November 1, 2013 - Closing down the Garden

Well, it has been a long time in between posts, for sure.  As before, the days seem to rush by, despite my not doing a lot.  Since I am not coaching every day this fall, you would think I had more time on my hands, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I have done some things out in the garden, though, so we continue to move forward.  I used my fancy weed hoe to clean out the garden by Tabitha's house, trying to not stir up a lot of weed seeds.  I usually use the tiller, but thought I might try something different and see if the weeds will be less invasive next summer.  I also bought 10 yds of a mix of loam and horse manure that I am going to spread on top of the soil before planting next spring.  I hope to get this done before winter.

The larger area behind the pool was too much to try and clear by hand, so I used the tiller to clear out the dastardly weeds. 
It still took a while, but most of the ground is now tilled over.  I am going to cover this area with some of the loam as well.

In the meantime I was able to take my old 6x8 greenhouse, whose skin had deteriorated after less than 3 years and built some nice supports and put a new 4 year greenhouse film over the top.  This project took me a few days as I tried to figure out some of the technical aspects of supports, etc., plus I bought some aluminum channels and wiggle wire to hold down the film, instead of doing it with just some wood and nails.  I really like the wiggle wire and I think over the long run, this will work just fine.

Here are some photos on November 1, 2013 where it is raining and some very warm air from the south is upon us (72 degrees).

This first photo is of the back of the rebuilt greenhouse.  I bought an automatic air vent from Home Depot for $17 that opens when it gets to 72 degrees inside the greenhouse, thus giving it some circulation.  I covered that up for the winter, with a plastic cover from a small bin I had.

This one shows the wiggle wire in the aluminum channel holding the plastic

This is the front with the door I built using cedar

This is the left side of the greenhouse 2 x 8 feet with some nice lettuce that I transplanted a few weeks ago

This is the right side of the greenhouse that also holds some lettuce and carrots.  Those are snapdragons in the back

That is the vent in the back.  The snapdragons in the center will eventually go, as that will become a walkway.

Nice closeup of the lettuce

This is my outdoor bed that I started covering with a plastic hoop about 3 ays ago.

Another photo of the bed, that sits behind the greenhouse next to our sunroom.  That lettuce has been in the bed since last August and we have been picking leaves off as they grow.