I wish I had more time to keep this blog up. It was a middling year for the garden, but a better one in the greenhouse. Unfortunately zealous young helpers broke a couple of panes about the time the weather was turning cold and we were not able to replace them before it froze. Too bad, we hand lots of tomatos and peppers that would have ripened into late October.
Spent most of the summer working on the house however, and the garden was a second place project. Really I need to rework the whole thing. Many of my raised beds are in the wrong place and the pathways between the boxes are too narrow at 24". There is not sufficient room between them for things like wheelbarrows and I am constantly dragging hoses across the plants in the corners of the beds.
If I can possibly make time in the spring I will raise each bed by another 2x6 lift and I will add 2x2 trellis supports at the ends of each bed. These will act to guide the hoses as well as support the beds a bit better, and allow me to rotate climbing crops throughout the garden.
One disturbing development is that I had a sudden eruption of Canad Thistle in several of the beds. I was not paying attention and didn't notice until several had gone to seed. This means a big job next year and I am tempted to solarize the beds where they turned up and write those beds off for next year.
The soil in the greenhouse is getting depleted after five years and I really need to move it to a new site and let the old site lie fallow or under a crop of green manure. My original plan was to build two identical, adjacent greenhouse sites and to mount skids underneath the structure itself so that I could move it back and forth every second year or so. I still think this is a good idea but the need to park a car in the new greenhouse space is a bit of a hindrance.
We have lost three of the four apple trees I planted a few years ago. Only a single dwarf Fuji survives and I am seriously thinking of putting on an addition to the house where it is planted. Fruit trees just don't do well here and while I still think I could make them go, it is going to require much more time and effort than I can expend right now.
However, I am mostly happy with our gardening efforts. We have succeeded in putting up a winter's worth of preserved vegetables each fall and have demonstrated that we could indeed survive off the garden if we had too. Although I would get tired of potato soup...
Each year we get a bit better at some things and we add a few more as practice makes us more efficient and gives us more time. We have become very good at growing beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, herbs, onions, tomatoes and peppers. We would still like to grow apples and grapes.
We have had very good corn, but it requires tremendous amounts of water and it depletes the soil very rapidly, more rapidly than we can make compost. Ironically, about the time we decided to stop growing corn because of the usual availability of VERY fresh sweet corn, the production of corn switched from the edible sweet corn to starchy ethanol stock. Really though, since the town put everyone on a water meter, I have been reluctant to use the quantity of water that corn requires anyway.
Bees and chickens still remain projects in the future. The bees I think I can handle, but the chickens will need daily care and I am not willing to do them unless the rest of the family decides they are going to take on some of the responsibility.
For now, my interests have returned to building furniture.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Monday, August 23, 2010
More tomorrow my foot!
The last post here ended with the remark "more tomorrow". And then I laid off for a year. Hard to tell whether keeping a blog makes any sense for me. I like my hand written notebooks with their coffee stained pages, dirt, plant pressings and other items that make them real. Blogging is just not all that exciting to me.
2010 was not exactly a banner garden year. One thing and another kept me from getting out there and getting the work done and I ended up with only a bed of potatoes, another of bush beans, and the greenhouse beds of lettuce, peas, carrots, squash and zucchini outside and cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, along with a small bed of late lettuce and basil inside.
Tomatoes and peppers are bearing nicely. The cukes are nearly finished because I haven't had time to get out and pick them. Cukes stop bearing if the fruit is allowed to fully ripen.
The demands of the beginning and the end of the school year really play havoc with the garden schedule. Once school is out, it is too late for lots of the work, and then much of the garden matures after the school year starts again. Beans need to be picked now, but there just isn't time.
2010 was not exactly a banner garden year. One thing and another kept me from getting out there and getting the work done and I ended up with only a bed of potatoes, another of bush beans, and the greenhouse beds of lettuce, peas, carrots, squash and zucchini outside and cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, along with a small bed of late lettuce and basil inside.
Tomatoes and peppers are bearing nicely. The cukes are nearly finished because I haven't had time to get out and pick them. Cukes stop bearing if the fruit is allowed to fully ripen.
The demands of the beginning and the end of the school year really play havoc with the garden schedule. Once school is out, it is too late for lots of the work, and then much of the garden matures after the school year starts again. Beans need to be picked now, but there just isn't time.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Grasshoppers...
...invading the greenhouse.
Grasshoppers lay their eggs in "pods" that contain between 20 and 120 eggs. A mature female hopper lays between 8 and 25 of these pods. Cold winters have no effect on the eggs which will hatch when warm dry weather arrives. The nymphs are substantially similar to the adults when born, though much smaller in size and lacking wings.They mature in 40 to 60 days, so it is critical to address them now.
Grasshoppers are susceptible to a protozoa, Nosema locustae which is available commercially under the brand name Semaspore. They also do not like cold, humid conditions. I have been moderately successful controling them by leaving areas of the greenhouse (a block of bolted spinach) unwatered. The grasshoppers congregate on the leaves of the spinach and can be removed with the vacuum.
The greenhouse is pretty well completely planted save for places I have seedlings sitting out in pots. There are four tomato plants, two bunches of cilantro, two of basil, two four foot rows of carrots, all planted around april 1. A short row of Romaine planted from nursery starts around March 14
Next year, plant starts for lettuce and Spinach in January.
