Greenhouse Update and More

On Sunday Harold and I put the plastic roof on the greenhouse!   It took us most of the afternoon.  The wind wasn't too bad, but breezy enough to make things a little difficult.   It actually went on better than I thought it would.   We still need to trim up plastic, add some lath reinforcements, and clean up the yard and mow.   I hesitate to show you how it looks now because of the mess yet, so please excuse things!   I know my readers have been anxious to see the finished product.  We also still have to put the side roll up bars on.   Harold is working on the handles, and did some welding on them today.  When everything is "nice and pretty", I will take better pictures.   But, anyway - here is a preliminary photo of the building:

Not finished yet or pretty, but you will get the idea.

 Here are some views of the inside :

Looking toward the front.

Looking towards the back.

Looking through the doorway.

We debated whether or not to put two layers of plastic on the roof  - some say you should, some say it's not necessary.  We bought plastic for 2 layers of roof, then I read that two layers of plastic cuts the sunlight down to 70% and raises the temperature inside by 10 degrees.  It is already over 90 degrees in there with the sides open!    But using only one layer makes for a noisier building as the plastic flaps around easier in wind, and it is easier to tear with hail or wear.   We don't get hail very often, and we got the plastic pretty tight, so it doesn't flop around much.  So we are going with one layer, and now we have a 'spare' for a few years down the road.   We used ropes to bring the plastic over the top, after anchoring the base with lath boards.  Even with the small wind we had, it was all I could do to hang on to my rope, as the upward pull on the rope was terrific.   But we got it done! 

Inside I have planted a little of everything, as I am not sure what works well in the high tunnel, and what doesn't.  So far I have planted all of my hot peppers, some green peppers, some tomatoes, (a couple cherry tomatoes, too), 5 kinds of onions (red, white, yellow, sweet and leeks), many types of salad greens including mixtures (mesclun), romaine, buttercrunch, spinach and green leaf.  Also lima beans, green beans, oregano, basil, parsley, carrots, and bok choy.   We will see what does best!  I will also plant these things in the regular garden for a comparison as to what does better in which situation.

Today Harold is working with the bees - dusting them with powdered sugar for varoa mites.  This is an old natural method for getting rid of mites, as we do not want to use the chemical strips available to most beekeepers.   You cannot put on honey supers for 8 weeks using those chemicals, and we would miss a great deal of the honey flow for certain plants like basswood, which is excellent for honey.   This method is cheaper and non-chemical, and we would rather do this than use sprays or strips.

"Bee Man" working on the hives.

Harold started on the first set of boxes - see how many he has to go!  You gotta love bees to do this job!