Cold tolerant greens & broccoli
We decided that a greenhouse would be crucial to getting a head start on our garden and extending the season. When I lost all of my tomato seedlings (over 100) last spring to the late frost, I was determined to not let it happen again. We knew that there would be a light frost and had been covering our seedlings in small tunnels constructed of flexible pipe, rebar and row cover material. The frost ended up being much worse than the weather station had predicted. I had to start seeds all over again. To go and buy 100 tomato seedlings would have been too expensive. This created a late start on our tomatoes so we didn't harvest as many as we could have if our first plants had survived the frost. I was lucky enough to get free windows from a dorm building that was being remodeled on the campus where I work. Once we had the window dimensions, we drew several plans for the greenhouse. I also wanted to use my old sink that my husband got me for my birthday in the project. We decided that half the building could be a greenhouse and the other half could be an outdoor kitchen for washing & cleaning vegetables from the garden. We also planned that it would be used to do some canning in the fall and as an entertainment area for cookouts and get-togethers.
The biggest obstacle was finding a level location that was close to the garden. We soon realized that we would have to make the area level. Living on this ridge, our entire yard is on a hill. We decided to get some cheap landscape timbers and use them to create a level spot for the greenhouse. I wish we could have used something that would last longer but we were working on a tight budget. We borrowed a tractor from a friend and my husband leveled out the spot. Then we had a load of gravel delivered for the foundation. Since my husband had been involved in alot of construction projects for the highway department that involved site leveling, he was able to create this nice pad for the greenhouse. Getting the base ready and putting in the foundation of 4x6's in probably took the longest. Once that was complete the framing and addition of the pine boards went quickly. Originally we had planned to use the windows for the roof too but we soon realized that it would be extremely heavy and impracticable so we decided to use clear plastic roofing material from Lowe's. For ventilation, we installed a 24 inch fan, thermostat and automatic vent. We found a nice door at the peddler mall for $35 and installed that on the front. We then realized that the pine boards did not hold in much heat so we added some foil insulation inside between the framing. We have a small space heater in there for the days when it gets really cold but the greenhouse is able to keep the temperature anywhere from 20-40 degrees higher than it is outside. I have all my houseplants and some herb garden transplants in there. I also started some seeds that I ordered from Johnny's Select Seeds. There are several varieties of lettuce and other salad greens, broccoli, chives, green onions, radishes, spinach, garlic and carrots. They were growing very slowly, so we decided to supplement the diminishing winter light with a couple of fluorescent lights and one high pressure sodium light. It seems to have helped a lot since we did that although one of the fluorescent lights has quit working. I think the humid environment ruined the ballast. I looked at a few greenhouse lights on the Internet but they are pretty expensive. Since the darkest days have passed and winter soltice is behind us, I think I will wait until next year to worry about purchasing a light.
I am probably the only person in Kentucky who decorated their greenhouse for Christmas. I had collected a lot of Christmas decorations when we lived in our much larger house but since we moved to this place, I am limited on what I can put up. So I decided that I would decorate the greenhouse. It looked awesome, unfortunately, very few people visit us so I didn't get to really show it off! Maybe next year!
I am counting down the days until I can start seeds for the garden summer crop in there. I am happy to know that I won't be losing all my tomato seedlings this year to frost. I definitely have a great start on my crop for the spring this year. |
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