Tired. More tomorrow.
Grasshoppers lay their eggs in "pods" that contain between 20 and 120 eggs. A mature female hopper lays between 8 and 25 of these pods. Cold winters have no effect on the eggs which will hatch when warm dry weather arrives. The nymphs are substantially similar to the adults when born, though much smaller in size and lacking wings.They mature in 40 to 60 days, so it is critical to address them now.
Grasshoppers are susceptible to a protozoa, Nosema locustae which is available commercially under the brand name Semaspore. They also do not like cold, humid conditions. I have been moderately successful controling them by leaving areas of the greenhouse (a block of bolted spinach) unwatered. The grasshoppers congregate on the leaves of the spinach and can be removed with the vacuum.
The greenhouse is pretty well completely planted save for places I have seedlings sitting out in pots. There are four tomato plants, two bunches of cilantro, two of basil, two four foot rows of carrots, all planted around april 1. A short row of Romaine planted from nursery starts around March 14
Next year, plant starts for lettuce and Spinach in January.
Tired. More tomorrow.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Movable Greenhouse
I have been reading Elliot Coleman's new book The Winter Harvest Handbook and am very intersted in trying his technique of using a movable greenhouse so that the soil in the greenhouse has an opportunity to weather and be exposed to the elements over the winter.
I'm trying to figure out how to extend the foundation of my greenhouse so that I can move it back and forth between two locations. The greenhouse is currently set up on a rectangular frame of 4x4 redwood sleepers laid on top of trench filled with gravel. I'm going to add a second frame adjacent to the existing foundation, directly to the east.
I'm trying to figure out how to extend the foundation of my greenhouse so that I can move it back and forth between two locations. The greenhouse is currently set up on a rectangular frame of 4x4 redwood sleepers laid on top of trench filled with gravel. I'm going to add a second frame adjacent to the existing foundation, directly to the east.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Spring Snow
I was up and about at 6:30 this morning to check the greenhouse. Discovered that the timer on the circulation fan had stalled at some point, so that the fan was on in the middle of the night rather than in the heat of the day. Corrected that. Outside, the temperature felt about 30.
Soil and air temperature in the greenhouse in the mid 50's. Lettuce is growing well. Plenty to cut for dinner tonight.
The tomatoes are not looking exactly lush, they are putting on some new growth, but not bright glowing green. There appears to be a bit of chlorosis. I note that the water walls keep the soil moister than is the case in the rest of the greenhouse. I wonder if the roots are a bit waterlogged. I am going to cut back on the watering a bit.
The spinach is not growing the way I would like. It's growing long and spindly and not putting on a lot of leaves, and some of the plants are bolting. I'm thinking of hacking it back. These are nursery starts, var. "vancouver". Not sure I will do those again. Note for next year to start "bloomsdale" myself.
Carrots are still no-shows at this point. There are about 5 plants, but it looks like I need to replant.
I ran the lawnmower yesterday and picked up about 20 bushels (catcher holds 2bu) of dead leaves, old thatch and other debris. I dumped out the kitchen scraps and covered them with the lawn debris. Took me about 35 minutes to do the back part of the lawn. Would have done the front too, but dinner was ready and I need to move the trampoline and get the kid's toys out of the way first. I planned to do that this morning, but around 7:00 it started snowing hard.
It's actually snowing very hard. Not much wind, but BIG flakes and already about half an inch accumulated as of 8:00. Gray, cold, snowy day.
Inside, seedlings are doing well. I have 3 varieties of peppers and 5 of tomatoes growing well. I also have herbs going. Mint, Oregano, Marjoram, Savory, Coriander. I planted rosemary as well, but it's not coming up.
I worked in the garage most of the day yesterday, and planned to work in the garden most of today. Guess I should have done it the other way. Looks like it will snow all day.
I'm finishing up a seed starting bench to hold the grow lights today. It will support a bank of 6 flourescent tubes in three fixtures over a 2x4 area. This is a large enough space to hold 4 flats. I will be able to independently adjust the height of the lights so that I can start a couple of seed flats and also grow a box of lettuce or some tomatoes.
Not much else to report today. Time to go do something.
Soil and air temperature in the greenhouse in the mid 50's. Lettuce is growing well. Plenty to cut for dinner tonight.
The tomatoes are not looking exactly lush, they are putting on some new growth, but not bright glowing green. There appears to be a bit of chlorosis. I note that the water walls keep the soil moister than is the case in the rest of the greenhouse. I wonder if the roots are a bit waterlogged. I am going to cut back on the watering a bit.
The spinach is not growing the way I would like. It's growing long and spindly and not putting on a lot of leaves, and some of the plants are bolting. I'm thinking of hacking it back. These are nursery starts, var. "vancouver". Not sure I will do those again. Note for next year to start "bloomsdale" myself.
Carrots are still no-shows at this point. There are about 5 plants, but it looks like I need to replant.
I ran the lawnmower yesterday and picked up about 20 bushels (catcher holds 2bu) of dead leaves, old thatch and other debris. I dumped out the kitchen scraps and covered them with the lawn debris. Took me about 35 minutes to do the back part of the lawn. Would have done the front too, but dinner was ready and I need to move the trampoline and get the kid's toys out of the way first. I planned to do that this morning, but around 7:00 it started snowing hard.
