Greenhouse Adventures: Troubles

The greenhouse saga continues! 

Ever since my brother and I put the roof panels into the greenhouse, there have been several that don't want to cooperate. 

We first thought that everything needed to be cinched down. Nope. 

Maybe a few caulking dots? Nope.

Caulking along the entire edge? Nope.

Just keep pushing them into place and pray that they stay put? Nope.

No matter what we did, those panels would always keep sliding down. 

This has officially become a battle of wills. Who will win? 

I came home from work, and my brother told me to go outside before I took my boots off. Uh-oh... 

Those darn panels were so opinionated that a couple finally decided to wiggle out and find a new home on that blustery day. Thankfully, they didn't get far, and we were able to get them before they really went anywhere or got damaged. Thought you could run away, huh?  

Do you see a problem? Something missing perhaps? 

Thankfully, I didn't have any of the newly germinated plants in there yet. 

So I turned to the all-knowing Google to see if it had any advice to dispense. 

And it did. 

I found a guy who grew in greenhouses, and he had an entire clip on what he used to keep his panels in place. 

SCORE!

His recommendation? This stuff. 

It can be applied wet, it sticks even when it gets wet, and (according to the You Tuber) lasted a long time. But it costs $10/roll. Valuable stuff this is. 

So to the store we went. 

Again. 

We put the panels back into place, and secured the rebellious ones.

Fast forward a few days, and it was a dark and stormy night. Thankfully, my brother was outside the moment the front came through and immediately thought to check the greenhouse. One wall panel had completely come out and another one was seriously thinking about it. So there we were, putting panels in again and taping more all by flashlight this time around. It's a really good thing we had bought two rolls of tape. 

Now no one is going ANYWHERE. 

...At least, I hope... 

Until next time! 

SG

Greenhouse Adventures: Tables

The next step in this larger-than-anticipated project was tables because just putting flats of plants on the ground isn't exactly a good use of space and we'd be crawling over them trying to get everything else finished. :P 

If I was in a pinch, I could have done that (okay, I was in a pinch, but I stubbornly ignored it).

I measured the interior dimensions of the space, drew up some designs, and handed them to my dad. He knows lumber math better than I do. Why do they say 2x4 when it's really smaller? This baffles my sewing brain. 

And then it was table making time. 

These things are built like tanks, and they're HEAVY. It's surprising how much weight wood can put on if it gets left in the rain. 

Isn't it purty!

They fit perfectly! Dad's lumber math was spot on. ;) 

Because the tables were so heavy, it was quite the back-breaker to get them into place. We had to take out the first table to get the back table in, remove a side wall panel, and we still had to use our backs as the lever. It was painful to go to work the next day... 

But they're in, and I think that they'll last longer than the greenhouse. :P 

And I don't know how many trips to the store the tables were. At least 2? 

Until next time! 

SG

Greenhouse Adventures: Part 1

What does every grower dream of having? 

Besides plants, silly. 

A greenhouse. 

A place to start ALL THE SEEDS, overwinter tender perennials, get a jump start on the growing season, and to be able to do grafts and cuttings. I could keep going, but you get the point. ;) 

Well, I can officially tell you, THAT I NOW HAVE A GREENHOUSE!

I'm not excited at all. :P 

For years, I've haunted the listings on Craigslist, poured over catalogs, and scoured stores looking for a greenhouse that was the right size and within my budget. Finding one the right size was no problem, but finding something that didn't cost a fortune? Next to impossible. Every time I found one that might be possible, there were some major no-go warning signs (like free, no paneling, or warped and twisted frames). So I kept haunting. 

Then, last fall (yes, fall), I found a listing that grabbed me. It was for a 8x10 greenhouse for $750. Ooh, that's tempting. I contacted the seller. It was brand new, unopened in the box, for less than what I was seeing, but over an hour away. But why are you selling it? Apparently, her husband bought it for her, but she didn't want it. (??????) I was majorly confused but said that we'd take it after some bartering to bring the price down. 

Little did we realize that the label LIED to us. 2-3 hours? Only 2 people? Pshhh. 

We picked it up, brought it home, set it in the side shed, and there it sat. I knew that we couldn't even think of touching it with the holidays, Christmas trees, and inclement weather. This was a project that would need to wait until things cleared up a bit. 

Fast forward to February, and I'm needing to get the flowers started for my sister's wedding. I didn't have a place to get them started, so my boss graciously let me use space in the greenhouse at work. That's been working fine. 

Until now. 

We're needing that space for the vegetable starts, and what's sitting there? Flowers. Their lease is officially up, and I needed a place to keep them until I can get them in the ground. That bumped the greenhouse project to the top of the priority list. 

First up: getting the site prepped. 

