Tuesday, November 23, 2010

volunteers are the best

First of all, thanks so much to the volunteers that came out this past Saturday- Adam, Dave, Jessie, and Jeff- you all are the best!

It was the first ever volunteer day at the Blue House Greenhouse Farm! We started to build the greenhouse, which was quite an adventure. The design of the greenhouse at the farm is adapted from the Eliot Coleman book, "Four Season Harvest," and is similar (but larger) to the greenhouse Jeff and I built at our home. It is 10 by 20 feet long with a wood base and PVC hoop frame.  The two end hoops have 20 foot lengths of rebar to make the frame more stable.  We dug, leveled, and nailed the base, then cut, glued, and bent the hoops to the beautiful structure you see below!

Jessie and Dave demonstrate the sturdiness of the greenhouse

The next tasks for the greenhouse are to frame the door, make the end walls, and cover with plastic.  If you are interested in more of the particulars of the greenhouse building I'd be happy to share, or better yet- volunteer! I'm going to need some help with these tasks. email me at bluehousegreenhouse@gmail.com. 

Before
After- Dave admiring his work 
Not only did we work on the greenhouse, but Dave satisfied his desire to clear overgrown weeds- blackberries, clematis, and ivy. The picture on the left shows the weeds behind the compost pile. And the picture on the right shows the weeds gone and the fence that was there all along!

Stay tuned for updates on the farm and the effects of these freezing temperatures-yikes!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

fall planting

lettuce and kale starts, mustards,
arugula and spinach seeds
This past week I planted two 70x5 foot beds. One may wonder, in November? in the rainy NW? Well, yes! I planted seedlings-varieties of lettuce, kale, and tatsoi- I'd started in our greenhouse at home. And as a bit of an experiment, I planted seeds of mustard, lettuce, spinach, arugula and more!



Briana, so happy to be volunteering!













The crucial factor is that these rows are under plastic. Last Friday, with help of my friend, Briana, we set up cloches (a term for a covering that extends the growing season) made of PVC and 6mil greenhouse plastic over those two rows.
the final product


So far so good! When I checked on them yesterday- the seedlings were doing well and the arugula had already sprouted! I will keep you updated on this experiment.