It's actually snowing very hard. Not much wind, but BIG flakes and already about half an inch accumulated as of 8:00. Gray, cold, snowy day.
Inside, seedlings are doing well. I have 3 varieties of peppers and 5 of tomatoes growing well. I also have herbs going. Mint, Oregano, Marjoram, Savory, Coriander. I planted rosemary as well, but it's not coming up.
I worked in the garage most of the day yesterday, and planned to work in the garden most of today. Guess I should have done it the other way. Looks like it will snow all day.
I'm finishing up a seed starting bench to hold the grow lights today. It will support a bank of 6 flourescent tubes in three fixtures over a 2x4 area. This is a large enough space to hold 4 flats. I will be able to independently adjust the height of the lights so that I can start a couple of seed flats and also grow a box of lettuce or some tomatoes.
Not much else to report today. Time to go do something.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
One goal achieved
Today I achieved an important milestone in the development of our garden and my skills in managing it. I picked the first lettuce and spinach harvests of the year. The importance of this is that we still have storage onions and frozen beans and peas from last season. This means that we have succeeded in having vegetables from our garden available for our table for the entire year, and that if I am as successful with row covers and cold frames as I was last year, I should be able to extend my fresh food season to 7 months of the year.
I realize that in many parts of the country this is not that big of a deal, but I live in a high mountain valley where the normal growing season is less than 100 days. We are still 2 months away from our last frost (June 17 last year), so to have anything fresh from the garden is an accomplishment.
I realize that in many parts of the country this is not that big of a deal, but I live in a high mountain valley where the normal growing season is less than 100 days. We are still 2 months away from our last frost (June 17 last year), so to have anything fresh from the garden is an accomplishment.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Keeping the greenhouse warm
My improvised efforts to keep the greenhouse warm appear to be working out. In a week where the outside temperature dropped to 4F, the temperature in the greenhouse has not dropped below 45, and the soil temperature has stayed between 55 and 70. Heat for the greenhouse has consumed 167 kWh since March 20 for an average cost of around a dollar a day.
There is now enough spinach and romaine for daily salads. Tomatoes have recovered from transplant shock and are now growing visibly each day. Only about half of the radishes have emerged, probably because I used last year's seed. I replanted in the empty spaces between the radishes that have already emerged and I planted a short triple row on the other side of the greehouse this morning.
There has been no evidence of carrots sprouting, but I had noticed a large population of ants when I lifted the cover boards. I had been thinking that the ants hauled off all the carrot seeds. But this morning when I checked again, I noticed a number of small, neatly spaced plants coming up. These look like carrots. Carrots should emerge in 14-21 days. Today is the 16th day, so I am going to wait until next Friday before I replant those.
Cold outside. There was about 1/2" of snow overnight, but it is mostly gone now (11:30 A.M) I need to work over the outside beds where some of the grass and a number of weeds have begun to appear. I will do this later in the week after I pick up a roll of plastic film. I need to dig up the beds and then solarize them for a few weeks to kill off the weeds. If I get this done by next weekend, I will be in good shape.
I am putting a lot off until next weekend, but it is a four day weekend, so if the weather allows, I should be fine.
My seed starting is going well. 24 of 30 tomato plants that have out grown the Jiffy flat. 17 of 18 peppers are doing well. All of the herbs are up except the rosemary, which may take up to 21 days to sprout.
I started 72 more herbs at school on Tuesday, March 31, Dill, Oregano, Mint, Savory, Cilantro, and Rosemary. Some of them had sprouted by Friday.
There is now enough spinach and romaine for daily salads. Tomatoes have recovered from transplant shock and are now growing visibly each day. Only about half of the radishes have emerged, probably because I used last year's seed. I replanted in the empty spaces between the radishes that have already emerged and I planted a short triple row on the other side of the greehouse this morning.
There has been no evidence of carrots sprouting, but I had noticed a large population of ants when I lifted the cover boards. I had been thinking that the ants hauled off all the carrot seeds. But this morning when I checked again, I noticed a number of small, neatly spaced plants coming up. These look like carrots. Carrots should emerge in 14-21 days. Today is the 16th day, so I am going to wait until next Friday before I replant those.
Cold outside. There was about 1/2" of snow overnight, but it is mostly gone now (11:30 A.M) I need to work over the outside beds where some of the grass and a number of weeds have begun to appear. I will do this later in the week after I pick up a roll of plastic film. I need to dig up the beds and then solarize them for a few weeks to kill off the weeds. If I get this done by next weekend, I will be in good shape.
I am putting a lot off until next weekend, but it is a four day weekend, so if the weather allows, I should be fine.
My seed starting is going well. 24 of 30 tomato plants that have out grown the Jiffy flat. 17 of 18 peppers are doing well. All of the herbs are up except the rosemary, which may take up to 21 days to sprout.
I started 72 more herbs at school on Tuesday, March 31, Dill, Oregano, Mint, Savory, Cilantro, and Rosemary. Some of them had sprouted by Friday.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tweaking the temperature
Overnight low was 14F.
