Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Oh I Am so Happy!

I just put the last of the panels on the greenhouse today.  Yesterday was way to warm to get all that we needed to do to finish it all. I think it was 80 and being in the corner of two buildings it was really warm.
I am now ready to move in my few house plants that struggle all winter in the house.  Way to much darkness.       The lemon tree for one which is new to me needs more light than what I can give it.  I think if the heat keeps up I will need to put the shade cloth on soon.
So I am going to plant my seeds this week.  I will move in the tables and shelves tomorrow and then start planting.  I need to locate the seed starting pellets some where around here.  I did not start seeds last year so who knows where everything is now. At least I know where my heat mat is. That is the best gardening item  ever.  My friend Pat gave that to me a few years ago and it has made such a big difference in starting seeds.  I will be posting photos as the seeds grow up.  It is such a joy to see those little plants popping up out of the soil and then growing into big and tall plants producing food for our table.
A little progress on the planting situation, I did plant all my onions so they will be taking off soon.  With the rain predicted tonight and tomorrow that will be oh so good. They have plenty of alpaca poop to enrich to soil as well.
This warm weather is causing the pomegranates to leaf out and even the dewberries are starting to leaf out.  I am happy to see that since I wasn't sure if they made it this past summer.  Not sure about one mulberry but the other one is sending out leaves as well.  The two peach trees and two cherry trees are planted and are just siting there. That is ok they need to put on roots more than anything else.  The two cherry trees are nothing but sticks with leaf buds on them.  Time will tell. They have low chill hrs which is good I guess.  I know it will be a few years before we see any fruit but it will be fun to see how they do and if they will produce cherries.
Lastly since we are to get rain tomorrow I planted some spinach seeds. I really hope they make it. Not sure how old the seed is.  I plan to plant more and I also plan to get some romaine and hot season lettuce in. I know I have seed for that just need to locate it.  I hate the fact I put things in a safe place and then realize it is so safe I can't find it.  LOL
Photos of the newly finish greenhouse will be posted next posting.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

So Where Did Winter Go?



I always look forward to time after Christmas to do some of those jobs I could not finish before the heat of summer hit.  So January was cold and I do mean cold and windy and darn right nasty.  And now we are looking at recorder breaking temps.   Good grief.

We started working on the greenhouse I had been wanting to years.  I guess it was a good thing it took us so long, since what I was going to use for my frame work was the top section to the horse/cattle trailer.  If we had then we would have been in a really bad spot.  We are looking at getting miniature horses and carts to use with them.  The old horse trailer will be perfect for the storing and carrying of the carts and tack and the little horses.

Well a friend had a saying that once you throw your hat over the fence you have to go get it.  By that she meant that once you make a commitment to something you have to finish it.  A dear friend who is moving to SC gave me her lemon tree.  My house is just not set up to grow a lemon tree in the winter.  Not enough space or light.  So she throw my hat over the fence which finally go us building my long awaited greenhouse.  We started putting up the frame work right after New Years but then it got nasty cold and then windy. I had to did a trench to level the cement pads and get it down a little below ground so I could get the siding down below the bottom of the sill plate and then cover up with rock.   The two outside walls got put up but it was just not a good time to put up the roof rafters.  That got done this past Monday.  I had to put that job on hold because I was away for a few weeks working and I just didn't want Bob up there when no one was home.



Today I put the siding up and it is taking shape.  Tomorrow Bob may get the extra strips up on the roof so we have some places in between the rafters to screw the roof panels too.  We are using a semi clear fiber glass.  It is light weight but should hold up well for many years.  So here are a few photos of what we have done so far.  I think the next project will be trying to make the doors so they open as wide as I can get them and also make them as air tight as possible.  I have hopes of this job being done by Sat afternoon.  Then on to other things which will include starting seeds for my vegetable garden.


Check bag in a little while and with any luck there will be photos of a completed greenhouse with some plants inside.