Greenhouse Blues

January 19th, almost a month before our average last frost date, and I've taken down the greenhouse.  Oh how I loathe it, let me count the ways:

1) There were virtually no instructions on assembly.
2) Upon its arrival 1of 2 zippers were broken meaning it wouldn't close properly.
3) 3 joints would not stay connected.
4) It blew over in just a minor amount of wind the very first day.
5) When it blew over, the stakes that came with it ripped right through the cover.
6) It took some major creativity to get it secured enough to handle the lightest wind.
7) The 2nd zipper broke the 2nd day.
8) We had a very moderate rain, light in comparisons to some that come through FL, yet it collected an enormous amount of water.  I went out twice, in the rain, to dump water off the top... yet the frame still broke.
9) The weight of the water tore some holes in the seams on the top... nice gaps in just the right place to let any heat out and completely defeat its purpose (yet not in places that would allow the water to drain).
10) It was rendered useless just as we discovered 2 major roofing problems, the washing machine broke, I learned about tax issues regarding my deceased father's business, some more rather pertenant tax information conveniently hid from me and facing a very major family decision.  The last thing I needed right now is for my stress relief (gardening) to be saddled with bitterness.

But, I'm not sending it back.  It will cost $20+ to ship back and only cost me $70.  Instead, I will put the pieces to good use and still wind up with a very good greenhouse.  Here's what I've come up with:

1) I'm going to use the dog kennel as my greenhouse frame.  We use it in the summer to house the sheep at night, but the sheep are in the pasture with the goats during the winter.  It's 6'x10'x6'... a perfect size.  It costs about $200 new, but some neighbors gave it to us when their dog repeatedly climbed out of it.  It has served us VERY well!  I've seen them on Craig's List for about $100.

2) I'll lay 2x4s across the top along with a piece of welded wire fencing with small openings (2" or less) to create a stable top (that won't sag with rain) but one that will still allow light in.

3) I'll rip out the seams of the greenhouse cover and use them to create a new cover to fit over the kennel.  A 4mil drop cloth worked great as my new closure and is very inexpensive so I can use that on the larger sides to make a good fit.

4) The shelving that came with the greenhouse is still good so I'll keep that inside.

5) The big archs of the frame will make great trellises for vining plants.  It costs about $8 to make a large trellis out of electrical conduit and then when they're not in use, they are difficult to store.  These will work perfectly and I can take them apart to store.

6) The other aluminum framing pieces I can piece together to make smaller trellises for tomato plants and such. 

So all in all, I should have listened to my wise friend who said the portable greenhouses were too flimsy.  Oh well, lesson learned.  I'm still licking my wounds (as the rain drips through the roof and the laundry piles up), but my plants should make it through the rest of winter just fine.

And for others looking for a greenhouse, I'd suggest obtaining a used dog kennel and some drop clothes... I think it would be constructable for about $125 or so.

Starting seeds

I have a greenhouse!  Hooray!  It just arrived moments ago, purchased new off ebay on New Year's Eve.  In anticipation of its arrival (and some very good weather forecasted for the next week), I planted a whole host of spring seeds.  But before I get into my own personal record keeping, let me tell you about my greenhouse.  We'd been planning to get one since May and just didn't.  I started to dither about the size of the original one we planned to get: 18"x30" foot print with 4 shelves.  Yes, I could do seeds, but little else.  So, in hunting some more I found several options that were much bigger for the same price or slightly more.  What I eventually settled on was a 10'x6.6' footprint, 6' tall in the center with movable shelves included.  I can plop this baby over a garden bed of something cold sensitive and put my shelves of pots or seedlings in the walkway or around the planted items.  I'm a bit dubious how well it will hold up to wind, but we decided to give this a try and if it needs replacing in a couple years, we'll know that much better what we need before buying a super good quality one.  Merry Christmas to me!!!

I had a BLAST this morning outside pretending its spring.  With the current weather, the imagination doesn't have to work very hard.  The older 2 kids helped me clear some room in the seed boxes by planting the remaining stuff in the pretty patch.  Then they "helped" me plant the seeds.  I use window boxes for seeds, splitting each into 2-4 sections for each type of seed.  When we're working on one particular seed, for example bok choy, I'll show them the section in the box those seeds will go in to.  I'll put a few seeds into farmer girl's hand (4.5 yrs) and have her lay them, one at a time, on top of the dirt.  I'll put a 1 or 2 seeds onto farmer boy's flat palm (almost 3yrs) and he just dumps them onto the dirt.  Then, depending on the size of the seed, I'll allow them to push it down and cover or I'll push it down and let them sprinkle dirt on top.  Between anticipating all these new foods I'm planting so early and doing it all with 2 of my very favorite people, I was in heaven all morning! 

Now on to boring record keeping:
1. Chinese Cabbage: Michihli (fall plantings didn't head likely due to heat late in fall.  leaves still good to cook and eat)
2. Bok Choy: Ching Chang
3. Asian Greens: Large Leaf Tong Ho (fall plantings slightly bitter)
4. Hot peppers: Tam Jalapeno*
5. Bell Peppers: Sweet Chocolate, Emerald Giant
6. Chichiquelite Huckleberry*
7. Jelly Melon Kiwano*
8. Melocoton Cassabanana*
9. Wonderberry*
10. Eggplant: Pandora Striped Rose*, and Ping Tung*
11. Parsley: Giant of Italy
12: Mustard Greens: Southern Giant Curled
13: Celery: Tendercrisp (fall planting grew very pretty flowers similar to zinnias- either my mistake or Baker Creeks?)
14: Tomatoes: Beefsteak, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, and Green Zebra

*Denotes first time planting

Without a greenhouse, most of these I'd have to wait another 6 weeks to plant.  This way I can get a jump on the bugs and heat.  I'll get 6 weeks more fruit out of my tomatoes before the bugs, fungus, heat and disease wipe them out.  I'll start my squash, melons and cucumbers in about 3 weeks so I can get that much more out of them before the pickleworm eats them all.  I'd love to start them now, but I can't imagine containing a 6 week old squash vine to a pot inside a greenhouse!