6:00 Outside 14, Greenhouse Ambient 37.8, Greenhouse Soil 44.6
7:00 Outside 17, Greenhouse Ambient 37.0, Greenhouse Soil 43.0 (Sunrise 6:56)
8:00 Outside 21, electronic 64.8, alcohol 58, Greenhouse Soil 44.6 (sun shines more directly on the electronic thermometer)
The sun hits the greenhouse at sunrise, but only for a couple more weeks. Soon it will be shaded by the neighbor's house until around 10:00.
This morning I am checking the temperature every hour, but I have to wait until around 10 before it is warm enough for me to open the door and check last night's minimum.
Looking through the glass, the romaine, spinach and basil all look fine. About 6 radishes are up, as are about half of the red leaf and green leaf lettuce. I can't see inside the wws to check on the tomatoes.
I need to improve my temperature monitoring set up to avoid a false high temperature reading. The thermometer is exposed to the direct sun during part of the day and this gave me an inaccurately high reading of 102 yesterday when the real temperature inside the greenhouse was closer to 80.
At the moment though, my concern is accurate low temperature readings. I have learned the main thing I needed to know, that I can keep the greenhouse from freezing up when the outside temperature falls as low as 4 overnight. Doing so uses about 14 kWh of electricity.
A couple of things I need to do:
The thermometer needs to be installed in an instrument shelter that shades it from the direct sun. This could just be a shallow box that I could attach to one of the tomato towers with zip ties. Maybe a little birdhouse type box, painted white, about 3 inches deep with an angled shed roof to make it look nice. It needs to be deep enough to shade the instrument in the early morning when the sun shine on the east.
I need to move the weather station as well. I should set up everything so that I can go to one place to get last night's outdoor temperature, it would be nice to have a couple of remote sensors to put in the greenhouse so I could read it's temperature directly from the weather station. Expensive though.
Should I put the thermometer and the circulation fan timer and the Kill-a-watt meter all in a box together so that I can check the temperature, read the power usage and control the fan all from the same place? This would be convenient, but it might also mean a bunch of cords and wires all over the place. I don't want to be tripping over cords and it's bad enough with the heater, fan timer and cords where they are now. I guess the best would be to
Is it necessary or useful to regularly check the power usage? At minimum, I should make up a chart and mark down the power consumption once a day. Presumably once the temperature drops below a certain point, the heater will just run continuously. It might be nice to know what that temperature is. Then I could determine when it was no longer cost effective to try to keep the greenhouse from freezing up.
6:00 Outside 14, Greenhouse Ambient 37.8, Greenhouse Soil 44.6
7:00 Outside 17, Greenhouse Ambient 37.0, Greenhouse Soil 43.0 (Sunrise 6:56)
8:00 Outside 21, electronic 64.8, alcohol 58, Greenhouse Soil 44.6 (sun shines more directly on the electronic thermometer)
The sun hits the greenhouse at sunrise, but only for a couple more weeks. Soon it will be shaded by the neighbor's house until around 10:00.
This morning I am checking the temperature every hour, but I have to wait until around 10 before it is warm enough for me to open the door and check last night's minimum.
Looking through the glass, the romaine, spinach and basil all look fine. About 6 radishes are up, as are about half of the red leaf and green leaf lettuce. I can't see inside the wws to check on the tomatoes.
I need to improve my temperature monitoring set up to avoid a false high temperature reading. The thermometer is exposed to the direct sun during part of the day and this gave me an inaccurately high reading of 102 yesterday when the real temperature inside the greenhouse was closer to 80.
At the moment though, my concern is accurate low temperature readings. I have learned the main thing I needed to know, that I can keep the greenhouse from freezing up when the outside temperature falls as low as 4 overnight. Doing so uses about 14 kWh of electricity.
A couple of things I need to do:
The thermometer needs to be installed in an instrument shelter that shades it from the direct sun. This could just be a shallow box that I could attach to one of the tomato towers with zip ties. Maybe a little birdhouse type box, painted white, about 3 inches deep with an angled shed roof to make it look nice. It needs to be deep enough to shade the instrument in the early morning when the sun shine on the east.
I need to move the weather station as well. I should set up everything so that I can go to one place to get last night's outdoor temperature, it would be nice to have a couple of remote sensors to put in the greenhouse so I could read it's temperature directly from the weather station. Expensive though.
Should I put the thermometer and the circulation fan timer and the Kill-a-watt meter all in a box together so that I can check the temperature, read the power usage and control the fan all from the same place? This would be convenient, but it might also mean a bunch of cords and wires all over the place. I don't want to be tripping over cords and it's bad enough with the heater, fan timer and cords where they are now. I guess the best would be to
Is it necessary or useful to regularly check the power usage? At minimum, I should make up a chart and mark down the power consumption once a day. Presumably once the temperature drops below a certain point, the heater will just run continuously. It might be nice to know what that temperature is. Then I could determine when it was no longer cost effective to try to keep the greenhouse from freezing up.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Some Greenhouse Observations
School cancelled today on account of the spring blizzard. This gives me a chance to closely observe what is happening with the greenhouse throught the day, in conditions similar to what I might see in January if I try to keep it going through the winter.
Last fall the greenhouse froze up in late October or early November. I should have logged that here. Oops!
Probably I could have planted in the greenhouse in early February, but I just didn't have the time or energy to clean out the mess I'd left there last fall. But last week I was home for spring break and once I caught up on my sleep I couldn't ignore the greenhouse any longer.
