My Mini Greenhouse

[Woodwizard]

3 years ago I made this small greenhouse, It was going to be for starter plants to get a jump on the season but I decided as fall was coming to try to grow over the winter.

I did not want a complicated and energy expensive heating system so I select plants that tolerate the cold.

Lettuce, arugula, beets, mustard greens, sorrel, and this year I have some snap peas and fennel.

The local school was redoing part of the roof and put the old expanded foam panels out for people to take for free, I lined the lower part and up the north wall with it I have a heavy tarp I pull over it at night to conserve heat.

The frame is made from 3/4 electrical metal conduit it is available at most building supply stores, I used a bender made for it to shape the pipe

To make sure the plants do not freeze a thermostat hooked to some incandescent lights kick on at 38 degrees.

For the summer I have solar powered fans to kick on when it gets hot I grow hot peppers in the summer got a big batch of ghost peppers last year.

I live in the Catskills NY so winters are not too cold a few days below zero on average this winter has been very warm.

I love being able to have fresh salad greens in the middle of winter.

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[Phoenix61]

1. Very nice. I like to garden but am not

that ambitious. I have a drip irrigation system using a timer on the faucet. Works great and plants have finally stopped dying. Amazing what regular watering can accomplish.

[Woodwizard]

2. Consistent watering

Water is the key, my summer garden is plastic 55 gallon drums cut in half mounted in stands. Our yard is mostly steep hill and rocks so container gardening works well, the drums retain enough water for several days.

[WhiteTara]

6. Yes, you can either garden or water

but you can't do both.

[mopinko]

3. nice!

i still have some hope that i can get a nice greenhouse for my farm. w the cold springs we have been having, i really need to lengthen my season.
i'm not very good at that. but this year i am doing everything i can to get a good cold weather crop in this year. have several nice kales, lettuces, and spuds going.
i have a little polycarb lean to on my house, so those things can be out there early, and producing well by june. i hope.

spuds would do well for you. start them now, while it is cold. i do them in my chicken feed bags. they love a cold start, and home grown spuds are almost as good as homegrown tomatoes.

[Woodwizard]

4. spuds

We usually have them growing in the compost pile they are good, I have had so so success growing in containers this year I am making portable fenced areas about the size of the greenhouse to expand some crops everything has to be fenced the deer are everywhere.

[mopinko]

5. ugh. w me it's the bunnies.

some crops they dont bother, but any peas or beans are gone in nothing flat.
have a plan this year to start both in small pots, and put them in a pop bottle to make a collar so they at least cant get them at the root.

the nice thing about spuds in a bag is no digging to harvest, just dump. and dont miss any.

[Woodwizard]

7. Electric fence

My main garden has a electric fence around the bottom perimeter, the first year we had the garden everything was going well with just the deer fence until one weekend we were gone, when we got back all my kale and lettuce were mowed to the dirt with random bites on the tomatoes and cukes.

It was woodchucks, I put electric fence around the base and have not had a problem since.

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[mopinko]

9. i have too much space for that.

tho i will be deploying a lot more chicken wire this year. but i am spread over 4 city lots, so i just have to take evasive actions. part 1- figuring out which things they like and dont. part 2- protecting the faves comes now.

i dont know why it never occurred to me to cut my barrels that way. i have a bunch, and cut them either in half or 1/3-2/3. but i can think of a lot of ways that would work too.

well, good luck this summer.

[marble falls]

8. Where's the Hemp crop?