2022 Greenhouse/Gardening Chronicles

[Magna]

I wanted to track and share my progress during this year's growing season.

I have a greenhouse that unfortunately collapsed from snow and wind this last winter. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't initially devastated and feeling like all hope was lost. With time I gained a healthy perspective. I will hopefully be able to rebuild that greenhouse in time to house chickens this fall for a fall chicken harvest.

My Dad has a greenhouse that I helped him with last year in which we planted tomatoes and peppers. Thankfully I'm going to be able to use that greenhouse this year to grow the same things for my family. Rather than remove all dead plants before last winter, I left them all as they were. I also left the ground cover weed fabric fixed on the ground by the ground staples (3 feet wide strips of weed fabric the length of the greenhouse). This turned out to be a boon for this growing season because the inside of that greenhouse was a haven for wild rabbits; a herd, colony, a whole fluffle must have lived in there because the amount of rabbit manure was astonishing.

My job today was to rake the dried dead plants up and out of the greenhouse, remove the ground staples from the weed fabric, roll the fabric sheets up and to the back of the greenhouse and by doing so, get the soil ready for a good tilling. The plants will love the tilled in rabbit manure. What a great symbiotic relationship. The rabbits used the greenhouse for a perfect shelter all winter to roam as they pleased and the plants will readily use their fertilizer. I like it.

^ This was about half done with raking up and getting the dead plant matter from last year out of the greenhouse and off of the ground cover fabric.

^ The front of the greenhouse. Note the wires and pulley-like contraptions running from the front wall. Those pulleys are the means to hold the tomato plants upright when they grow and become laden with fruit.

 

[Magna]

^As mentioned before, the amount of rabbit manure from the wild rabbits that found their way into the greenhouse and took up winter residence is astonishing and welcomed. Raking the veg matter did not affect the manure and left that atop the ground fabric. That's exactly what I was hoping for.

^Buckets worth of the stuff. Can you tell I'm excited about...rabbit poop?! Fellow gardeners will understand.

^ This is a picture of the first strip of ground cover fabric rolled up and to the back of the greenhouse. The rabbit manure and dried veg dust will be turned into the soil nicely. Once the soil is all tilled, I'll reverse the process and roll each strip of ground cover fabric back in it's place which will then be ready for transplanting the tomatoes and peppers. Good things since the seedlings DESPARATELY need to get in the ground.

 

[Magna]

^ Last year I used soaker hoses for irrigating the plants inside the greenhouse. This year I'll be using drip irrigation tape in the greenhouse and I'll reuse the soaker hose likely for squash plants outside.

^ Almost done with this step of the project! There's only one strip of ground cover fabric to roll away.

^ Done for the day! That was about 4 hours of work that I did solo. All of that stuff will be tilled in nicely. It's going to be happy soil and will hopefully make for happy plants. The wife on the front and the back of the greenhouse walls is normally used for planting climbing plants like pole beans, melons, cucumbers, etc.

Next stage of the project...tilling the soil. Until next time I hope you enjoyed.

 

[Thinx]

Wow that's amazing! So sorry to hear about your own greenhouse, how awful! I help on a community farm where they have some of these poly tunnels as we call them, all filled with produce for veg boxes. Conditions are much milder here. My partner was planting tomatoes there last week, it's just the right time, here. Although we have been trying to put our own tomatoes outside, but it's just not warm enough yet I brought 12 plants back in this week, and they're not happy. A couple more weeks needed but they are about to flower indoors so it's hard to keep them from flowering too soon.

Wow the rabbit poop! Where are they now?? How do you keep them off your crop? They are in the fields around our allotment.

I would love a huge greenhouse like that, there's one filled with salad and herbs here, and one with beans and tomatoes and all sorts. Aswell as outdoors salad under fleece, which we have on our allotment too, but it's a bit early still. We have beets doing well, and early potatoes in raised beds, and peas, beans and herbs.

I have about 15 pumpkin plants and 6 courgettes ready to plant out now, but again we're waiting for it to warm up. It's same as last year here (in UK ).

Your greenhouse is going to be amazing! Thanks for posting the pictures!

 

[Callistemon]

Super cool, @Magna - I love comparing notes with other growers of food. Here's my greenhouse - a small thing but all I need in our climate, just to get the less hardy seedlings started before winter frosts leave our garden, or when the sun turns into a furnace in summer.



A link to photos from our permaculture garden here.

Hope to see lots of pictures of growing things and the food you make from your produce!

And isn't that handy about the rabbit manure! ...did you know that rabbit manure has been through the gut twice? The first pass they eat again, the second pass they leave. It helps them extract extra nutrients. They just do it slightly differently to ruminants...

 

[Magna]

Super cool, @Magna - I love comparing notes with other growers of food. Here's my greenhouse - a small thing but all I need in our climate, just to get the less hardy seedlings started before winter frosts leave our garden, or when the sun turns into a furnace in summer.



