Zone 3 four season greenhouse - early project planning and brainstorm
xmpraedicta
3 years ago
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xmpraedicta
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoRelated Discussions
Four season veggies in cold climates. Brainstorming
Comments (9)Hi there. I am in z 6a according to the new USDA zone maps... in western Mass. First, i want to ensure you that you certainly can GROW crops 4 seasons. I just harvested beets that i sowed in november. I have been eating lettuce and spinnach all winter and just picked raddishes that i sowed in late january. So don't think you are limited to using the GH as a big cold storage cellar. I looked at a few designs before starting mine. I looked at the sunny john design which has plennums running beneath the surface to heat up the soil. I rejected that as too expensive and too much work. There are studies that show moderate success with that. I looked at excavating the soil and replacing with stone and circulating the air through the stones. Again, while it has some benefits, i would need power and the stone would be expensive. I went with the solaroof design which is a double greenhouse that uses soap bubbles as an insulator at night. I never got that far as i still haven't run power out to the GH. So i just have a double walled gh, with 2 foot minimum airspace. My specs: GH interior 48 x 22 GH exterior 52' x 26' GH height interior 11' GH height exterior 14' Both were built with commercial grade greenhouse tubing. If i were to do it again i would save $$ by framing the interior with something cheaper. Heating: None Ventillation: 8 foot wide x 2 foot high gable ends vent. The vents are at the peak of the gh to allow heat to more easily exit. I also have an 8 foot wide door on one end. I will likely add a door on the other end to aid in cross ventillation. I never added the bubbles. I would like to so i could determine if i get additional zona protection. Some of the more interesting "successes". I grow tomatoes into december. I grow all sorts of cool weather crops: peas, beets spinnach, lettuce, raddishes, chard, green onions, dill, thyme, rosmary throughout the winter. Some i actually re-sow midwinter. I "overwintered" citrus, which died back but sent out new shoots. potatoes keep trying to grow but die back with each "Freeze". They are now growing in ernest. I put "freeze" in quotes as i am not sure of the interior temps. Outside temps reached -14F last year and i still did not have ice in the GH. I used to get ice, but i built a water tank that holds 1500 gallons and have not had frost or ice in the GH since. I have fish in the tank. I have not read the winter garden book you have. I have done none of the calculations regarding thermal masses. I can't tell you whether row covers are better than a second GH layer, but if the book says you can't GROW crops but can only overwinter them, then based on my experience, row covers don't do the job as well. I do not have below the ground insulation. I grow my crops directly in the soil. Ask away......See MoreOK - getting the greenhouse going for the season!
Comments (26)You're looking at most of what I have going right now, unfortunately. Last year at this time I was picking cucumbers. You can see this year's cukes in the middle left of that pic. They are just sprouts. Nothing will grow without sunshine, even when I keep it from freezing at night. Thank you for the compliment, but my idea of huge is 10x what I have now. This high tunnel is 14x48 with a gravel floor. The new one I just built is 18.5x48', but does not have the plastic on it yet, because I don't have enough plants to fill it. I bought ground cover cloth for the floor and a friend gave me some pallets, but beyond that I have not ordered everything yet. My plan up to now had been to use 11-gallon grow bags fed with an automated drip system. That would have been perfect in last year's weather. This year, we are so far into spring that I am starting to wonder if I'll have enough time to get a crop of tomatoes before the weather hits 95+ degrees. When that happens, I get thick skins and bitter fruit. All I can think of to do would be to just bury the entire container or root ball into the ground at that point. I like your idea with the cover and the light bulbs. Notice that you are three zones north of me and your plants look farther along than mine. Do they stretch at all toward the bulbs? I don't see yours doing that, but my worry would be that mine somehow would....See MoreFour Season Fail
Comments (8)sfallen - I thought hoop houses and low tunnels were the same thing. I guess mine must be low tunnels. The good news is, as of this past Sunday, the mache was all back to life. I guess they were just damaged in the above picture - but now they look healthy and green and are growing some new leaves. The turnips and carrots in my other bed also survived. The carrots weren't really edible (I don't think) since they were covered in long white hairy roots, but that's ok b/c I picked most of them in January and just left a couple in as a test. The turnip greens I left in looked great. I cleaned up everything else, and prepped the beds for their new spring crop. I'm planning on planting new lettuce, carrot & turnip seeds this week and replacing the covers so they can get an early start. (I'm switching beds too to rotate the crops) Next winter I am looking forward to trying again with the agribon + an extra layer of greenhouse poly....See MoreKitchen Plans to view and brainstorm-drawings!
Comments (22)All this input is so helpful--as you've all realized this project is a series of trade offs... One of the reasons we're using the architect is to make sure that we can mitigate some of the trade offs with thoughtfulness and details that might have gotten by us otherwise. We are thrilled with his team so far. It's not a design build firm, but rather an architect/builder --a highly regarded architect who has partnered with his preferred builder. The benefit so far, is that the preliminary cost estimates are run by the builder from the get-go. We're early in this, but I'm optimistic that this will work in our favor and we can feel much improved for our budget. So the numbers are this--we've got 200K to spend--which seems like a lot but considering we are not only doing what you all have been working on here, but also a master suite on the other end of the house...well...let's just say we're already getting very creative with our choices. And we're in the DC metro area so that doesn't help in terms of expense. The good news is that we don't have extravagent desires (other than soapstone of course!) but really want a thoughtful renovation...especially of the kitchen/dining area because life centers around that for us. Some more info-- you all are very right about the tight squeeze in the living room. I'm used to it to the extend that our current "couch" is actually a love seat that is only 5' long and I have two living room chairs opposite with a coffee table in the middle. This is the only configuration that works in the current living room and will likely be the only configuration that works in the new one. But I rarely wish for more and bigger living room furn. --I mainly wish for better flow in and around the furn. When I get a chance to scan the whole house plan in for you I will do so--in addition to the front door and door to the dining area, in the current living room there is also the opening to the stairway leading upstairs and another door to the first floor bedrooms--specifically, I have a doorway in each of the four corners of the room. My neighbor has the mirror image house and for 10 years she and I have noshed over our various attempts at living room arrangements--in the end we've both squeezed all our furniture in the middle so everyone can get around without zig zagging and tripping! My guidance to the architect is that I don't want the kitchen to be a throughway but I do want "some" connection to the living and dining areas. I'm mainly tired of bumping around everyone in the kitchen while I work and we socialize--or alternatively being alone in there while everyone has fun out in the dining/living rooms. Most of our guests end up around the dining table, even after dinner--probably because we have such dinky living room furniture, LOL! My husband and I are both wondering though whether to swap out living and dining room and your continued thoughts on this issue are much appreciated. We've gone so far as......See Moreshavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
3 years agoxmpraedicta
3 years agoshavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
3 years agoJames _J
3 years agotsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
3 years agojane__ny
3 years agoxmpraedicta
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoxmpraedicta
3 years agoshavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
3 years agojane__ny
3 years agoxmpraedicta
3 years agoMeyermike(Zone 6a Ma.)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoLemon Lime Orange Zone 6a
3 years agoLemon Lime Orange Zone 6a
3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years agoMatt z5b - Greenhouse 10a
3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years agoxmpraedicta
3 years agoxmpraedicta
3 years agoxmpraedicta
3 years agoTom H
3 years agoTom H
3 years agoDonna R
3 years agoenduring
3 years agoSherwood Botsford (z3, Alberta)
3 years agoHU-422368488
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoSherwood Botsford (z3, Alberta)
2 years ago
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