26... ish

woke up at 3 to a reading of 41. i did a dance of joy. woke up at 6 to 36. no ice around when doing chores at 7:30. very hopeful that the forecast would be better than the 27 it said before. i did not want to pull out the blankets and sheets.

too bad. forecast now says 26 with strong northern winds. boooooooo!

so, i bundled the kids and we all went out. thanks to a neighbor who purged her linen closet a few months back, i had just enough coverings. i have things laid out ready come dark. i turned the goat shed so the opening is pointed south. i put blankets over the northern sides of each chicken pen as wind breaks. I gave everything a good drink.

And I checked on my poor pet frog that I found yesterday. :-< Yesterday morning I saw a BIG frog hanging onto the side of a rain barrel. I figured the water would be the warmest place for him, but alas, a couple hours later I saw him spread out, dead, at the bottom of the barrel. Then I found another frog barely moving, near frozen, in another barrel. I scooped it out and set it in a bucket of water. Then I added warm water to try to bring its body temperature up. This was late in the afternoon so I brought the bucket into the garage. This morning I thought it was dead, but it blinked. I added more warm water and am hoping for the best. I know its pretty silly. And likely futile. But just because I hack the heads off chickens doesn't mean I want to see every bit of wildlife die a slow and painful death. Besides, frogs eat bugs.

So, tonight being the worst night forecasted thus far and as far as the almight radar can see, if all our little plants and froggies can make it tonight, we'll know we're doing alright. Good luck to everyone else out there. Stay warm!

Winter Wonderland

So, its not a winter wonderland as most people think of it. But for me its more, "I wonder if these plants will make it this winter?"

And thus we've gone the past 2 nights. Saturday night I was awake several times and kept checking the outside thermometer. 37 was as low as it showed. When I went out to do chores, a thin layer of ice sat in an empty hay basket, most likely dew that had frozen. A few pineapples were a bit yellowed, but the tomatoes and peppers still sat perky and green.

Last night I did another round of wondering. Should I have covered anything too? Will the Christmas lights be enough? Should I have tried to save the tomatoes? Woke up to the thermometer reading 34. Doing chores revealed a 1/4" of ice on the rain barrels and the goats' water. The tomatoes and peppers have bit it hard. Pineapples and tangerine trees still looking good though.

My mom gave the kids a nice wagon for Christmas. And I'm very glad. It makes it very easy to protect potted plants. I load them into the wagon and wheel it into the garage at night. In the morning I wheel them back out and never unload them from the wagon. May not be the use my mom intended, but its quite the handy farm tool.

The forecast is bleak. Freezing temps all week. Tuesday night supposed to get down to 27. That means running an extension cord and light out to the pump house. That also means covering the pineapples and tangerines as well as turning on the Christmas lights. I hate covering. Its so much work.

Anyway, for those wondering the best way to protect your plants, don't do as most do and throw a towel over your favorite hibiscus. You'll do more harm than good. First of all, know what needs to be protected. Bananas will die back but rest assured they will sprout again. Same for hibiscus. Staghorn ferns don't like cold, but throwing a blanket over them without getting them down from their perch first is futile. I smack my forehead many times in a winter as I see ignorant plant protection attempts. I follow this method:

1) Water thoroughly in early afternoon. Keeping them well hydrated is giving them their own insulation.

2) Use Christmas lights. On citrus or other grafted trees, wrap the trunk densely with lights. You need to protect the graft area to save the tree. Then throw lights around the central part of the tree. You'll lose some foliage but the tree will survive. Turn on the lights at dark and leave them on till the temp is above freezing. No need to take off the lights during the day.

3) When dipping into the mid 20s, also cover the plants. HOWEVER, they need to be covered from top ALL THE WAY TO THE GROUND! The cover provides a level of insulation. You wouldn't turn on the heat and leave all the windows open, right? Same thing here. Also, if possible, keep the cover OFF all foliage. Wherever the cover touches the plant, those leaves will almost certainly die. Now, I don't have enough stakes and poles for this. I cover as I can because I'm covering to save the plant, not the foliage. Still turn on the lights when covering. Uncover each plant in the morning and water again in the early afternoon.

4) Bring potted plants inside. Covering a potted plant will help, but it being in a pot makes it more susceptible to cold.

5) If dealing with a very large citrus tree, know that that tree has likely seen hard freezes many times and will probably be fine. Don't try to cover the whole tree. That's insane. The best way to protect it would be to wrap the trunk in lights as far up as is feasible and then also cover the trunk with a blanket. If possible, have the blanket tight at the top and tent it out to the ground.

The little farm girl and I recently planted some seeds for our "pretty patch". You know, back when the high was 73. Now I'm biting my nails for them. I brought them inside the house one night but once I saw it was going to be freezing all week, I just left them in the garage. I can have 4 flats of seeds lining my dining room every night and morning for a week. If they don't sprout, we'll try again later.

Homesteading Hubby pulled up the last of the sweet potatoes. They look great. The trick now is where to put them to cure??? Now they're sitting in laundry baskets in the porch with a blanket over them at night. Hope that's enough.