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Post by MikeH on Apr 9, 2012 12:59:29 GMT -5
Our small greenhouse has a 2' earth berm on the north side made of concrete block with foam insulation on the outside and painted dark brown on the sunny side. Inside the greenhouse there is an twinwall insulated lean-to cover over this area which we through some blankets on when it's really cold. We can winter over biennials for seed production (celery, celeriac, parsley, leeks, chard, kohlrabi, winter radish, etc.). The rest of the greenhouse gets much colder but with blankets spinach does quite nicely. How do you think that your coldframe would do if it didn't have the greenhouse over it?
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Post by Walk on Apr 10, 2012 7:58:19 GMT -5
The in-ground coldframe made with concrete block with insulation on the outside and twinwall covers kept stuff alive in SE Minnesota. Snow made an additional insulating layer which needed to be shoveled off to get sun inside or to open to harvest. When it was below freezing, you had to wait for a sunny day to warm the coldframe so it could be opened. For wintering-over biennials for seed production, it only needed opening very occasionally for watering. Mostly the greenhouse provides convenience and ease of access in addition to more somewhat tempered growing space. On really sunny days, the greenhouse doors can be propped open, but even so it's definitely warmer than outside. At night, it gives a minimal amount of protection which is why we use blankets over the cold frame when the temps go sub zero, instead of the previous snow cover. I think the key realization for winter greenhouses in our region is that plants don't really grow for a couple of months in the dark of winter, but they can stay alive, kind of like hibernating. But as soon as the days start to lengthen, by ground hog's day, they will really take off and resume their life cycle. We have Chinese cabbage that were overwintered in the coldframe that have flowered, set seed, and are finishing maturing. Parsley is sending up their flower stalks now and celeriac will be soon to follow. Kale is flowering in the main part of the greenhouse. These structures can allow for biennial seed production from 2 crops in one season that would ordinarily cross by using time isolation - the kale will be long done before the broccoli in the summer garden. As a seed saver, this has been a great help, although the original intent of the greenhouse was to have fresh green stuff to eat in the winter. I hope all these ramblings make sense.
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Post by richardw on Apr 10, 2012 14:26:12 GMT -5
yes your ramblings do make sense, ;D obversely the winter climate in Minnesota is much colder than where i am,but would the likes of celeriac, parsley, leeks, chard, kohlrabi, winter radish not survive if they weren't in a greenhouse.
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Post by richardw on Jul 28, 2012 5:18:03 GMT -5
As Ray mensoned i built one a few years ago which would be called a earth insulated greenhouse of a type. The four walls are of stone and is also been dug down about 30cm in to the ground,earth is mounded down two of the wall sides and grasses planted as to insulate the mound. It works really well in winter when it can get down to -9C here, inside it always stays above freezing but only just. I'll go out and get some more photos and post later Ive taken on the job of replacing the baths seen in these photos above with stone wall beds instead as i found that rats had dug in under the foundations and were living beneath the baths eating out the veggies,our dog was not able to get at them,so out the baths came. It's a good time of year to do it been winter where its cool enough inside that the concrete dries nice and slowly,also New Zealand been a earthquake prone country ive added lots of wire to the concrete for reinforcement. Ive done two beds and in one more week and i'll have the third done ready for planting out my tomatoes in mid Aug.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jul 29, 2012 4:16:00 GMT -5
Beautiful. I have a mighty abundance of rocks. I wish I had the time, patience, skill to use them for walls like this.
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Post by richardw on Jul 29, 2012 14:35:15 GMT -5
I also have an all mighty abundance of rocks but also lucky enough to have a 30cm layer of soil over the top.
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Post by circumspice on Jul 30, 2012 3:29:25 GMT -5
Here in central Texas we have only 2 seasons, HOT & COLD. So, in-ground greenhouses are fairly common.
