other news
- i closed up the eaves on the milking house and it's ready to paint.
- i built a cold frame (* see photo below)
- i planted the garlic and mulched it with leaves.
- i started a hot bed cold frame
that's a sliding glass door window pane.
i need some bales of straw for the next step of my hot bed. i read a few websites and the back to basics book. all of them required digging too deep for my taste. so i am using the frost protected shallow foundation concept to alter my need to have a huge hole in my garden. i did dig a foot deep, down to sub soil. i then added twenty or so inches of fresh "HOT" manure into the hole. i'll surround it with straw bales, add eight or ten inches of top soil and top it with double pane glass.
as the manure breaks down the anabolic, exothermic reaction heats the hot frame from below. we plan to plant arugula and maybe a few other leafy greens. if all goes well we'll be "in salad" all winter.
12 comments:
Congrats on the new "O'Melay-on-the-way"! I've got an old storm door framed piece of glass that I would love to use for a cold frame, but didn't want 'the huge hole in the garden' either. Maybe I'll try your idea - - sure would be nice to have fresh greens into the winter! Happy Thanksgiving!
Congratulations on the new one!!
Congratulations on being gifted with another baby! Joe and I used to do hydroponics a few years back. Debating it strongly again so I can have lettuce this winter. But I wonder if I could just grow lettuce in a pot by a window? I'm trying it.
Congrats O'melay family! Hope your wife is doing well!
Congratulations! Here's wishing this one arrives as healthy and happy as the others.
Woot! Congratulations to you and Tabitha!
Love your cold frame/greenhouse. I think we'll be doing something very similar.
Eliot Coleman, from Maine, wrote Four Season Harvest. I've read bits and pieces of it, and intend to do just what you've done, minus the hot manure. Basically, if the plants are protected from wind, rain and snow, they'll grow. Maine happens to be on the same parallel as the French Riviera, and Mr. Coleman discovered that it's not the temperature (as much) that affects growing, but rather the amount of sunlight. We won't be growing tomatoes in January in an unheated greenhouse, but arugula, lettuce greens, and spinach would do very nicely.
Check out Mr. Coleman's website.
Also, check out this guy in Canada who has constructed a "greenhouse" out of old tractor tires. It's pretty cool.
congratulations! the happiest days are the ones when babies come!
Huge congratulations on the new little one on the way!
Congratulations to you!!! The homestead keeps growing :)
Congratulations on the new one! Babies are fun.
Catching up on posts and was thrilled as punch to see this. Congrats and I hope the pregnancy is a gentle and lovely experience.
Hey Karl, I think I might have done a number on your stats last night. I spent (I think) about two hours over here listening to your music and reading about your life. You made a huge difference in my life last night. You grounded me and gave me a space to sort myself out. Thank you for the honesty and unbelievable detail of your posting. And your music, well, your music is just wonderful. Thank you. I'm over at alectosophelia.typepad.com (the other is secondary).
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