how green does/will my Garden Grow? Part VI

Yesterday my son in law Kyle came up to help me with the greenhouse again. We got all the rest of the ribs up secured inside and out AND got the Shell on , oh my what a job, it seemed easy enough cut a piece of plastic 20x 25 and pull it over the top. Sure that worked but now how do you keep it from coming off??? We first tried staples but realized after a VERY SHORT while that staples were just going to come out. Even though Kyle was really enjoying using my stapler on the compressor. ( Boys, they just like tools eh?)
Anyhow after much debate we finally came up with securing the bottoms by screwing a row of 2x4's to the bottom which would catch the plastic with the screws but also hold it tight with the 2x4's we worked from 10:30AM til 3:30PM with a short break for lunch!

Wow it was really looking like a greenhouse now! I still wasn't totally sure how I was going to do the ends but I would tackle that tomorrow!

So how would I tackle this tomorrow..hmmm

I felt really good , it was really coming together.










So I slept on it and thing I had an idea about how to put the ends on. Lets see how it turns out.

So the east side had enough plastic over hanging that I just wrapped it over and tacked it down with the plywood I finished it off with on the bottoms since we do get SNOW here in the winter.
I built a door for the west side and I was pretty pleased that indeed it did fit!  I put the hinges on thought hmm maybe I'll be done for the day.

Our dog Bandit found a nice spot in one of the raised beds to keep cool.

One side all done!

Heck the door even works..:) Oh I am happy! I decided to not be fancy with the door latch, I just stuck a 2x4 up on the corner , wanna open it? Just slide the 2x4 up..:) works for me!


I was thinking I was going to be "done for the day" but after I had dinner I thought , hmm its still light out maybe I could get the other door finish if I get started now. So the boys and I went back outside to do some more work.

Oh I was more happy! Yes another door finished , the main construction was finally finished!

Yep that door works too..:)

The humidity was already going up.

Now all that is left to do is make some shelving to start our seedlings on. I need a couple steel barrels, I'm going to fill them with water and surround them with big stones in hopes to help hold the heat in, I also have a compost pile in there between two of the raised beds.  Then I'll line the lower part with plastic inside and top it with with crushed stone. That will be something my husband can help me with I'm sure!  
so I"m done working on it for a few days, My back can use the rest! Tomorrow I need to weed the gardens, make some pickles and mow the lawn!

how green does/will my Garden Grow? Part V

Well.....I have discovered that building a 12x18' building (greenhouse) is a bit harder than I planned seeing as though I really didn't have plans other than a drawing. Harder still seeing as though the spot I put it is sloped not only north /south but also east /west.  But I am happily gaining ground and so glad I am using 3" screws since not only do I think it will be stronger but next year if I want to change some of the inside support structure it will be so much easier to "rip it out" .

So my daughter and her husband came up on Sunday and they helped me cut all 40- 4" strips of plywood and we got all the North side strips up, what a big job!

Today I put up the last two horizontal supports - the ones I was working on when I kept dropping everything on my head!
They are up and everything is level so I'm happy!  Now its ready to put up the south facing ribs!

Meanwhile we've got so many tomatoes! The ones in the greenhouse have been taking a beating with me dropping things on them but still they are loaded!
We'll be canning tomatoes like crazy soon!

I'm thinking when I'm done doing this I could build a barn..ha!
Here you can see all the plywood strips that Kyle cut up for me, what a great help!  They are screwed on together but one is above the side support and one is below it.

The back side will have plywood on the bottom edge , this side will have plastic but in the winter I'll put plywood up over the top of it to protect it from the drifting snow.






So tomorrow we'll get the rest of the "ribs" up and I'll get the plywood on the back and ends I hope , then I need to make a door for the west side and a window that will open on the East side. Still lots to do but by then end of tomorrow I should be able to put the plastic over the top!

How green does/will my Garden Grow? Part IV

I'm starting to think this is going to be a bigger project than I first anticipated! The "plans" I found were for an 8x12 green house and I turned it into a 12x18  greenhouse. Now I am not a builder but I do like to build. I think because of this some of the things I've done well, it reminds me of when I sew something, I like to sew but I am not a seamstress like my Mom was she taught me really well but when I sew sometimes I need to rip things out and do them again. So now of the things I've been building I need to rip out too, thing is its not so easy to rip out boards! Luckily for this project I have been using nice long wood screws so its easy to back um out if I need to!
  My daughter and son in law came over tonight to have dinner we had one of her favorites tonight "Jack Daniels Salmon" with wild rice and fresh beans from the garden. Then they went out to help me with the greenhouse! I was so happy I didn't need to cut that 30 degree angle on the `12 foot 2x6's...:)  Course once they were cut I realized that the doors I made were wider than the angle of the board allowed plus it was going to make the top too flat so we decided to raise the ridge board up higher to make the angle steeper.  So we raised it up about 4 1/2 inches and I think now once I tack on the 1x6  to the ridge board I should be all set to start adding the 1/4 plywood ribs.

