The Topless Greenhouse

We live in a rural area where having a garden is a challenge. The deer, raccoons, possums, rabbits, etc seem to think it is a buffet just for them (kind of like a side salad to go along with the chickens they kill). An electric fence has solved the chicken killing issue but then I needed to figure out how to have a garden where I could actually harvest some veggies. We tried a garden (without a fence) in the past and the deer had a good meal for themselves. We also tried raised bed gardens and covered them so that the animals couldn’t get in, but it was hard for a person to reach in and do any weeding, harvesting, etc. My husband and I are “seniors” and the raised beds proved to be a lot more work (uncovering them to do any work in them and then covering them back up).  I thought raised beds would be easy since we wouldn't have to bend down, but it just didn't work for us.  

But I still wanted a garden . . . and I didn’t want the cost or the work of putting up a fence. Then an idea hit me! We have a greenhouse – just can’t use it in the hot weather as everything gets fried (we live in Florida). My idea? Take the roof off the greenhouse! This will allow the hot air to rise and I am hoping it will not get too hot inside. This also allows rain to get in, which will cut down on me having to water it constantly.  (Note: Our greenhouse is actually 2 greenhouses put together to make one long greenhouse.)

So, on March 10th, 2023, I started my project. Photo shows previous plants (cabbage and kale) that were in the greenhouse while it still had a roof. The cabbage never got any cabbage heads and bugs got to the kale.  Clean up day!

 

March 11th – photo shows the greenhouse all cleaned up and the roof taken off. I gave all the cabbage leaves and kale to the chickens. 

  

It is now ready to plant . . . but I need to buy the plants and seeds first!

March 16th – bought the plants and seeds that will be put into the greenhouse. Also bought a bag of compost potting soil to add to soil along with some compost from our compost pile. The soil in the greenhouse really needed some nutrients.

View from the front door of greenhouse:

March 17th – all is planted! Plants include: tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, eggplant and red leaf lettuce. Seeds include: sunflowers, romaine (couldn’t find any plants), cucumbers, green beans, corn, radishes, beets and onion sets. And I planted marigolds all throughout the greenhouse as they are supposed to protect the plants from aphids. Now we wait and see . . .

Going down the left side: tomatoes, bell peppers, sunflowers, romaine and cucumbers. Going down from the right side: beets, onions, red leaf lettuce, corn, spinach, radishes and green beans.In the middle are eggplants.

View from the back door of the greenhouse:

March 27th – 10 days later and everything is looking good! The onion sets have shot up, the cucumber, corn, sunflower and green bean seeds have poked up thru the soil. Nothing happening with the romaine, radish or beet seeds yet. Found some garden fence pieces at Dollar Tree to help separate some of the areas between the plants. The sticks and shepherd's hooks will be used to hold up the tomato and sunflower plants (and anything else that needs support).

March 30th – first harvest of red leaf lettuce!

April 2nd – gave up on the romaine seeds and bought romaine plants.

 
April 3rd – the romaine is now planted and weeds seem to be taking over the green beans and radishes.

April 6th – the tomatoes are getting taller and the green beans have reached their trellis. All the plants seem to be doing well.

April 14th – ants invaded the area where the beets are planted. I sprinkled cinnamon all over and the ants left. The radishes finally made their presence known! One spinach plant isn’t doing too well, but the other 3 seem to be okay.

 

April 25th – replaced the trellis for the cucumbers with a different one. Saw my first tiny tomato!

April 30th – the tomatoes have reached the bottom of the roofline. I did some pruning as they were growing too many stems and leaves and blocking the sun from reaching all parts of the tomato plants. It is better for the tomato plants to put their efforts into growing tomatoes and not leaves.

Also found some wild strawberries growing on the outside of the greenhouse (thru the concrete!)

May 7th – Everything is growing really well . . . except for the beets.

May 8th – the tomatoes are thru the roof!

May 9th – we got ONE radish! Oh well . . .

May 12th – green beans have also gone thru the roof!

 

The tomatoes are getting bigger!

As of May 14th, we have harvested romaine lettuce 3 times and red leaf lettuce 7 times. So I consider those plants a complete success!

Here is how it looks as of May 14th:

   View from the front door.   

View from the back door.

Stay tuned to see if this really works out . . . or not . . .