Green Houses

The snow is falling and it is cloudy in Ohio however this blog is focused on the sun. One of the first big projects we will complete in the spring is a greenhouse. When we first started researching green houses, I thought it would be a simple straight forward plan. We just needed to figure out where on the property to build it, right? I was very wrong. There are many options for a greenhouse and, as I have come to learn, a greenhouse can be so much more than I thought.

There's an ancient Persian proverb that says, "When you understand how to do a thing, the doing is easy; if you find it difficult, you do not understand it." “There are of course numerous homestead activities where a basic understanding can make the difference, between making a thing simple or difficult and between a gratifying success or disheartening failure. Nowhere on the homestead is this dichotomy more evident than when one attempts to modify plant environment by the use of a forcing structure.” I read that quote while I was buried in greenhouse research and though it extremely fitting for our current predicament.

We have narrowed our choices down to four different types of greenhouses.

 

Attached Greenhouse or a Lean-to - A lean-to greenhouse is a half greenhouse, split along the peak of the roof, or ridge line. This greenhouse would be attached to our future barn. There are a lot of advantages to this type; it conserves space, less greenhouse material cost, easy access to water and electricity and ease of construction. Some cons for this type include our ability to build it without the barn, it will need to be heated for year round gardening, and sun exposure will be more limited than with a free standing structure.

Traditional Freestanding Structures - Freestanding greenhouses are separate structures; they can be set apart from other buildings for more sun exposure and can be made as large or small as desired. This greenhouse will be a prefab kit. The pros include easy assembly, low cost, and the ability to move it if we really needed to.  A big con for this option is that year round gardening will not be possible with the kit that we are able to afford.

Geodesic Dome Greenhouse - This type of greenhouse has a dome shape which makes good use of small spaces. This structure uses the minimum materials for construction and gives maximum usable space. This type of greenhouse is very energy efficient. Cons include material cost and the need for heat to garden year-round.

Pit Greenhouse or Walipini - A Pit greenhouse is exactly what it sounds like, a 6-8 foot deep pit with a greenhouse top.  A pit greenhouse makes use of the naturally stable temperature and heat-sink capacity of the soil to keep greenhouse temperature stable.  The environment will be 20 degrees warmer than the outside low temperature without supplemental heat.  The pit greenhouse would give us the ability to grow food year round without additional heat and has the least construction cost of all the options.  Cons for this type of greenhouse are all in the logistics, there is a lot of math and planning involved in digging the pit and installing drainage. 

A little greenhouse research reveals the fact that, although George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both had greenhouses, the oldest reported greenhouse in the U.S. was not a greenhouse as we know it today. It was, rather, a pit covered with glass on the south side, and earth insulation on the north. This pit greenhouse was built into the side of a Waltham, Massachusetts hill around1800.Although this seems like the most radical options, it is in fact quite traditional outside of US garden circles.

Out of the four options, we are leaning towards ether the pit greenhouse or the lean-to.  We have some more math calculations to work through for the pit greenhouse plan and then I think we will make our choice.  I will do a long post on the type we are going to go with as soon as we pick. What do you think we should do? What would your dream greenhouse be?

Carrots

Every year I look through seed catalogs trying to find the best fruit and vegetable varieties for our climate and needs. One of my favorite vegetables to choose are carrots. There are so many fun varieties and home grown carrots taste absolutely fantastic!  There are five basic types of Carrots.

• Chantenay develop stocky roots that become sweeter as the soil cools in the fall.
• Danvers make great juice and the sturdy roots store well.
• Imperator are long and need deep, sandy soil to thrive.
• Iniature have small, shallow roots that are often quite sweet and are good for heavy clay soil.
• Nantes are fast and easy to grow, and adapt to a range of climates and soils.

This year I am going to plant three different varieties from Baker Creek.

Cosmic Purple

Cosmic Purple – 80 days germination. These Carrots have bright purple skin and flesh that comes in shades of yellow and orange. This is a spicy and sweet-tasting root. These carrots are not only pretty, purple carrots are higher in antioxidants than orange carrots and they contain anti-inflammatory properties.

Danver Half Long

Danver Half Long - 70 days germination. The original Danvers Half Long dates back to the 1870s. This is the old standard American carrot that is adaptable, dependable, and productive. Thick 7” roots have good flavor. I grow this carrot for its smaller size and ability to grow in harder soil. 