We did what we could during a dry spell in February. Then the 3-point hitch on the tractor broke. Then it rained and poured. Then it was muddy. Not just any mud - sticky, construction, compacted, clings-to-your-shoes-and-makes-you-taller nastiness. 

But it was eventually finished. 

Step 2: Building the Greenhouse

So last weekend, we had beautiful sunshine and a family crew (or pretty much family) that had an open day, and we set to work. Or at least, we tried to. The directions were less than helpful and rather vague. They were most likely directly translated from Chinese using Google translate. 

Somewhere along the way, we realized that we were missing hardware. A lot of hardware. Like the kit was missing an entire bag of hardware. So a volunteer went to the store to pick up the needed parts. But the first store didn't have what we needed. So they hit up another store. It ended up having the wrong thread on the bolts. So another car full went back to the store, returned the wrong ones, picked up the right ones with the assistance of the the really helpful employee. Then it was soon apparent that we still didn't have enough of the bolts. So back to the store to pick up the parts with 7 minutes to go before they closed for the night and for Easter. Got back home, and apparently there were MORE parts that we needed to pick up. Thankfully, the first store did have them. 

Day one: 4 trips to the store. 

A new crew came back from their day trip and jumped into the project with a fervor that we never had. THANK YOU! I was about to have many not-very-nice words for this greenhouse. With their help, the front and back were finished, the side frame assemble, and the roof up. All that it needed would be the paneling. That would have to wait until after Easter, but that was no biggie. That went together quickly. But I still need to pick up 2 bolts from the store to get the last piece installed. :P 

Next up on this bigger-than-expected project: floor. 

Me and math don't get along

I came up with a quick and dirty diagram, priced things out, did some math, grabbed help, and off to the store we went. First trip into town for the floor was for pavers, the next trip was for gravel. My brother and I were able to get the pavers in really fast, but I had done the math wrong. :face palm: So back to the store for more pavers. 

Flooring project: 3 trips to the store

And here is the finished flooring! We'll be building the tables to go in a u-shape. Another project for another day. 

And here it it! I feel like we need to name it with all the time that has gone into putting it together. Any ideas? 

Happy, rolling garden-buddy

And now that it is all set up and looking pretty, we have a potentially big (for this time of year) wind storm this weekend. We've battened down the hatches as best as we can, but I'm praying that it will make it. I don't exactly trust Chinese manufacturing or materials.

This is going to be a huge learning curve for me - it's a new greenhouse, I don't know what it is capable of withstanding, how it handles various temperatures, what quirks and oddities this little structure has, but it's all part of the process.  

Until next time!

SG

The Gardener's Garden

Happy New Year!

And I can't think of a better time to dust off the old blog a bit. Actually, a lot. 

Long time, no blog; and I have some updating to do. I'll give you the cliff notes version. 

I finished school in June. Yay! 

Started working full time at the chef's garden that I had my internship at. Yay!

My social life saw a revival. Yay!

Sewed like crazy because I had markets, bazaars, and fairs for my booth. :gasp: Yes, I was a vendor at multiple events this past season. Yay!

Psst, you can keep up with those adventures on my sewing blog. ;) 

And I have a legitimate excuse for ignoring this little digital space.

You know the saying, "The cobbler's children are barefoot"? 

I'd like to add to it. "The gardener's garden is abandoned." 

I went to school to learn how to farm and garden. My garden should be :amazing:

Well, the garden that I work at is well cared for.

Mine, on the other hand, gets very little time dedicated to it. It's weedy, in desperate need of regular watering, and in need of just getting actually finished. I know, a garden is never 'finished,' but I would like to have the basic design and parameters of the space established, and I could just put in plants and garden around it. That would be kind of nice. 

In the summer of '16, we finally bit the dust and built raised beds. We put down weed block because we started finding baby MORNING GLORY. Not cool. At all. I was mad, and upset, and frustrated that I spend all my precious little time digging those things out. So we built the beds. 

It wasn't in time for the summer garden that year, but it was just in time for the fall garden. We took some wire and cut it to the width of the beds, and bought some frost blanket. That was also just in time for one of our snowier, colder winters. 

And that was the first time we had broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, carrots, parsnips, and garlic. Actually, it was my first overwintered garden at home. I call that a success. 

By next the next spring, the overwintered things were all done, and summer plants put in. I loved the minimal effort in getting the beds ready, and the timed drip irrigation, and the noticeable lack of weeding that needed to be done. Compared to everywhere else on the property, it was nice to not have to worry about the vegetable garden for once.