A link to photos from our permaculture garden here.

Hope to see lots of pictures of growing things and the food you make from your produce!

And isn't that handy about the rabbit manure! ...did you know that rabbit manure has been through the gut twice? The first pass they eat again, the second pass they leave. It helps them extract extra nutrients. They just do it slightly differently to ruminants...

Thanks for posting. Yes I did know that about rabbits passing their poo through their gut twice. Now is my busy time of the year. I work full time so all of my gardening has to be taken care of in my free time. There's much to do this year.

Spectacular photos of your permaculture garden. Thank you for posting the link.

 

[Magna]

Wow that's amazing! So sorry to hear about your own greenhouse, how awful! I help on a community farm where they have some of these poly tunnels as we call them, all filled with produce for veg boxes. Conditions are much milder here. My partner was planting tomatoes there last week, it's just the right time, here. Although we have been trying to put our own tomatoes outside, but it's just not warm enough yet I brought 12 plants back in this week, and they're not happy. A couple more weeks needed but they are about to flower indoors so it's hard to keep them from flowering too soon.

Wow the rabbit poop! Where are they now?? How do you keep them off your crop? They are in the fields around our allotment.

I would love a huge greenhouse like that, there's one filled with salad and herbs here, and one with beans and tomatoes and all sorts. Aswell as outdoors salad under fleece, which we have on our allotment too, but it's a bit early still. We have beets doing well, and early potatoes in raised beds, and peas, beans and herbs.

I have about 15 pumpkin plants and 6 courgettes ready to plant out now, but again we're waiting for it to warm up. It's same as last year here (in UK ).

Your greenhouse is going to be amazing! Thanks for posting the pictures!

Thank you for your kind words. Your work with the community farm sounds great and I'm sure it's rewarding for you.

The wild rabbits have so much to eat in the wild that they're not interested in munching on pepper or tomato plants during the growing season. They don't care for potatoes or corn so they stay away from those. They can be a problem with other things but I also use a few raised beds that I cover with thin row cover fabric which keeps them out and lets the sunlight and water through.

The bigger problem is keeping out the deer. I have a lot of fence mending to do soon as well for the deer. Add that to my list!

My greenhouse that collapsed was even bigger than the one I'm using this year. There was no worry for rabbit intruders in that one because we dug a trench by hand around the entire interior perimeter of the greenhouse and buried wire "hardware cloth" in the ground and up the sides of the greenhouse about three feet. The trench was filled with rocks picked from the very rocky soil we have (ancient glacier country).

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Wow that's amazing! So sorry to hear about your own greenhouse, how awful! I help on a community farm where they have some of these poly tunnels as we call them, all filled with produce for veg boxes. Conditions are much milder here. My partner was planting tomatoes there last week, it's just the right time, here. Although we have been trying to put our own tomatoes outside, but it's just not warm enough yet I brought 12 plants back in this week, and they're not happy. A couple more weeks needed but they are about to flower indoors so it's hard to keep them from flowering too soon.

Wow the rabbit poop! Where are they now?? How do you keep them off your crop? They are in the fields around our allotment.

I would love a huge greenhouse like that, there's one filled with salad and herbs here, and one with beans and tomatoes and all sorts. Aswell as outdoors salad under fleece, which we have on our allotment too, but it's a bit early still. We have beets doing well, and early potatoes in raised beds, and peas, beans and herbs.

I have about 15 pumpkin plants and 6 courgettes ready to plant out now, but again we're waiting for it to warm up. It's same as last year here (in UK ).

Your greenhouse is going to be amazing! Thanks for posting the pictures!

It is finally warm here. This week I can plant paste tomatoes and chiles. We are swimming in Asparagus, and the 40 heads of garlic are looking good. I rotate beds to keep some diseases from getting to the plants. The upcoming chore is to sift the compost.

About keeping the rabbits out of the garden . . . . Here the Coyotes, Red Tailed Hawks, and Bobcats keep the population down and with clumps of cat fur in locations, we get none. A worst nuisance are deer.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

but again we're waiting for it to warm up. It's same as last year here (in UK ).

It warmed up only in the past week here, halfway to the North Pole and within miles of the Hudson's Bay watershed (Laurentian) and I realize that you are at 51 degrees North, at minimum, It is amazing that you have a sufficient growing season. But, Duh, hence the greenhouses.

 

[Ella Spell]

You put me to shame, Magna. Once again I'm in awe of your talent.