Now there is one small problem which is why I'm glad I used screws, the 2nd doorway from the left I didn't measure it right, the door is the right size alright but it sits 2 inches further over then the others ...ugh so tomorrow I will go unscrew it and recut the support boards and hitch it back up again...ripping out..I hate ripping out...but I want it to be right so I will add another day on to this job because of my mistake.  I think for fun I will tack on the 1 x6 to the ridge board though and then hitch on a  couple ribs just to be sure they are going to work!

I'm getting closer to having a greenhouse...:)

How green does/will my Garden Grow? Part III

Whew this is a LOT of work! When I saw the design I was going to make I thought , "easy , Peasy!" Okay so not quite as easy as I thought but I'm getting there.
I sent my photos to my brother in Myrtle Beach who is an excellent carpenter. He said "It looks good but don't be sad if this winter you get a big snow storm and it blows over or caves in" Hmmmm that didn't give me a ton of confidence although I knew that there is danger of the plastic ripping apart in the winter but I really didn't want my construction to fall in after all this.  So far the materials were $400.00 not bad for a greenhouse but still don't want to have to do it again in the spring.  Plus as of now its taken about 4 days and I can see I probably have another 4 to go.

  After his suggestion that I double up the 2x6 ridgepole I told him I was going to put up there on top, I decided that I was going to double up on all the supports and add one more right at the 12' mark where I would be having to join the board since I got 12 ' stock.

   I'd say after 4 hours I had all four "doorways" sturdied up and all ready to put up the ridgepole.

so tomorrow or maybe the next day :) I will start cutting the 30 degree angle on the ridgepole after I figure out how I want to do that...I guess its the handy dandy table saw that I hate using !  Hopefully next time I post something here I will still be able to type because I'll still have all my fingers!  Tally Ho and away!

How Green does/will my Garden Grow?

     Living in Northern ( Almost in Quebec, Canada) Vermont, where I see just as many Quebec License plates as Vermont ones. The growing season she is short. When we bought the house up here on the mountain my daughter in law joked that since we are living on the North Face of the peak that we'd never see the sun.  Well we do see it but I admit to it being slow to come and fast to go.  But regardless both my Husband and I love to garden so it wasn't long before I started ...

 first with a few flower beds with natural stones surrounding them but then I kept looking at the grass.....
One day when my Husband had returned from his ship for a months holiday I said "Honey, why do we want to spend our time mowing that grass out front?" So it wasn't long before the tractor was digging it up!


wha la a garden has emerged !

We started with this center garden filling it with a few annuals , hostas and started "collecting" perennials  which we had around the property.  I built a few raised beds for more flowers and started some vegetables.  It wasn't long before I realized I really wanted a bigger vegetable garden though so...


This year we added 12 more 4x4 raised beds filling them with squash, cukes, peas, onions, carrots, beans, herbs, potatoes, corn and LOTS of tomatoes since we want to make our own pasta sauces and soups.

Now came the reason for this ... the plants are late, we don't get enough sun in the house to start seedlings until way late in the spring, I made a few make shift greenhouses this spring but they met with disaster after we had a 2' snow fall in April. I needed a more permanent solution and started scanning the web for small green house designs.  Finally finding one that I thought would fill our needs in an old gardening book I've had for years!

So I drew up the design and calculated how much wood I would need to complete the project and ordered the wood.

Now keep in mind some of this wood is for a couple more projects I am working on maybe I'l blog about that after I finish this one! ha!
The greenhouse base is 2x8 pressure treated wood so I hauled the 5 pieces I was going to need to start over to the "site".

Yes I was going to need to cut one board as the dimensions of the base will be 12x18.
I decided before I got the saw out I'd see how level things were.

Level? Well I guess I should of expected this since we do live on the side of a mountain. So I go and get the spade and think I'm really happy my Husband didn't use up all the crushed stone as I was going to need it to grade the base.

I finally got it close enough that I was going to have to dig the front down 4 inches and build up the back about 6 inches to get a level grade , now I wish the stones we not already around these beds as I'm going to have to rake them out so I can dig out the front.



Day two: I got distracted chasing a butterfly, wish I had my long lens on my camera though.!

So I finally got the level done and 3 sides squared up and I started filling in the ditch I dug with crushed stones we had ordered for the basement and used the extra around the gardens.

The East side of the greenhouse for sure sits higher up , our ground is really sloped here.
I'm going to get big rocks to put around the edges and fill it with crushed stones...or maybe get another piece of pressure treated wood to help fill the gap...still deciding on that one.

Done for the day since I needed to cut more 2 x8's the front I'm still debating if I should put plexiglass on the straight sides to protect it from the high drifts of snow we get...the back sits high enough already I think...

I think I've decided to just get alot of rocks to fill this, since they are free on the property..and I have the crushed stone for the inside.  It will just mean a few trips in the woods to find them!

I took  a walk inside the greenhouse to get  a feel for it. There are 4 raised beds  and I've already started my compost pile to help keep the heat in in the fall and spring.  I want to find a couple big metal barrels to put water in. , Right now there are tomatoes, Squash and cukes growing in here.:)

standing in the other side of the greenhouse I am standing where I will build shelving to hold trays of seedlings..:)

So thats it for today. Next I will continue adding the 2x8s' around the edges and add the 3' supports , doors will be at both ends so that will be next.







Stay tuned!