May 25, 2014

It only took about a week of having to water the greenhouse plants before I'd had enough.  There is no way I'm going to be able to keep up with watering everything by hand this summer.  Enter my first attempt at an irrigation system.  Pretty loose, but it seems to be doing the job.

Running a drip hose under the greenhouse frame and across the plants.

Seems to be working fairly well so far.

We went by one of the local farmers markets today and picked up these cucumber starts.  The green mesh is a 6x12 foot sheet of bird netting draped over an old steel coat rack that we found in our shed when we first moved in.  Glad we could find a use for it.  It should make for a good trellis for our cucumber and melon plants.

The fig tree is looking very happy in it's new home.  It's put on a bunch of growth since moving into the greenhouse.

Starting to see blooms on the tomato plants.  Fresh tomatoes coming our way soon!

May 21st, 2014

Thanks to a long weekend, and a couple weeks in a row of good weather, projects are finally being checked off of the list.  We've added in the last raised bed, built a greenhouse, and planted a whole lot of food.  We've even began to harvest a few items, although in small amounts.

The latest raised bed to be to the garden.  Every second mound has corn planted in a block of 4.  Once the corn is 6 inches tall, pole and runner beans will be planted with the corn.  At the same time the remaining unused mounds will have 6 different types of squash planted in them.  This is an adaptation of a technique called the 3 sisters planting which many Native American tribes used hundreds of years ago.  The nitrogen from the beans feeds the corn and the squash, the corn provides a climbing support for the beans, and the squash acts as a living mulch by shading the roots of the beans and corn.

I allowed our Rapini plants to go to flower and we ended up with this nice little display of yellow flowers.

We've had some issues with the broccoli bolting.  Still trying to determine why this is happening.  At least the small heads are still edible, and once they are cut off there is plenty of room up the stem for side shoots.

This is about all we're getting for broccoli heads right now.  Still better than nothing.

Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Sprouting broccoli and some young peas in the back.

A few flowers on our young blueberry bushes.

The potato forest.

Our Plum tree which is absolutely loaded!  These fruits are nearly the size of what we were able to harvest in late summer of last year.  Plus there's thousands of them.  Not sure if it was the fall pruning that has caused this, but we'll take it.

Early signs of crab apples.

Spring peas

The first beans

By far my favourite sprout to see breaking through the ground.  Beans just manage to break through the soil with such presence.

Carrots

Rutabagas

Potatoes and Garlic 

Shallots

Red onions and Garlic

Macintosh apples

We're already starting to fill the greenhouse. 

Greenhouse green beans

The first pepper plant to come out of the basement.

The largest two tomato plants.  The biggest is about two and a half feet tall and flowering already.

May 18th, 2014

This May long weekend, while many other families were heading out camping my dad and I built a greenhouse.  I've never had the opportunity before to greenhouse grow, so I am super excited to get the chance.  A greenhouse will not only be able to increase our ability to grow vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers, but will allow us to consider bringing in more tender fruits such as apricots, lemons and limes.  Not to mention the possibilities of year round food production.

The site.  Against the fence and dead centre is the remains of a rose bush that I cut right back at the beginning of the spring.  This will need to come out.  We also considered laying down a base of gravel, but decided against that and chose to go with bare ground instead.

The site itself will sit on the East side of our garden and towards the Northeast corner of the yard.

The profile of the site just before breaking ground.  Things will look quite different when we're done.

Our building site with the rose bush pulled up and the pre-existing sod turned over.

The same from a higher vantage point. 

The base of the greenhouse laid out, measured and levelled.

The framework starting to go into place.  The corners and connecting supports.

The ribs and walls put in place.  We had some trouble with keeping the back of the structure intact, as a decent wind would push it out it's tracks. 

A side view of the side and back walls.  This is where we left off at the end of the first work day.  About 7 hours between breaking ground, sorting the pieces and building the structure to this point.

Day 2.  The beginnings of the roof structure coming together.  We had a heck of a time getting the triangle pieces into place without them falling apart.  Took some time, and a lot of swearing on my part, but we got it.

Starting to look like a greenhouse.

The roof ribs and panels go into place.  The hole in the roof is where the ventilation window will go.

Doors and two vent windows attached.  Reinforcement bars along the sides of the interior of the structure, plus reinforcements installed along the spine of the roof and at the corners.  I also spread a layer of wood chips throughout the interior to give the floor a bit of a finish.

And there it is, our new greenhouse.  Drastically changing the landscape of our yard, but greatly increasing our ability to grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables.  Two days and 13 hours later.  Huge thanks go to my dad for partnering with me on this project.  We were both completely wiped when it was all done, but I definitely think it was worth it.

May 4th, 2014

Well it's been over a month since my last post, and I'm itching to get things updated.  As luck would have it, nearly every single weekend where I could get some significant work done has been filled with rain and busy life.  Thankfully, one of the best things about gardens is that they grow whether you're paying attention or not.

Daffodils have given way for Tulips and spring annuals.

Lilac trees are blooming.

Coneflowers

Apple blossoms are already starting to fall.

One of our blueberry bushes looks like it will fruit this year.

Potato plants pushing up through the mulch.

Garlic.

Shallots

Red storage onions

Brussel sprouts

Broccoli

Broccoli Raab.  Almost ready to eat.

Early season peas

One of my latest additions.  A fig tree on the patio.

Patio tomatoes.

Patio salad greens and herbs.