I put in tomatoes and basil, started from seed in January. I also planted 2 short rows (2ft) of lettuce, a short row of radishes, and 4 short rows of carrots. I also noticed that the Walmart was selling spinach and Romaine lettuce starts in packs of 9 for $3.50, so I couldn't resist planting a 6ft row of each.
Later in the week I observed that cold weather was in the forecast. I have gallon milk bottles filled with water around the perimeter of all the greenhouse beds and between each of the planted rows and these do help to moderate the temperature, but there were three consecutive days of cold predicted. I braved the first night of below freezing weather, but the second day was cold and cloudy and the water bottles didn't get enough insolation to warm up so I chickened out and set up a heater.
I found an old electric space heater in the garage. It has a 200, a 300, and a 500 watt setting and an adjustable thermostat. I had to rewire the line cord and plug and clean it up, but once I did, it worked fine. I set it up on March 20 and connected it through a Kill-A-Watt meter so I could see if it was going to bankrupt me.
I set the thermostat through the scientific process of going out to the greenhouse early in the morning, deciding that it was a bit chilly in there and turning up the thermostat until the heater just kicked on. I hung up an old thermometer on one of the tomato cages and made sporadic observations over the next few days, especially first thing in the morning while it was still dark. The thermometer usually read around 45, so I figured that was good enough and I left the whole thing alone until last night. The meter recorded 39.6 kWh as of last night, so the heater used about 6.6 kWh each day. At $.09 per kWh according to my electric bill, works out to about $0.60 a day.
Yesterday afternoon when I realized that we were going to have a real storm, I stopped at Walmart on the way home, and picked up a cheap recording thermometer. The one I bought came from Accurite. It records current temperature as well as min/max for indoors and outdoors. I chose this one because it had a water proof wired probe that is intended to be put through a window to record outside temperature.
I attached the main unit to one of the tomato towers in the greenhouse and buried the probe just beneath the soil at the base of that plant. I finished all of this last night around 9:00 P.M. Inside the greenhouse the small heater was running and the temperature at shoulder level was around 60F. The soil temperature was 55F.
Overnight, the outside temperature dropped to 4F. The low temperature recorded at shoulder level in the greenhouse was 39F. The low soil temperature was 55F.
This morning at 10:00, the inside temperature at shoulder level was 82F. The circulation fan and the heater were both running and the soil temperature remained 55F. The Kill-A-Watt meter read 53.9, so the whole set up required 14 kWh, or about $1.26 worth of electricity to keep it warm during the coldest night I would expect it to see normally.
I don't like the idea of using a lot of electricity to keep the greenhouse warm, but I expect that I will be able to take the heater out by the middle of April. If I can significantly extend the growing season by spending $30 on electricity, I think that is worth the cost.
In future years, I hope to reglaze the greenhouse with double or triple wall polycarbonate, and this will greatly improve the efficiency. But the PC is expensive stuff, I figure close to $1000 to reglaze the whole thing, and truthfully, it doesn't look as nice as the clear glass.
I'll check the temperature about hourly today. I'm interested to see if it gets warm enough inside to activate the solar roof vent, and I want to make sure that the heater is not kicking on when the solar vent is open.
Last fall the greenhouse froze up in late October or early November. I should have logged that here. Oops!
Probably I could have planted in the greenhouse in early February, but I just didn't have the time or energy to clean out the mess I'd left there last fall. But last week I was home for spring break and once I caught up on my sleep I couldn't ignore the greenhouse any longer.
I put in tomatoes and basil, started from seed in January. I also planted 2 short rows (2ft) of lettuce, a short row of radishes, and 4 short rows of carrots. I also noticed that the Walmart was selling spinach and Romaine lettuce starts in packs of 9 for $3.50, so I couldn't resist planting a 6ft row of each.
Later in the week I observed that cold weather was in the forecast. I have gallon milk bottles filled with water around the perimeter of all the greenhouse beds and between each of the planted rows and these do help to moderate the temperature, but there were three consecutive days of cold predicted. I braved the first night of below freezing weather, but the second day was cold and cloudy and the water bottles didn't get enough insolation to warm up so I chickened out and set up a heater.
I found an old electric space heater in the garage. It has a 200, a 300, and a 500 watt setting and an adjustable thermostat. I had to rewire the line cord and plug and clean it up, but once I did, it worked fine. I set it up on March 20 and connected it through a Kill-A-Watt meter so I could see if it was going to bankrupt me.
I set the thermostat through the scientific process of going out to the greenhouse early in the morning, deciding that it was a bit chilly in there and turning up the thermostat until the heater just kicked on. I hung up an old thermometer on one of the tomato cages and made sporadic observations over the next few days, especially first thing in the morning while it was still dark. The thermometer usually read around 45, so I figured that was good enough and I left the whole thing alone until last night. The meter recorded 39.6 kWh as of last night, so the heater used about 6.6 kWh each day. At $.09 per kWh according to my electric bill, works out to about $0.60 a day.
Yesterday afternoon when I realized that we were going to have a real storm, I stopped at Walmart on the way home, and picked up a cheap recording thermometer. The one I bought came from Accurite. It records current temperature as well as min/max for indoors and outdoors. I chose this one because it had a water proof wired probe that is intended to be put through a window to record outside temperature.