Best wishes for a successful growing season.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

My garden is in,...potatoes, onions, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. I'm in West Michigan, like Gerald Wilgus,...he's a bit further north,...at any rate, it is nice to get outdoors and get the plants going. My wife and I put succulents in the front window planter boxes and angel-wing begonias in the big pots out front. I've been able to finally get the windows open in the house, turn off the air conditioning/furnace during the day,...get that breeze and some humidity into the house,...the orchids are perking up, with new flower spikes. I'll get them outdoors once the overnight temperatures are consistently above 55*F/13*C,...usually the 1st or 2nd week in June.

Happy growing, everyone!

 

[Magna]

My garden is in,...potatoes, onions, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. I'm in West Michigan, like Gerald Wilgus,...he's a bit further north,...at any rate, it is nice to get outdoors and get the plants going. My wife and I put succulents in the front window planter boxes and angel-wing begonias in the big pots out front. I've been able to finally get the windows open in the house, turn off the air conditioning/furnace during the day,...get that breeze and some humidity into the house,...the orchids are perking up, with new flower spikes. I'll get them outdoors once the overnight temperatures are consistently above 55*F/13*C,...usually the 1st or 2nd week in June.

Happy growing, everyone!

I've found that gardening has been great therapy for my PTSD and also for my ADHD (it's a wonderful exercise in patience and having to regulate your "speed" to the "speed" of something else (ie the slow and steady growth rate of the plants)).

I've never been to lower Michigan but the U.P. is a most favorite place of mine.

 

[Callistemon]

Thanks for posting. Yes I did know that about rabbits passing their poo through their gut twice. Now is my busy time of the year. I work full time so all of my gardening has to be taken care of in my free time. There's much to do this year.

Spectacular photos of your permaculture garden. Thank you for posting the link.

No worries. And how cool you knew that about rabbit digestion! Most people don't. And when they find out, they're never kissing their bunny again!

 

[Forest Cat]

I've found that gardening has been great therapy for my PTSD and also for my ADHD (it's a wonderful exercise in patience and having to regulate your "speed" to the "speed" of something else (ie the slow and steady growth rate of the plants)).

I think gardening is a little like meditation, I forget everything else for a while. And it's so nice to be outside and work with the soil and the plants. These days I'm shaping my garden, making everything fit together and making it look pretty.

 

[Callistemon]

@Forest Cat, it's a shame there is no forum TARDIS, as I am sure you could help me learn how to use my chainsaw sharpening power tool I bought two years ago...

 

[Forest Cat]

@Forest Cat, it's a shame there is no forum TARDIS, as I am sure you could help me learn how to use my chainsaw sharpening power tool I bought two years ago...

I had to google Tardis, no unfortuntaly I don't have that kind of phone booth. Do you have one of these Dremel sharpeners perhaps, it should be pretty straight forward. It's all about the angle of the file. Have to keep it at the same angle as those small cutters on the chain. I use an old fashion file, I have done it so many times that I can sharpen it in a couple of minutes. And old fashion files fits in my pocket and never runs out of battery.

 

[Callistemon]

I had to google Tardis, no unfortuntaly I don't have that kind of phone booth. Do you have one of these Dremel sharpeners perhaps, it should be pretty straight forward. It's all about the angle of the file. I use an old fashion file, I have done it so many times that I can sharpen it in a couple of minutes. And old fashion files fits in my pocket and never runs out of battery.

View attachment 79167

I think a file would have been easier because I understood what to do with it, but this is like a little drop saw with an angle grinder wheel that you fasten to a work bench and then put the chain in its tracks and adjust XYZ and nrrrrrmmm, sharpen one edge, fast forward to the next. Supposed to be so fast and sharp.

I can use lots of power tools, but this one...

 

[Forest Cat]

I think a file would have been easier because I understood what to do with it, but this is like a little drop saw with an angle grinder wheel that you fasten to a work bench and then put the chain in its tracks and adjust XYZ and nrrrrrmmm, sharpen one edge, fast forward to the next. Supposed to be so fast and sharp.

I can use lots of power tools, but this one...

Oh I think I know what you mean, I have one of those things. It can be tricky to use. You should try one of those Dremel sharpeners, that is much easier. As long as you hold it at the right angle, it will sharpen the chain. And you don't have to take the chain off the saw.

 

[Callistemon]

Taking the chain off the saw is not an issue - it's a pole saw. But I already have this power tool and can't refund it after two years...

Sorry @Magna, a pole saw is not a greenhouse...

 

[Magna]

Taking the chain off the saw is not an issue - it's a pole saw. But I already have this power tool and can't refund it after two years...

Sorry @Magna, a pole saw is not a greenhouse...

No worries. I'm not as adept as @Forest Cat is with a hand file for chainsaws. My chainsaw is a fundamental tool I use often around my homestead. I do have a hand file but it's too hard for me to get the angle perfectly the same on each tooth and if they're filed to the same angle I've had very poor results. I use a non-electric carbide sharpener that has a jig which keeps the teeth at the same angle.

I think we can squeak arboriculture under gardening talk.