 

St.Valery 

St. Valery - 70 days germination. The Vilmorins of France mentioned this variety in 1885 and said it had been grown a “long time.”A large carrot with bright red-orange roots that are sweet and tender. St. Valery is smooth, 10”-12” long, and 2”-3” in diameter. This is a rare variety and will be a new Heirloom for us this year. It is a traditional carrot that receives great reviews. 

We live in Zone 6a where carrots can be grown in the spring and fall. Using a greenhouse or hoop house will mean a third crop can be harvested though the winter.  To plant, begin sowing seeds directly in the garden 3 weeks before the last expected frost; plant again every 2 to 3 weeks after that. Most cultivars take 70 to 80 days to mature, so sow the last planting 2 to 3 months before the first expected fall frost. Sow seeds about a quarter inch deep and 2 inches apart, in rows spaced at least 10 inches apart; carrots do well in double or triple rows. Thin seedlings to 4 to 6 inches apart, depending on the variety’s mature size. Carrot seeds are very small so they can take some time to plant. They also take longer to germinate than other vegetables so do not worry if they take awhile to come up. 

For Zone 6a, the frost free date is April 14^th so you should plant carrot seeds around March 24^th.The reality is that in our area, there is usually a frost right before Mother’s Day. I do not put out any of my starts until after Mother’s Day for that reason. However, because carrots are stared from seed and are quite cold hearty, I feel comfortable planting these in late March is ok.

Hugelkulutr Garden Beds

We have been busy here at Woodhaven Place. The last few days have been freezing cold however we had some beautiful days of sunshine and temperatures in the 30s- 40s a few weeks ago. When the ground is frozen, it is a perfect time to take down some dead trees that are in the way of our future barn; two of the trees that we took down where rotten almost all the way through. We decided to turn that wood into our first Hoogle Bed. 

Hugelkultur is a German word and some people can say it the German way however we called it a Hoogle Bed. Hugelkultur is making raised garden beds filled with rotten wood. This makes for garden beds loaded with organic material, nutrients, and air pockets for roots. As the years pass, the deep soil of the bed becomes incredibly rich and loaded with soil life. As the wood shrinks, it makes more tiny air pockets which makes the Hugelkultur self-tilling and we are all about not tilling. Our big garden is a “Back to Eden” garden and is also no till. 

This was before we knocked down the scrub

There was a large rotten tree already lying in an area that was being taking over by scrub so we just knocked all the scrub down and put the wood from the fresh cut trees right on top of the knocked over scrub and the large rotting log. In the spring, we will have our tree guy dump a big load of wood chips on top of the logs and then we will put compost from a local ranch on top of that. Then we will plant our new Hoogle Bed! The bed will start out somewhere between 3-4 feet tall however it will not take long, maybe one or two years, for it to compost down to a more normal height bed. 

 

We knocked down the scrub and then stared laying down the logs to make a solid foundation

More logs were piled on top

The area looks better already

We really like this method of farming. It was a lot less work moving the logs into position in the bed than it would have been to get them across the property to the wood pile. Most of the wood was rotting anyway and would not have made great fire wood. The Hoogle Bed will also give us some fun micro climates to plant in and experiment with.

Seed Catalogs

I love Seed catalogs! They began arriving right as the garden season for the year in wrapping up. I put all the catalogs to the side and then, when the cold of December gets to Ohio, I pull out the jems and start dreaming of next year. I try to support small Heirloom seed companies; they also seem to have the best catalogs. My favorite ones are 

Baker Creek HeirloomSeeds

High Mowing OrganicSeeds

Johnny’s SelectedSeeds

Seed Savers Exchange

Jung Seeds and Plants (This is company is not all organic however does have special verities of perennials that are valuable)

Dixondale Farm (Onions only)

Mountain Rose Herbs (Herbs only)

All of these companies have free seed catalogs, just sign up online.  Click the link above which should take you to the correct place to sign up. I buy the big catalog from Baker Creek because it has fantastic pictures and great articles.

The first time I look through each catalog, I circle all of the seeds I am interested in plating for the next year. Then I sit down with all of the books and cross reference prices and volumes. Some seeds I buy in bulk and others I get the standard small packet just to try them out.  I order 90% of my seeds from Baker Creek and High Mowing however sometimes I find something to try in one of the other catalogs. Do you order seeds each year, save seeds, or buy from a local store? 

I am in zone 6 and it is time to stop dreaming and start planning.  I am very excited to begin the planting and growing process for the new year.  I hope you join me in my love of the garden.