I attached the main unit to one of the tomato towers in the greenhouse and buried the probe just beneath the soil at the base of that plant. I finished all of this last night around 9:00 P.M. Inside the greenhouse the small heater was running and the temperature at shoulder level was around 60F. The soil temperature was 55F.
Overnight, the outside temperature dropped to 4F. The low temperature recorded at shoulder level in the greenhouse was 39F. The low soil temperature was 55F.
This morning at 10:00, the inside temperature at shoulder level was 82F. The circulation fan and the heater were both running and the soil temperature remained 55F. The Kill-A-Watt meter read 53.9, so the whole set up required 14 kWh, or about $1.26 worth of electricity to keep it warm during the coldest night I would expect it to see normally.
I don't like the idea of using a lot of electricity to keep the greenhouse warm, but I expect that I will be able to take the heater out by the middle of April. If I can significantly extend the growing season by spending $30 on electricity, I think that is worth the cost.
In future years, I hope to reglaze the greenhouse with double or triple wall polycarbonate, and this will greatly improve the efficiency. But the PC is expensive stuff, I figure close to $1000 to reglaze the whole thing, and truthfully, it doesn't look as nice as the clear glass.
I'll check the temperature about hourly today. I'm interested to see if it gets warm enough inside to activate the solar roof vent, and I want to make sure that the heater is not kicking on when the solar vent is open.
Growing Carrots
I've learned that carrots mostly fail because they are planted too deeply, or because, planted sufficiently shallow, they wash out before they sprout. Here's what I do to avoid these problems:
I prepare a bed of sandy, rock free soil+compost to a depth of 1 foot, water it well and rake it smooth. Then I use a dibble to drill a very shallow (1/4") hole every 2 inches. I place two seeds in each hole. Then I cover the entire row with a length of 1x4.
I leave this in place for TWO WEEKS. At the end of two weeks, I lift up the 1x4 and generally have a nice straight row of little carrot seedlings, sufficiently rooted to escape the danger of being washed away when I water.
The germination rate appears to be very high with this technique, so with new, fresh seed, I'll chance it and only plant one seed per drill.
I try to avoid thinning by planting seeds at the final plant spacing, and with new/fresh commerical seed, germination rates are so good that there is not a lot of reason to overseed. But I do overseed if I am using up last year's seed supply.
When I do need to thin, I clip the unwanted plant at the soil level with a small pair of scissors. This avoids damage to the root system of the adjacent plant, and I have learned to do this with anything that needs thinning.
In my greenhouse and later in my kitchen garden, I plant short rows of carrots, lettuce, radishes and spinach among and between the tomato and pepper plants. By the time the tomatos and peppers begin to take up space, the earliest lettuce, et c. has been picked and eaten and I am taking carrots from my main crop in the outdoor garden.
I prepare a bed of sandy, rock free soil+compost to a depth of 1 foot, water it well and rake it smooth. Then I use a dibble to drill a very shallow (1/4") hole every 2 inches. I place two seeds in each hole. Then I cover the entire row with a length of 1x4.
I leave this in place for TWO WEEKS. At the end of two weeks, I lift up the 1x4 and generally have a nice straight row of little carrot seedlings, sufficiently rooted to escape the danger of being washed away when I water.
The germination rate appears to be very high with this technique, so with new, fresh seed, I'll chance it and only plant one seed per drill.
I try to avoid thinning by planting seeds at the final plant spacing, and with new/fresh commerical seed, germination rates are so good that there is not a lot of reason to overseed. But I do overseed if I am using up last year's seed supply.
When I do need to thin, I clip the unwanted plant at the soil level with a small pair of scissors. This avoids damage to the root system of the adjacent plant, and I have learned to do this with anything that needs thinning.
In my greenhouse and later in my kitchen garden, I plant short rows of carrots, lettuce, radishes and spinach among and between the tomato and pepper plants. By the time the tomatos and peppers begin to take up space, the earliest lettuce, et c. has been picked and eaten and I am taking carrots from my main crop in the outdoor garden.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Cleaning up the garden
What a mess. While I wasn't paying attention, grass began growing in the greenhouse beds and it was a foot tall or more in places, indicating that I could have planted spinach, lettuce and other early spring crops several weeks ago. Oops.
The grass was probably oats or wheat from the seeds left in last year's mulch hay. The mulch itself was pretty much reduced to nothing: eaten by the garden as Ruth Stout would say. Anyhow, I dug up the greenhouse beds with a spading fork and sifted out as much of the grass as I could. Took about an hour all together.
Next I relocated two of my outdoor beds. Last year I made these of 2x6 redwood. They are just simple boxes, 4 feet by 8, held together with lag screws. I tilled up the garden last spring and then heaped up the tilled soil in mounds where I wanted to locate the beds. I set the boxes on the ground in likely spots and then cleared the garden soil from the pathways between the beds, pitching it into the boxes. I used rocks to make the boxes more or less level, raked out the soil and planted.
The boxes worked pretty well except that I should have set them out so that the long demension was perpendicular to the prevailing wind because the wind simply roared through the remay tunnels. True, the seedlings were protected from frost, but the front end gain on my growing season was limited by the wind that withered the plants repeatedly. This year I am re-arranging the garden so the boxes are perpendicular to the wind.
