Topless Greenhouse Update #3

Things have been going pretty good in the greenhouse (mostly).  We are enjoying lots of tomatoes (BLT’s and tomato sandwiches) and a couple of cucumbers.  The chickens still don’t seem too interested in the sunflowers though.

June 14 – The green beans are growing up the roof beams and then back down the other side.  Every day or two I can pick a couple of green beans.  I am storing the harvested ones in the freezer until I get enough to cook for the 2 of us.  The cucumbers are growing up and out of their area and over to where the sunflowers are.  

The tomatoes are a tangled mess but have lots of tomatoes.

The corn is looking so good . . . but trouble is coming. 

June 16 - We had some severe storms, and they did some damage to the corn and sunflowers.  It beat the corn down to the ground and bent over the sunflowers.  I was able to pick a couple of ears (kind of deformed but the chickens liked them) and I was able to tie the sunflowers back up.  

The sunflowers keep on blooming – being bent over didn’t seem to hurt them.

 

And I picked a really big cucumber – 11 inches! 

 

June 17 - The new area got covered over with cardboard and then a lot of compost was spread on top.  The bad storms that we had also washed some of the compost off the cardboard.  

June 20 – To prevent future storms from washing away the compost, hubby created a gulley alongside the garden (the water seemed to flow that way).  In the photo above, it is in between the new area and the greenhouse wall.  Hopefully, it will direct the water past the garden into the back of our yard.  Hubby was outside moving more compost over to the garden and our neighbor spotted him and offered to help. He has a front-end loader – took 3 trips and it was done!  Hubby then started putting up the fence.

 

June 25 - As of today, we have harvested the following: 

Romaine – 4 cuttings

Red Leaf Lettuce - 7 cuttings

Bell Peppers - 1

Radishes - 1

Green beans - 26

Cucumbers - 3 (gave one to the chickens)

Tomatoes – 20 (plus several more that got thrown onto the compost pile – bugs)

Corn – 2 (gave to chickens)

 

Still no eggplants forming but there are lots of flowers.  The onions are hanging in there – probably too hot for them but you never know.  All in all my topless greenhouse experiment is doing good.  I am learning what to do and what not to do next time.

Here is a current photo of the front of the greenhouse.  Till the next update . . .

 

Topless Greenhouse Update #2

Here’s what’s been happening in the topless greenhouse during the last 2 weeks.  On May 29^th, we had our first sunflower open up.  Since then, we have had a few more open up.  I gave them to the chickens.  They didn’t seem interested, but this was their first time having sunflowers.  If it turns out that they don’t like them, then I will not grow any more. 

I added more trellis for the green beans.

June 7^th, I picked a cucumber – it is 10” long!  In the past 2 weeks, I have picked 12 green beans, 1 cucumber and 5 tomatoes. (Previously I have harvested romaine, red leaf lettuce, 1 bell pepper and 1 radish.)

As of now (June 11^th), we are getting lots of sunflowers, the tomato plants are full of tomatoes, the corn is looking real good, the cucumber plants have a lot of cucumbers on them, and the onions seem to be doing well.  So far, most seems to be good . . . except for the bell peppers and eggplant.  There was a lot of bug damage on the bell pepper leaves but they are now starting to come back and there are flowers again.  I have been diligent in going out there every day and checking for any signs of those pesky critters (little black caterpillars) and picking them off.  I think it is working as I don’t see as many as I did before.  The eggplant is growing tall, and it has flowers, but nothing has developed into an actual eggplant.  

I am still hopeful . . .

   

In other news, the gardening bug has hit us hard!  We have decided to add a fenced area to the greenhouse and grow more stuff.  We may take down the walls (that will be inside the fenced area) and kind of make it one big section.  But that is still in the design process.  We won’t actually be planting anything in the fenced portion until next spring.  In the meantime, we will cover the grass with cardboard and then pile a lot of compost on top.  Hopefully, by spring, the soil will be ready to plant.

Here's how the greenhouse is looking now . . .     

                                                                                             

 

                                                                      

Money saving tip for compost:  There was a tree-trimming company working in our area.  Our neighbor told us that we could just ask them to dump the chips (after they grind them up) in our yard.  So, we did ask, and they did bring it to us!  It has been several years since we got the chips, and it has turned into some really nice compost.  That is what we will use on top of the cardboard in the new area.

Stay tuned for the next update . . . hopefully I will have gathered lots of veggies and the new area will be fenced in.  Till then . . .