Wesson is hiding under a table to be chasing a ladybug along the floor.

[plantanarchy]

today a customer asked "um do you have any tomatoes that actually look good?" and I laughed out loud. probably shouldn't have done that. anyway then I composted them all.

[wyvernity]

sss day my favorite national holiday WOOOOHHHH

bonus

[dailyraphael]

day 67! the wind is too strong....

[vilochkaaa]

。 🌿☀🌿 。

[hejee]

(WIP) the voice in my head is telling me to add more plants so maybe i should

[oozeandgoo-art]

This is (vertically) pretty long; the rest is under the cut to save your dash.

Haven is a lot of things. An effective communicator isn't one.

This is very much intended to be Taran retelling the story of the time this happened to someone else, given the eight-thousand anachronisms and the level of comfort Taran has in talking to Haven. It's so specifically anachronistic in such a specific "I'm telling you a story and I don't want you to get bogged down in the inconvenient details" way that it got me to write 6000 words (and counting) of a stupid wip so I could justify this existing.

Bonus notes: Haven is specifically pretending to be asleep because he doesn't want to talk about the mess in the kitchen. Taran isn't remotely annoyed about that but he would like for next time Haven to come downstairs and say hi instead of putting on a shirt and then pretending to be asleep again.

[protagonist-art]

"Uh- I'm Arnold. Bennett. It's profoundly difficult to get your lifes works and studies accepted if your name isn't... yes, oh! Are you a fan of moths, sir?"

NEW RDR2 OC!! a reclusive, clumsy entomologist and bug collector; cooped up in his study of uniformed clutter

[lolo3h]

I suddenly remembered Pure Vanilla has his own greenhouse

[lolo3hwriting]

The White Lily Greenhouse - How Would It Work?

Pure Vanilla Cookie has always been a favorite character to me because of his hobby of gardening. As someone who gardens as well as studies horticulture, it’s fun to see all of the gardens and plants he has in the story. The most notable example for me is the White Lily Greenhouse because it plays such an important role in Pure Vanilla’s character and story. He built it as a place to relax and to enjoy the white lilies he loves so much. But it made me wonder, how in the world would he manage it? Realistically it would take a lot of effort, and considering it's a private greenhouse within his castle, Pure Vanilla would most likely take care of it all alone.

Before I get into anything, I wanted to talk about the specific type of lilies that Pure Vanilla grows. The character White Lily Cookie is based on lilies in general, but most significantly the Madonna Lily. However, I couldn’t find much information about growing Madonna Lilies (Lilium candidum) in greenhouses specifically, so most of the information I have is from growing Easter Lilies (Lilum longiflorum) or lilies (Genus Lilum) in general in greenhouses. The growing requirements are mostly the same, but might have a few slight differences.

Specific Requirements for Growing Lilies and Greenhouses

(Diagram of a bulb, image taken from here)

So first, I wanted to explain briefly about the morphology of lilies and how that impacts their management. Most lilies grow from bulbs, which are specialized structures made up of a short fleshy stem enclosed by thick, fleshy leaves. At the bottom of a bulb is the base plate where the stem, leaves, and roots grow from. One way to propagate lilies is through bulblets (also called bulbils), small bulbs that grow from the base plate, which can be removed and planted on their own. However, the most common way is through bulb scales where the first (and sometimes second) outer portion of the leaf scales are removed and planted. But whatever the case, both the bulblets and bulbs scales need to go though some period of cold temperatures to break their dormancy. This means you can plant them in the fall and let them stay over the winter, or you could put them in a refrigerator to chill. Considering the Vanilla Kingdom is in a mountainous region and high up in the sky, I’m sure they can be put outside before transferring them to the greenhouse.

Heating and lighting are two important factors in making lilies grow well. Lilies need full sun, which is about 6 hours per day. Generally a south facing greenhouse will have more light exposure, otherwise you may need artificial lighting. Lilies will start growing when temperatures are warm enough, so greenhouses usually aim for 60 F, but they can also grow well up to 75 F. I'll discuss how heating and lighting might work for the white lily greenhouse.

Although lilies are perennials and bloom year after year if you maintain them, most ornamental gardens will plant new bulbs every year because old bulbs won’t produce as much or as big flowers as younger bulbs do. This would mean Pure Vanilla would have to dig up old bulbs and plant new ones every year, unless he has some type of special magic that will make them bloom as big and numerous consistently.

Weeding and pest management are always something to keep in mind with greenhouses, but if you don't let them become a problem then it's pretty easy to deal with. Proper sanitation like removing weeds before they produce seeds, removing plant debris and dead plants, and having clean growing media will all help prevent problems. I think Pure Vanilla is vigilant enough to do all of that.

Historical Greenhouses

(A classic greenhouse from England, image taken from here)

In the past, greenhouses were heated just by the sun or with additional heating like furnaces, hot water, or steam. This meant that temperature control was not very precise and had to be fiddled with in order for the greenhouse to be properly heated. If this was the case, I think there would have been some type of boiler specifically for the greenhouse situated at a higher elevation so that the hot water/steam could be carried by gravity into the greenhouse. Water for irrigation had to be brought in unless you had a nearby water pump. Carrying water in would have taken a lot of effort, not to mention that you would have to do watering by hand, which would have been tedious for one person. However, I doubt that Pure Vanilla would mind with his patient nature and enthusiasm for gardening.

The cost of glass and steel to build the greenhouse itself would have been expensive. But taking into account that Pure Vanilla was a king, he probably didn’t have much trouble with the cost of construction or equipment. 

The Vanilla Kingdom is based on Germanic countries, and those countries have a long history of using greenhouses. During the 16th and 17th centuries places like England, France, Italy, and the Netherlands had greenhouses to grow exotic plants that they collected. So the locale and inspiration for the kingdom lines up.

The Modern Approach

(A modern Dutch style greenhouse, image from here)

Considering the Vanilla Kingdom had the waffle bots and advanced technology, it would be reasonable that Pure Vanilla could have access to more modern greenhouse technology similar to what we have today. Things like automatic misting systems, electrical and gas powered heating, and artificial greenhouse lighting. Not to mention all the sensors and timers that can help automate things. However, I’ve seen greenhouses built pretty recently that still use hot water pipes to heat the greenhouse and manually watering their plants. Seeing that Pure Vanilla is more old fashioned and traditional, he could have also run his greenhouse using old school methods. 

Of course, all of this can be hand waved with magic but I like to think that the creation of spells is also considered special techniques that have to be learned and trained. I'm sure that Pure Vanilla or even White Lily Cookie could have developed some type of specialized magic to grow plants easier, similar to how in real life new technology is constantly being developed in order to more efficiently grow plants.

Sources:

https://wyoextension.org/publications/html/B1185R/

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | aloy 91/?

[plantanarchy]

i have had some of the most awkward convos at work the past few weeks for real. swing state election season makes people lose so many brain cells i swear

[columboscreens]

[wormyorchids]

Greenhound and tulip tree baby ✨🌿🐶

Soon to be stickers for my mailing list buddies! You can get a zine & a sticker each month for 5 bucks by hopping on- it’s patreon.com/wormyorchids 🐠

[silverhalla]

meeting davrin, a character I plan to smooch, and hearing him do sick grey warden things: :) :) :) :) :) <3

hearing 2 lines of new botany lore: ‼️‼️‼️AAAAAAA ‼️‼️‼️ AAAAAAAA‼️‼️‼️‼️AAAAAAAAAA

[fooltofancy]

i haven't done anything especially exciting, but i do like this stupid little a frame entry and slightly haunted library i spent like four hours on tonight for no reason