It was pretty easy to just lift up the frames and carry them off to the side. The wood frames, having weathered the winter, are much lighter and dryer than they were last spring. Had I realized this, I would have allowed more time to pull up all the frames, scrub them down and give them a good soaking with lindseed oil before working up the beds. Definitely this is something to put on the agenda for next year. Unfortunately, there is not time this year.
The good news however, is that the boxes are in very good condition, and other than surface weathering, they are sturdy and free from rot and insect damage.
Last year I just about hit the limit for the amount of garden space I can reasonably manage, so this is the first year that I wont be expanding the total area that I am cultivating for vegetables. I learned a few things about efficiency last year and am making some changes for this season that should allow me to get more vegetables with a bit less time and effort than last year.
Some things that I will do differently this year:
Changing the orientation of the beds will not only make it easier to protect them from the wind, but also make it easier to drag the hose around the garden.
Relocating several of the beds will allow me to have 3 foot wide pathways along the long dimension of the beds. Two foot wide paths just aren't wide enough for the wheel barrow and the wagon.
Building an additonal "lift" under the sills of the greenhouse. It would be nice if I could raise the greenhouse up another 3-1/2 inches so I don't bump my head on the roof so much. I can construct an "elevated sill" box of 2x4 redwood and slip it between the sill and the bottom plates. I should be able to do this by lifting the north end of the greenhouse with a pair of crow bars and tucking blocking underneath, then repeating the step on the other end. Then I can roll the sill extention under the sides, tap them into final position and finally, place the end sills in place, screw everything together with deck screws and voila, no more scraping the hide off my skull!
More tomorrow
The grass was probably oats or wheat from the seeds left in last year's mulch hay. The mulch itself was pretty much reduced to nothing: eaten by the garden as Ruth Stout would say. Anyhow, I dug up the greenhouse beds with a spading fork and sifted out as much of the grass as I could. Took about an hour all together.
Next I relocated two of my outdoor beds. Last year I made these of 2x6 redwood. They are just simple boxes, 4 feet by 8, held together with lag screws. I tilled up the garden last spring and then heaped up the tilled soil in mounds where I wanted to locate the beds. I set the boxes on the ground in likely spots and then cleared the garden soil from the pathways between the beds, pitching it into the boxes. I used rocks to make the boxes more or less level, raked out the soil and planted.
The boxes worked pretty well except that I should have set them out so that the long demension was perpendicular to the prevailing wind because the wind simply roared through the remay tunnels. True, the seedlings were protected from frost, but the front end gain on my growing season was limited by the wind that withered the plants repeatedly. This year I am re-arranging the garden so the boxes are perpendicular to the wind.
It was pretty easy to just lift up the frames and carry them off to the side. The wood frames, having weathered the winter, are much lighter and dryer than they were last spring. Had I realized this, I would have allowed more time to pull up all the frames, scrub them down and give them a good soaking with lindseed oil before working up the beds. Definitely this is something to put on the agenda for next year. Unfortunately, there is not time this year.
The good news however, is that the boxes are in very good condition, and other than surface weathering, they are sturdy and free from rot and insect damage.
Last year I just about hit the limit for the amount of garden space I can reasonably manage, so this is the first year that I wont be expanding the total area that I am cultivating for vegetables. I learned a few things about efficiency last year and am making some changes for this season that should allow me to get more vegetables with a bit less time and effort than last year.
Some things that I will do differently this year:
Changing the orientation of the beds will not only make it easier to protect them from the wind, but also make it easier to drag the hose around the garden.
Relocating several of the beds will allow me to have 3 foot wide pathways along the long dimension of the beds. Two foot wide paths just aren't wide enough for the wheel barrow and the wagon.
Building an additonal "lift" under the sills of the greenhouse. It would be nice if I could raise the greenhouse up another 3-1/2 inches so I don't bump my head on the roof so much. I can construct an "elevated sill" box of 2x4 redwood and slip it between the sill and the bottom plates. I should be able to do this by lifting the north end of the greenhouse with a pair of crow bars and tucking blocking underneath, then repeating the step on the other end. Then I can roll the sill extention under the sides, tap them into final position and finally, place the end sills in place, screw everything together with deck screws and voila, no more scraping the hide off my skull!
More tomorrow
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Spring or Just Teasing
I went out to the greenhouse today. It's been closed down since the end of October because of aphids. Ignoring my own advice, I have all of the garden junk stored in there and there is no room to plant anything at the moment, but it sure was warm in there.
Next weekend I will try to plant something. I have some tomato plants started and I'll start some peppers this week.
Things to plant in the greenhouse:
Lettuce
Radishes
Tomatos
Peppers
Carrots
Outside, it's time to start spinach, lettuce, radishes.
Time to start:
Pumpkins
Cucumbers
Peppers
More tomatos
Things to focus on this year:
Beans
Peas
Tomatos
Peppers
Need to do better with potatos
Need better storage plan for Potatoes, Onions, Carrots
Build better cold frames for the south side of the garage
Planning to make and can large batches of spaghetti sauce
Rototill the back garden.
Next weekend I will try to plant something. I have some tomato plants started and I'll start some peppers this week.
Things to plant in the greenhouse:
Lettuce
Radishes
Tomatos
Peppers
Carrots
Outside, it's time to start spinach, lettuce, radishes.
