Greenhouse Repair

In an earlier post I discussed my small greenhouse that I built last Spring.  One thing I have learned from my few months of having and using a greenhouse—buy plastic that is designed for a greenhouse.  I have been using 6 mil. clear plastic obtained from the local building supply store.  I haven’t had a great deal of success with it lasting any length of time at all.

I built the greenhouse in mid-April 2008.  By early August the plastic on the top began to rip and after a windy night it was completely destroyed.  I replaced it later in the month.  That lasted until early October and it began to rip.  Having some plastic left I put another layer over the top of that one.

Guess what I discovered yesterday morning?  Yeah, you guessed it, the plastic on top had ripped and the wind had completely decimated it once again.

As you can see in the photo above it didn’t look very pretty at all.  Darryl had some new plastic and gave me a piece big enough to cover the top once again.

I have the new plastic over the top and have started stapling it down.

Once again the greenhouse has the top covered.  Hopefully this will last for awhile, at least until I can get some greenhouse plastic and have on hand.  Thankfully our temperatures have been nice and warm and the greens that are growing  inside were not injured in any way.  I have had to have a small electric heater running inside on a few of the colder days and nights.  That has worked great, even on the one night we dropped to below zero.

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Fresh radishes and salad greens in December

After completing the work on our house there was a small quanity of sand left over. I decided the grandkids needed a sandbox. I built a box out of treated material that measured 6 feet by 8 feet. The kids loved it. I don't think that love extended to their mother, Anne, since sand seemed to stick to clothes, end up in pockets, etc. and was carried into the house. The major problem that was encountered was that the cats found the sandbox to be a BIG litter box. That just wasn't pleasant or healthful for the kids, so the sand was removed and I had a big box to do something with. I filled it with soil, built a framework and covered it with clear plastic making it into a small greenhouse. I used it last Spring to start some garden plants. I am trying to use it now to extend our growing season a bit. I planted several types of "greens" earlier this fall and have harvested a few items.

Wednesday afternoon I pulled several radishes. I saved the most tender looking leaves and added several turnip leaves. This made a very good green salad with a bit of oil and vinegar dressing. Hopefully we will have chard and spinach before very long, as well as more radishes and turnip leaves.

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