Thoughts about setting up the greenhouse

The frame of the greenhouse is finished. I've reinstalled the glass on the roof and two walls. I am short ten panes. I broke two in dismantling the greenhouse, and 8 others were already broken when I started disassembly. Note to anyone building a greenhouse, it is NOT a storage shed, and if you insist on storing the roto-tiller, the garden tools and the lawnmower in the greenhouse, you can be pretty sure of breaking some glass.

I installed the door frame and roof vent on Sunday (November 25) but because of the cold, I didn't get the gasket areas of the door and vent frames scrubbed down so I could glaze them.

The original solar roof vent control is shot. It is a Thermofor vent control. These are still made, but it is not clear if the replacement motor cylinder sold for the current Thermofor control will fit my vent apparatus. I have found several suppliers that sell solar vent controls, and it appears that they are all about the same. Some of them mount up closer to the roof than others, so I will be looking for the vent control that will provide the best clearance.

I wrote to the original manufacturer, Elite greenhouses, in the UK, to find a US parts supplier. They recommended Charley's Greenhouses in Washington state. I have looked at their website and it appears that they have spares for the channel bolts and glazing clips that I have lost.

Charley's also has several solar vent controls and a variety of other greenhouse accessories and also sells plastic glazing panels.

I am considering replacing the eight panes of broken glass for the north wall with twinwall polycarbonate plastic. Since I knew I was short of glass, I left the north wall of the greenhouse unglazed. It makes some sense to use the twinwall glazing on the north because it insulates better. Twinwall ships in 2x4 panels that are about $14 each and I will need four panels. Shipping looks to be expensive, so I need to see if it is available locally. Still, the twinwall looks to be less than 1/3 the cost of regular glass.

Two of the broken pieces are on the East wall of the greenhouse. One is at the peak of the gable end and will have to be cut to a custom shape, an irregular pentagon. I am making a full sized pattern for it from poster board. This is one of the pieces I broke when I dismantled the greenhouse in Denver. I Because of their location and size, I will need to replace these with glass. Apparently there is "horticutural glass" which has a less perfect finish than standard window glass, and is cheaper. However, regardless of what I get, glass is really expensive down here.

I'm still perseverating over what to do about planting benches and beds. I am inclined to build a set of raised beds right on the ground around the inside perimeter of the greenhouse in either a U along the South, West and North walls, or in an L along the South and West only. If I do the latter, I could reserve a 2x6 area along the North wall for a potting bench and equip that with a cold water sink for washing down vegetables.

The appeal of the bench idea is that I could drain it into the planting beds and thus conserve the water that otherwise would go down the drain washing the vegetebles in the house. The downside is that I would surrender about 12 sq ft of planting area, although I would probably use the bench for flats during seed starting season, so the 12 square feet of beds would be replaced by 18 or so square feet of bench shelving to hold flats.

One of the problems with the way the greehouse was set up in Denver was that its sides were unprotected. The broken glass and several bent framing members testify that the greenhouse was frequently battered by the passage of the mower, roto-tiller and other garden equipment. I am arranging for at least four feet of clearance on three sides of the greenhouse, but I am also thinking that I should put in raised planting beds on the South, and West sides where it bounds the main path through the garden and to the compost bin. This would buffer the glass from damage and also provide a good spot for cool season vegetables, especially along the South side.

I am planning on installing a raised ridge pole above the roof frame to support a shade cloth above and clear of the roof vent. If I do the raised bed on the south side of the greenhouse, I could extend the shade cloth over this bed as well. The shade cloth would keep the salad vegetables producing through the heat of July and August, and then, being along the south wall of the greenhouse would keep the bed warm enough to continue the cool season vegetables into September and October. I'll plan then to plant a new crop of salad greens inside the greenhouse in September or so to produce greens through November and December. In December and January I'll let the greenhouse freeze up while I start new peppers and tomatoes in the house. I'll set these out in the greenhouse in late January or February when I register sufficiently warm soil and overnight temperatures to start a new crop of salad greens and allow the peppers and tomatoes to grow.

