Greenhouse improvements

Ah, there’s nothing like a week of rain in the spring to put Mother Nature into high gear. Everything is growing fast and furiously – the weeds in particular, of course; isn’t that always the way? So many early perennials are blooming now, and the flower gardens are already lush with color and foliage.

For the last several years, my dear husband has taken a week’s vacation at the end of April, generously offering himself up as my farm slave and asking for a To-Do list. (How lucky can I get? I mean, seriously?) This is the time for those pre-season construction projects, and this year the major one was two wonderful raised beds for the greenhouse, ten feet long and about 18” deep:

I’ve been growing tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse for awhile; peppers, in particular, simply won’t do well outside here on the hill in zone 5. Just too short a season, and the nights are often too cool. Up until now, I planted in the largest pots we had available, of varying sizes and shapes, not the most efficient use of space. Earlier this spring, we went to visit the farm our son manages, and were inspired by the first-rate greenhouse setup there:

So John got to work on creating a version for us. Sounds simple, but not really, of course: the south end of our greenhouse was carved out of a hill, and the floor on that end has never been level. He dug it out further, leveled it better, added more landscape fabric, and improved the lower edge of the walls:

Then he built the raised beds and got two pickup-loads of a mix of loam and compost to fill them, which involved lots of shoveling and wheelbarrow loads. There are eight plants now in each bed, which means they replace 16 pots quite nicely. Given my penchant for growing LOTS of produce, there are still many more potted peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse – but the plan is to build two more raised beds at the other end of the season, chiefly to grow greens in the winter, as well as more tender plants in the summer. (Our overwintered spinach experiment worked out wonderfully – we are STILL harvesting spinach, but it’s finally beginning to bolt in the warm greenhouse.)

As great as the raised beds are, here’s what makes them extra-wonderful: John added an irrigation system that will free up at least an hour of my time each day. Gotta love that! A new spigot inside the greenhouse, drip tape on the raised beds, and emitters in each pot … just turn the handle and there you go. As he says, why on earth didn’t we think to do this years ago?