I am great advocate for greenhouses, and raised beds in them...raised high enough that you don't have to bend at all. A late frost hit my area about a month ago, from those I know that frost went right off as far as Saskatchewan. Many people lost their gardens, I lost nothing. I am now eating carrots (they could use a little more time), had strawberries yesterday, the Kale is now ready to harvest and other things will be ready soon, all the tomatoes were planted from seed and all have flowered and small tomatoes forming in places, I even got a late start this year, with green houses you can easly get off two crops a year even in Alberta. I will now be building raised beds for potatoes, about the only thing I still grow outside the green house.
If your serious about growing, consider greenhouses, best things I ever built (and raised beds), but most importantly its much less work to grow this way, and when its easy and fun you are more likely to do it.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Fantastic work. My big job of the year is turning the south side of the house into one long greenhouse. Pictures once it get farther along. MrsC5 was interested in your raised barrels. Do you heat it at all
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
here is where I am so far.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
The short answer is no added heat generaly, but I need to qualify that, as there is detail not seen in the pics, I am just out of time at the moment so I have to come back to that later.
Ok I see what you are doing..I have a couple cautions, you may have already anticipated and have work arounds in mind.
Heat..too much and getting into your home and driving temps up high in the summer, solvable. Moisture getting on and behind what I think is vinel siding again solveable. Because of the faster growing, greater plant density, and higher water use humidity can be very high, so keep that in mind. Lastly like you I have done the scavenged windows thing but wound up using more lumber, had more joints (leaks), not really a problem if used as walls but yours will be a roof, spent more time and had greater frustrations....if you will consider polycarbonate it comes in 8 and 12 foot lengths, from memory 26 or 30 inches wide, I cant remember for sure, available at homedepot. I will take inside pics of another green house I have build with this, with roughly the same sloop of roof you have, and you can see how its constructed, ofcourse if your set on glass windows that may not interest you This one is idle right now as I am changing things around in it.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Shower passing through so it looks like I have time to answer that question. Plants are started from seed inside the house then when I feel lucky I move them to the greenhouse (april) and plant other things in the green house too. Now by April the sun hours are longer and warmer so I try to keep the heat in overnight, what you cant see easy is poly film. that back wall is plywood with tinfoil glued to it for two puposes, one to reflect and diffuse the light but I also think it reflects heat back in though that's just a quess on my part, but the poly is stretched with a 1.5 inch gap from the foil/playwood back wall so I infact have a trapped dead air space on all the walls/ceiling...that helps a lot.
because the containers are raised I have them all pushed up against the back wall while the overnight lows are going below 0. now you can see with the barrels, and with that water container its even clearer, I have cut these things so that I can throw heavy bankets over top of everthing at night. That was a good use of tires, I like how you did that, another idea I will shamelessly steel.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Forgot to say you can ofcourse use a electric heater under the blankets if you want
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Good work both of you!
Hmmm, maybe I should rethink the quiet part...
Getting barrels ready for another green house for next year, barrels will be for high bush and low bush tomato's (cherry), This green house will be automated, automatic ventilation, and watering, driven by a solar panel. water from roof collection. Best to put some paint on the barrels as they do start to break down from uv light at about the 15 to 20 year mark
From that other green house the kale was cut down once and its now ready to be cut down again..amazing stuff to grow, I will get 3 forsure maybe 4 crops off it...first time I have grown kale
This green house has a cement floor that's painted black, under the cement is r20 foam board. in the spring and fall months that floor keeps the temps even over night, and again I can throw heavy blankets over the barrels if a late spring or early fall blizzard pops up. In summer I have to lay cardboard over the cement as it gets too hot to touch
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Near Finished greenhouse here. http://internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5820
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
All the kale and only the kale, gone...one day little pin holes in the leaves, I couldn't see any bugs but figure there must be some...while I was still thinking of what to try, by the second day the leaves were all shotgunned looking...no Idea what hit them
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
sounds like flea beetles, (blow natural diatomaceous earth powder with facemask.(too late now for crop, but have on hand before next time)
Or, could be cabbage worm from moth's eggs. Any sign of whitish/yellowish eggs on underside of leaves at any point?
In either case, there is likely a soil-nutritional deficiency. That , combined with dry conditions makes it attractive for moisture-sucking insects.
I have some of that, I didn't think of it fast enough.....was in shock as to how fast it went....that and with it being my first time growing kale,,I was a little stunned
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.