Topless Greenhouse Final Update
This will be the last update on
the Topless Greenhouse. All in all, I am
quite pleased with how this experiment played out. I have learned a few things – mostly what
“not to do” in the future. I am already
planning another garden which I will start in August. My area of the country gives us enough summer
weather to have 2 plantings. We have put
in more cinder blocks around the inside of the fence. I will be planting a variety of herbs and
flowers (the kind that deter insects) in those holes. Soon I will be starting seeds for bell
peppers (yes, I will try them again), pumpkins, watermelons, tomatoes, beans
and beets (and I am going to try them again also). In the fall, I am hoping to plant more
lettuce, romaine and cabbages. There is
just something so satisfying about eating veggies that you grew yourself!
Here's how it finished up:
June 26 – Hubby finished the fence
and took down some of the walls (on the fence side) of the greenhouse. The garden is much easier to water now with
the walls down. The fence is connected to the front and back end of the greenhouse - makes it one big area. The walls on the other side of the greenhouse act as a "fence" on that side.
June 30 – The corn is done – got 4
ears but they were all deformed. The
chickens loved them anyway! Hubby pulled
out the cucumber plants – they fizzled out - and he leveled out the dirt and
compost. I moved 2 of the marigold
plants to the fenced area and planted them in the holes in a cinder block.
July 3 – I put up 3 pinwheels on
the fence – hopefully it will discourage any critter that may want to try and
get into that area. I took a video of all 3 of them spinning at the same time.
July 4 – Picked a big tomato today
– 4” across! We have a yellow garden
spider living in the greenhouse. I will
leave him be for the time being – maybe he will eat some bugs.
July 6 – It's time to pull up the green
bean, eggplant, pepper and sunflower plants – they are done for now. The tomato plants still have tomatoes on
them, so I will leave them for a while longer.
I moved the onions to the other side of the greenhouse. I am not sure they will make it – I don’t
think they like being moved. Plus, it is
not the right time of year for them to be planted.
They may go dormant – I will just have to wait and see.
New spot for the onions
As of today, July 10, I have
harvested the following:
Green beans – 38 (cooked them up and had them with a pork
roast for dinner)
Cucumbers – 4 (gave one to the
chickens – full of bugs) Ended up giving
2 more to the chickens as we weren’t eating them (I really wanted to grow a
bunch to make pickles).
Tomatoes – 33 (plus several more
that got thrown onto the compost pile – bugs) I think we have at least 10 more still growing on the plants.
Corn – 4 (gave to chickens)
Romaine – 4 cuttings
Red Leaf Lettuce – 7 cuttings
Bell Pepper – 1
Radish – 1
I had fun doing this experiment. It was exciting to watch my idea come to life. I know some people thought it was crazy, but
it isn’t crazy if it works . . . right?
I hope this encourages others to think outside the box – take a chance
and do something different. It just might
work!
PS (July 15): Picked 16 more tomatoes before pulling up the
plants. We also took out the raised beds and made it all even. Here’s the beginning and ending
of the garden (March 11th to July 15th.)