By the end of this summer, I quickly realized that the summer veggies weren't going to be done in time to get the fall/winter crops in, so we made a few more boxes to expand the area. Slowly we will build the full garden plan. Baby steps. :nods:

One of my goals for this year is to set up better infrastructure the areas that we've developed to make our daily routines easier. The blueberries, strawberries, herb garden, orchard, etc.. This year we could get a better handle on the weed pressure, be better about mulching and suppression, installing timed irrigation so we don't have to water everything by hand, etc... We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we'll just keep chipping away at it.  

I have some more fun and exciting things and developments to share with you this year, so hopefully I can get around to updating more often. :D 

Until next time!

SG

A Garden in Bloom

My peony is blooming!!! Peony flowers are short-lived, but what a glorious bloom.

Marionberry

Elderberry

Oma's heirloom rose

What everything else looks like

Until next time!

SG

Weekend Warrior

207 herb starts.

That's how many baby plants I was able to transplant over the weekend after converting the porch to a makeshift gardening shed. :P

And now the porch has been taken over by baby plants.

The next step? Let these little guys get some size on them, and then it's time for them to be transplanted into the herb garden! 

Yay for slug-eaten Johnny Jump-Ups... 

Until next time!
SG

Of Edibles and Finals

After finishing the finals for the term, I got to bring home all these lovelies from my propagation class. Apples, figs, kiwis, herbs, and grapes, oh my! 

And this doesn't even include all the microgreens that I got to bring home as well! 

So I scoured the greenhouse on campus looking for my plants, loaded them up into the backseat of my sedan (yay for rubber floor mats!), and headed home. The skies were blue, the trees are all in bloom, the grass is green again, and the wild mustard covers the hillsides with a blanket of yellow. The classical radio station was playing lively string quartets all the way home (nothing else was on the radio). It was a good way to derazzle from studying for finals. Now onward to spring break and getting these guys into the garden!

Until next time!

SG

How to Propagate Lavender

For one of my projects this term, I have to do a report (and oral presentation) about propagating an edible plant. Lavender counts, right?

So I gathered the necessary supplies for rooting cuttings.

-Rooting hormone of your choice (please read the label to make sure that it is strong enough for what you're trying to root!). They come in powders and liquid. If you use liquid, you're going to have to dilute it out. Again, please read the directions on the bottle. 

- Peat Moss. You can go with peat or coir. The store didn't have any coir though. We'll save the discussion about the no-so-environmental-savvy-ness of peat for another time. For getting cuttings to root, you need something that retains a lot of water.  

Which brings me to the next point. You don't want gigantic pots to start your cuttings in. It will take a ton of water to keep the media moist enough for your baby clones to survive. Use a pot that has plugs just big enough for your cuttings. 

Then you fill you pot with the growing media of choice, and wet the stuff down. You want it wet enough that it clumps, but not so much that water oozes from it when you give it a squeeze.

 

Following the directions on the bottle of glorified auxin (rooting hormone), I diluted it out to the appropriate strength. If you just dip the cutting straight into the bottle you will a)introduce pathogens into the community bottle and b)you just made an herbicide and will now grow your plant to death.

 For my project, I ended up with waaaay more rooting hormone than I needed... You don't need much. Just enough to dip the tips of your cuttings in. 

Next, grab your cuttings. Mine happen to be lavender (Sarah to be precise). You don't need much. Just enough to have about 3 nodes to dip in the rooting hormone and then a few leaves to remind you that they're still there. You don't want many leaves because they will lose water. Not enough water = dead plant.  

So, take your cutting, and strip the leaves to expose the nodes (the spots where the leaves are growing). These zones are where the plant will grow roots from. By removing the leaves, you're telling the plant to grow roots instead.  

To get a better look at the nodes. There are 4 shown here. 

Now dip the exposed nodes into the rooting hormone. If you have a powder, you will have a small cup of water and a small cup of the powder. First dip the cutting into the water, then the powder (it helps the powder to stick). But with my liquid, the cutting just goes for a quick dip.  

And into the prepared pot it goes! Mine is just a re-used veggie pack from last year that was cleaned out to make sure that no pathogens get to the cuttings. 

And voila! You have lavender (or thyme, or rosemary, or or or or or...) cuttings. Keep the babies damp and in place with cooler air and warmer ground. Then your little hopefuls will grow roots. 

No project is complete without a cat hanging around. ;)  

Until next time!

SG

January Color

Once upon a winter dreary, while it mizzled, bleak and bleary.

There bloomed a witch hazel in full glory.

...

And that's as far as I got. :P I can only manage a parody for so long before it breaks. 

:cough:

Anyways...

While everything else in the garden is still sleeping, the witch hazel comes out and surprises (not really - it's supposed to bloom in winter) you with its burst of color in the dull drab world of January. 

Until next time!

