Greenhouse is done!

This weekend we finally got the roll up side mechanisms installed on the greenhouse.  Things are pretty much done now, just a couple boards yet to anchor the plastic around the roof peak and on one side.   Harold designed the roll up bars after the tarp rolling bars on a semi truck, and welded the pieces in his shop.  There is a long metal rod bolted inside the plastic pvc pipe, and the plastic for the sides in clamped onto the bottom using cut out pieces of pvc pipe.  The whole thing is rolled up on the pvc pipe, and the side ropes help to support it in place.   The roll up bar is then pushed to the side and down to hold in place.  Here I am trying to demonstrate how it works:

For the photo, I have the rod slightly bent, but in actual use, you hold the bar straight out, and crank the end. 

Here is a view of the finished greenhouse.  Harold is in the process today of putting on the roof end pieces, and the one long 2 x 4 on the side near the top to help anchor the plastic roof a little better. 

On a sunny day with the sides rolled down and the screen on the door shut, it can get to 120 degrees in there.   That's why a high tunnel is a special kind of greenhouse that allows you to regulate the temperature a little better by rolling up the sides for air flow.   Ideally, it should be no more than 95 in there, and 80 is great, but in summer that will be impossible.   In summer, the sides will need to be fully open at all times, as well as the screen on the door.  

Things DO grow quickly in here, though:

Things have really grown in the last 10 days!  Onions, green beans, bok choy and tomatoes are all growing nicely!

Here's another view:

Oh my!  Looks like I have some weeding to do today!   The pathway and beds could use a little TLC!  We have been so busy with garden planting, I haven't had time for weeding here, but today is rainy so I will have my chance.

Here's a view of the other side:

Yes, we still have a little clean-up to do - in our "spare time" (what's that?)

 Yesterday I planted about 75 cabbages in my smaller garden.  They are of various growing times, so I should have a constant supply for our vegetable stand in town, which begins on June 18.  Cabbages won't be ready, but lettuces and bok choy should be.

This smaller garden is about 25 x 125 feet.

Do you remember the ferris wheel planter that Harold made for me last year?   I was supposed to paint it, but never got around to it until this spring.   Here it is all prettied up with a couple coats of rustoleum paint, and planted with petunias that haven't bloomed yet.

Pretty soon there will be blooms on my ferris wheel planter!  I started all these petunia plants from my own saved seed, so it will be interesting to see what the colors are.  (By the way, Harold [jokingly]says if you want one of these built, he will do it for $600!! - Ha!  Shipping costs would be a little steep, though, as it weighs over 300 pounds!)

A couple of our female cats had kittens recently.   Scruffy is under the ladder, and Mama is the one with the winky eye.   Poor thing had a tick on her eyeball earlier this spring, and her eye is still recovering from that.  Both mothers are enjoying a little time off from the kitties, who are in a box in the cat house.