Time to start:
Pumpkins
Cucumbers
Peppers
More tomatos
Things to focus on this year:
Beans
Peas
Tomatos
Peppers
Need to do better with potatos
Need better storage plan for Potatoes, Onions, Carrots
Build better cold frames for the south side of the garage
Planning to make and can large batches of spaghetti sauce
Rototill the back garden.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Greenhouse Notes
The greenhouse is all put together and working well. It looks like a giant Wardian case sitting out in the garden and it's filled with lettuces, leeks, carrots, and onions. I have also planted three varieties of tomato and all are doing well. There is Early Girl, Sweet 100, and another variety of cherry tomato whose name escapes me. I expect to begin harvesting tomatoes from the greenhouse around June 15, or perhaps earlier. I also have my tomato starts for the main garden in the greenhouse right now.
However, as well as it is working, it has some problems. It can get way too hot inside and also, it's drafty which cools it off way to quickly at night. I need to address both problems, but the draftiness is the more important of the two.
The glazing is the problem. The glass needs to be more tightly sealed to the frame. I need to remove each section of glass and add a strip of Mortite to the top and bottom edges of the glass and to the center joint where the pairs of panes over lap.
The small aluminum tabs that join the panes are also insufficient because they create an unnecessarily large gap between the panes. This allows a lot of cold air infiltration. I am going to replace the center tab with a long strip of heavy aluminum foil cut from a disposable oven drip pan. This, along with additional strips of Mortite should seal the gap.
I also need to work toward double glazing the entire greenhouse. I think the best way to do this is to replace the glass with twinwall polycarbonate panels. These panels can be cut to the two by four size of the openings and will eliminate most of the drafts. However, it was expensive to buy the glass and it seems a waste to remove it. Also, the plastic is not as pretty as the glass.
I'll replace the glass in stages, starting with the North wall and then the north roof. The north wall will mostly be hidden by plants and little light comes through it anyway. I'll use the glass panes to glaze Dutch lights for my cold frames, and possibly to construct storm panels to put on the South walls and roof.
Tightening up the end walls is more problematic. The west wall can be reglazed with plastic panels, although this will require some fancy cutting. The east wall, with it's door is more difficult. I certainly see why an attached greenhouse is recommended because it is very difficult to get in and out of the greenhouse without letting all the warm air out in the winter. I need to create some sort of airlock.
Possibly the thing to do would be to put in some sort of plastic curtain inside the door way. This could hang from the frame at the first bay, secured to furring strips perhaps. I could fasten the furring strips to the aluminum channels with the T-bolts that I can buy from Charlies Greenhouses.
I also need to set up solar heat storage. My current plan is to build a shelf that will line the north wall up to the roof line and hold gallon bottles of water. I'll size the shelves to fit one gallon orange juice bottles. If possible, I will paint the bottles black to help them absorb more heat. Possibly it would be helpful to put a layer of celotex or similar foam insulation on the north wall between the glass and the water bottles.
I need to think about a misting system to cool things off too.
However, as well as it is working, it has some problems. It can get way too hot inside and also, it's drafty which cools it off way to quickly at night. I need to address both problems, but the draftiness is the more important of the two.
The glazing is the problem. The glass needs to be more tightly sealed to the frame. I need to remove each section of glass and add a strip of Mortite to the top and bottom edges of the glass and to the center joint where the pairs of panes over lap.
The small aluminum tabs that join the panes are also insufficient because they create an unnecessarily large gap between the panes. This allows a lot of cold air infiltration. I am going to replace the center tab with a long strip of heavy aluminum foil cut from a disposable oven drip pan. This, along with additional strips of Mortite should seal the gap.
I also need to work toward double glazing the entire greenhouse. I think the best way to do this is to replace the glass with twinwall polycarbonate panels. These panels can be cut to the two by four size of the openings and will eliminate most of the drafts. However, it was expensive to buy the glass and it seems a waste to remove it. Also, the plastic is not as pretty as the glass.
I'll replace the glass in stages, starting with the North wall and then the north roof. The north wall will mostly be hidden by plants and little light comes through it anyway. I'll use the glass panes to glaze Dutch lights for my cold frames, and possibly to construct storm panels to put on the South walls and roof.
Tightening up the end walls is more problematic. The west wall can be reglazed with plastic panels, although this will require some fancy cutting. The east wall, with it's door is more difficult. I certainly see why an attached greenhouse is recommended because it is very difficult to get in and out of the greenhouse without letting all the warm air out in the winter. I need to create some sort of airlock.
Possibly the thing to do would be to put in some sort of plastic curtain inside the door way. This could hang from the frame at the first bay, secured to furring strips perhaps. I could fasten the furring strips to the aluminum channels with the T-bolts that I can buy from Charlies Greenhouses.
I also need to set up solar heat storage. My current plan is to build a shelf that will line the north wall up to the roof line and hold gallon bottles of water. I'll size the shelves to fit one gallon orange juice bottles. If possible, I will paint the bottles black to help them absorb more heat. Possibly it would be helpful to put a layer of celotex or similar foam insulation on the north wall between the glass and the water bottles.
I need to think about a misting system to cool things off too.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
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
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
Sunday, November 11, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
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.
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.
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