SG

Winter Garden

A long over due post. ;)

Before things got 'colder' in the fall, we were able to get the raised beds into the garden and plant the few herbs that we had. The herbs were then tucked into their beds and now wait for spring to arrive with its warmer temperatures (or now... since we're having a warmer winter).

The 2'x2' beds are actually concrete forms from when we built the deck. All I did was put on a couple layers of paint and a stenciled flourish. To prevent gophers, moles, and voles (oh my!), I stapled a vinyl coated wire mesh to the bottom of the boxes. Now my herbs are safe(r) from root nibbling. Let's hope the mesh holds ;)

As for the longer bed in the middle... it's a crate that was used to transport one of my grandma's clocks across the country. Yeah, they built a crate to haul the clock. It felt like a waste to toss it, so I painted it the same color as the concrete forms, put a chicken wire mesh along the sides and then a weed block behind that. Underneath is the same vinyl coated mesh to keep the burrowing rodents at bay. 

I feel like such a Portlander for not throwing things away and repurposing them. :P

For the stepping stones, I spray painted some pavers a light cream. Once dried, I used a doily as a stencil to paint over. I :love: how they turned out. 

As for the pathway, we just laid down some empty paper feed bags and put bark dust on top. Here's to minimal weeding!

Until next time!

SG

Blustery Day

I haven't been able to do much work in the garden between work, sewing commissions, and homework. But we had a pretty decent wind storm on Saturday afternoon, so I thought that I should make sure that none of my potted plants hadn't tipped over. I go to check on plants, and I end up finding a broken tabletop and a fallen chandelier. Phooey. How am I supposed to clean that up?

Honestly though, I'm surprised that there wasn't more damage to my garden. 

Unless gravity reversed itself, I don't think that the chandelier is supposed to be on the floor. :Le' sigh:

 

And the glass was pretty darn thick. Not tempered though. Now there's glass shards everywhere. No more barefoot gardening (I guess I could, but that's one trip to the doctor's office that I don't want). 

So I took advantage of the lovely weather that we had today (and it just so happened to be my day off! Love how that all lined up), and I cleaned the pergola. All that's left for glass clean-up is taking a shop vac to the area to get the super teeny tiny pieces that I couldn't pick up by hand. 

Also while I was busy working and homeworking (yes, that's a word now), the weeds decided that it was the prime opportunity to take over. Apparently it's therapy time. Here's how things looked before I got my hands dirty.  

And after: 

The soil is wonderfully moist and soft now, so weed pulling is a breeze! And I used my favorite tool: the hula-hoe. Now my plants don't have to compete with the invaders and can focus on growing. 

Until next time!

SG

Herb Garden: Furnishing

No, that did not read 'finishing.' I'm still a LONG way from that. Then again, is a garden ever 'finished?' 

A long while ago, we were out antiquing (yes, we like to do that), and we spotted this table set that had a lot of potential. Granted, the paint had all been chipped off, the seats didn't have any sort of covering, and the glass table top was rather... opaque. It was a diamond in the rough. Some spray paint later, it was stored in the basement until we actually got the herb garden in, and there it sat for many years. 

Now that we have the pergola up, I thought, 'Hey, we could bring that out of its dark cavern and actually use it while we're out in the garden!' I just needed to cover the seats. Oddly enough, Joann's was having a sale on outdoor fabric. BOOM! Some left over batting, gorgeous teal striped fabric, and a staple gun later, I had a completed table set. The table top just needed a rag and some rinsing. 

And now we have somewhere to sit in the shade while...hardly working. :P

Until next time!

SG

Herb Garden: Let There be Light!

No outdoor setting would be complete without some fun lights! :) 

I found these awesome solar/LED/battery operated/light sensing hanging jars at the store. And they were on sale. SCORE! The solar panels on the lid collect the sun's energy and store it in a rechargeable battery that then powers the LED light once the sun goes down. Pretty cool, huh?

BUT... I still wanted a chandelier. :P

I scouted craigslist to no avail. I knew what sort of light I wanted, but I couldn't find anything that fit the bill. If I were to buy one new, it would be much more than I intended. Then, I stopped by the repurposing place in town. There it sat, rather, hung. I will confess that I wanted to jump up and down very excitedly. My sister kept me in check. :P 

But the idea of running electricity through an indoor chandelier in an outdoor setting wasn't settling well. Even though it became a family event that turned into a comedy show, we finally figured out how to crack open a chandelier and pull out the wires. Once you take the electricity out, how will it light? Again solar technology. And an idea that I found on Pinterest. :P Solar path lights to the rescue! At $3 a pop, the price was right.  

No, that annoying stake isn't permanently attached.  

See? 

Stick the lights onto the chandelier, and... 

Voila!

I'm actually rather surprised that it all worked out and looks like it's supposed to go together. ;) 

Until next time!

SG