I have a friend whose grandparents had an in-ground greenhouse. She took her husband to the old ranch where it is located & showed him the ruins of that greenhouse. It was less than 3 feet deep, 8 feet square & had a low lean-to type of roof over it, with low field-stone side walls with a glass front facing the south. (her cousin who inherited the property let everything fall into ruins) Anyway, she told her husband that she wanted him to build her one just like it. Her husband, being an insecure type of guy decided he had to build her a 'better' one than her grandparents used for 5 decades... He built it 5 feet deep, 15 feet square, lined with native limestone interior walls, a concrete floor, with 4 foot greenhouse side walls & a house type roof. My friend works out of town & comes home only on her days off. So when she saw the new greenhouse, she was mad as an old wet hen. All she wanted was a small in-ground greenhouse to over-winter her patio plants in, not the Taj Mahal. To top it off, the old green house had only one limestone step to negotiate when entering. The new one has steep wooden steps that are more like a ladder. ;D
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Post by richardw on Jul 30, 2012 14:43:12 GMT -5
Sounds a bit like a friend of mine greenhouse where his has a roof only a meter and a half high with walls of concrete block,its so low that you have to garden on your knees,not my cuppa tea,i like the idea of gardening standing up straight.
Any chance of seeing photos of your friends Taj Mahal circumspice??
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Post by steev on Jul 30, 2012 21:09:13 GMT -5
richardw, I so admire your beautiful work. There is much to be said for what is both functional and attractive. It's obvious you enjoy both the process and the result of what you do. I don't think life gets better than that. Mazeltov!
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Post by 12540dumont on Jul 30, 2012 22:50:04 GMT -5
It's almost worth driving out to Oxbow's for the rocks. Richard, that's a thing of beauty. People who have husbands who build the Taj Mahal for them should not complain. The TM was an expression of love and the woman was profoundly lucky. I myself have the world's best husband and often wonder if this is a dream. Since so many things go wrong and will go wrong, having a wonderful spouse is worth cultivating. Steev, this one's for you. This is Adolf, a completely feral cat. Wild, wooly and quite the hunter. Not an ounce of love in his entire body. La Jime Attachments:
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Post by richardw on Jul 31, 2012 0:28:05 GMT -5
Thanks steev and Holly,yep i do enjoy making stone walls and i don't appear to be the only one either,last evening i went out to the tunnlhouse to do the usual night time slug squash and there was an Australian tree frog sitting up on top the new wall.
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Post by steev on Jul 31, 2012 1:01:53 GMT -5
Holly, you lie! That is SO not a completely feral cat; there is clearly a hand less than 20 yards from that cat. He's a pretty boy and obviously is loving the attention he's getting.
richardw, the approval of the non-verbal speaks volumns.
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Post by circumspice on Jul 31, 2012 13:57:11 GMT -5
Sounds a bit like a friend of mine greenhouse where his has a roof only a meter and a half high with walls of concrete block,its so low that you have to garden on your knees,not my cuppa tea,i like the idea of gardening standing up straight. Any chance of seeing photos of your friends Taj Mahal circumspice?? One of these days Richard... Presently, I have no transportation. Also, I seem to be unable to upload photos from my hard drive on this website. I have absolutely no problems uploading photos from my hard drive on any other website or forum in which I participate. *shrug*
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Post by Drahkk on Jul 31, 2012 19:47:06 GMT -5
I seem to be unable to upload photos from my hard drive on this website. I have absolutely no problems uploading photos from my hard drive on any other website or forum in which I participate. *shrug* This forum has a 1024 KB limit on upload/attachment size. I fought with it for a while, too. Now I upload to PhotoBucket and post IMG links here. I think that's what most folks are doing: hosting photos either on their own sites or on a free service like PhotoBucket, then putting IMG links in their posts. MB
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Post by circumspice on Aug 2, 2012 5:15:14 GMT -5
I seem to be unable to upload photos from my hard drive on this website. I have absolutely no problems uploading photos from my hard drive on any other website or forum in which I participate. *shrug* This forum has a 1024 KB limit on upload/attachment size. I fought with it for a while, too. Now I upload to PhotoBucket and post IMG links here. I think that's what most folks are doing: hosting photos either on their own sites or on a free service like PhotoBucket, then putting IMG links in their posts. MB The size of my photos are not the issue. I routinely size them to between 100kb to 500kb. I DO NOT KNOW why I keep getting the 'Angry Bear'. Maybe the issue is my ISP. Who knows? *shrug*
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