.and North sides

Greenhouse Construction

We acquired a second hand greenhouse and are putting it up in the garden. I leveled an area of ground and then dug a shallow trench around a 6x8 rectangle. I filled the trench with stone. I built a rectangle of 4x4 redwood and bolted the corners together with 8 inch lag screws and layed this in the trench. I leveled the foundation and backfilled around the trench.

The greenhouse is constructed of aluminum. I put up the side walls, gable end rafters and the ridge pole before it got dark. I should finish the frame today. I need to replace about 6 panes of glass. Not bad considering the greenhouse is 25 years old. I broke two panes in dismantling it last fall, and 4 others had gotten broken in the course of the 25 years that it was in it's prior location.

I left a four foot wide aisle along the West end of the greenhouse which will be good place to put a line of ornamental plants in pots. There will be an odd shaped are on the eastern end of the greenhouse and I am thinking of just making a little patio there. Could be a nice place for a little bistro table and a couple of chairs...a spot in the garden to sit and have a cup of coffee with the newspaper on a sunny summer morning.

I have sent e-mail to several greenhouse equipment suppliers to try to find extras for the aluminum screws and nuts used to fasten the parts together.

It would be very helpful to install a frost proof hydrant in the garden near the greenhouse. The water main runs along the east edge of the garden and I think it would be relatively easy to tap it about half way between the main and the house. This might be a good time to have a water meter installed too. I'll call about that next week.

I also turned the compost pile yesterday. There are areas of really nice rich compost and the rest is pretty much unchanged. I don't think I have kept the pile moist enough. By late August it was pretty hard to get the hose past the beans and over to the pile so I was not as diligent about watering it down.

I added lots of extra soil to the leeks and scallions to help them keep going a little longer. They look really good and as long as we don't get a hard freeze, I should have some of substantial size. They have been very good in soups and salads so far.

We dug a few more potatoes yesterday, not enough for a soup, but I only dug the ones that were in the way of the greenhouse project. I'm a bit "potato souped out" right now. We should have enough potatoes to get through most of the winter.

For next year I would like to also plant turnips, sweet potatoes and cauliflower.

I gave the apple trees a good soaking. Surprisingly, they still have nice green leaves. The location on the south side of the garage must create a really warm microclimate for them. I'm a bit worried that they wont go fully dormant, but for now I am satisfied with my plan. What Plan is that?

Well, the plan was to espalier the three apple trees to grow along the garage wall. At some point before the trees reach maturity I will build a trellis along this wall. I will use the trellis to support a curtain of row cover material that I can drop down over the trees in the early spring if it looks like it might frost and kill the apple blossoms.

Being under the gable eave of the garage, along a south facing wall and open to lots of sunlight, I think the trees will do well as long as I keep them adequately watered. The trees were started from bare root stock this spring. They each put on a health foot to eighteen inches of growth this summer, except for the "orphan tree" in the front yard. This one is looking a little sickly and I think It is too close to the spruce tree. It also doesn't get as much water as it needs.

There is another small tree that must have come up as a volunteer. It is growing too close to the house and it will get crowded out or damage the foundation if I don't do something about it. I can't decide whether to try to relocate it, or just to cut it down and call it a christmas tree in a year or too.

How do we wish to be?

We wish to live more from those things creation gladly gives us, sunlight, wind, soil and weather; food we grow, shelter we create, music from our hearts. We imagine a woodland idyll. A humble home in a clearing by a stream, a welcoming flower lined walk through a kitchen garden, the warmth of a fireplace, honey from our own hives, eggs, milk and and cheese of our own manufacture.

Would we be content?

We remain dependent on those things which must be violently claimed from the Earth, petrochemicals, mined minerals and metals. We rely on electricity, on piped-in gas and water. Would we, or even could we, give up the data that streams to us through the air or through the miles of fiber and copper that connect us to the world? We acknowledge that we are far from able to do without them.

But do we need so much?

We are mindful of the impact of our needs. We visit rivers and see that they are fouled and empty of fish. We smell the rot and death along once wild and clean ocean shores. We breathe in the smoke and dust of the city. We switch on a light, and somewhere something dies. We light a candle and reduce to smoke the labor of a thousand bees.

But we try. As we try, we learn, and as we learn, we hope to do better.

So here we record our trials. Here we examine what we do and how we hope to improve.