Remote Gardener

Ok, so we have all the piers in for all the arches but not the end walls. Pictures tomorrow a bit too tired today. We have also started building the hydro system. A full update of how we did each will follow as soon as life steps out of the way and we get it done.

G,

OK, so we have done some modifications to our structure mounting which is going to give us easily an extra foot or two in height. The cold frame we got was designed to be sunk into the ground 18 inches. It then has mounting for a 2X4 at ground level. What we have done is build piers on an unlevel surface and raised them so that they will level the structure rather than us leveling the ground. Our goal here is to give us an extra 18 inches from the frame and as much as 16 inches of pier on the low side of the slope.

Our piers have been modified (remember that we are working on a budget and trying to save a buck anywhere we can). The first thing that we did was take truss brackets and use them as our mounting in the concrete piers. We are then mounting a 2X6 to these using 4 screws per pier mount.

We then plan to run a 2X6 along the standard holes where a 2X4 is asked for and build an outdoor planting area from this height down. This will run all along the outside of the greenhouse.

With our piers we discovered sonotubes which would have been great for the job but again running on a budget and at $10+ each for the sizes we needed X 18 holes (not including end walls) would have been $130+. So since I always have USPS boxes around (long story short, I sold toys online priority boxes are free, sold biz, lots of boxes left). One drunken night we realized that we could use the priority mail boxes as pier molds. Once they get a bit wet they become real nice circles and will hold, at least until the concrete dries. So far they have exceeded expectations.

We tried four piers to start and sure as could be it worked. For the taller piers we may need a bit of packing tape but the idea is sound and we saved over $130+ (closer to $200+ when you include the end walls).

Once we got the four piers strategically placed in order to allow our 16 foot long 2X6 boards to hit the halfway point we let that sit a bit then double checked our string, adjusting the mounts so that they were aligned properly. The next day our piers were solid and dried well. Life got in the way and we took a few days off. Today we got active and started by pouring the 6 piers located between the first 4 we originally made. We then adjusted the brackets to make sure they were aligned with the string. One side was spot on but the other was way off. In order to correct the off side we attached the 2X6X16 to the brackets on the piers which were poured and dried a few days earlier. We then screwed the brackets against the long boards and this pulled them through the still wet concrete to the proper alignment.

We took a break and then got started on building the structure. We started by following the directions and placing each end into the holes we had augered out but still not set piers in. We setup to arches and the attached the pearlins (side bars). Once we got these in place we still had a twisted structure but it was falling into place. We attached a 2X4 lower so that it would support the structure a bit better and make mobility easier. Take a look at how large the structure is supposed to be according to specs and placing it 18 inches into the ground.

So, we assembled two arches and then attached a third just finger tigtening the main frame. We then attached the 2×4 along the bottom and with one of us on each side we walked it forward to where we will mount it tomorrow.

Be aware that the next picture shows me also standing under the arch but it has now been taken out of the ground by 18″. Once placed on the piers they start at 4 inches above ground and move down to just over 16″. The amount of room we have added to this structure is absolutly amazing. It can now be a greenhouse instead of a cold frame and actually produce fruits and vegetables rather than just seedlings.

We need to get this up because we have plants already growing. Our solexx roll came with a few extra pieces of solexx. This is the 3.5 mm version not the full pro 5mm that we got. Fred took a piece and made an arc that we placed seedings under. They have been growing on and off for a month with little attention paid to their watering etc. because life does get in the way of living sometimes.  We have had rain the past few days and the amount of water in the air has increased tremendously. This has caused a growth spurt to occur with the tomatoes and peppers. This will be the first generation of what I am sure will be many to come.

More to come as soon as we get the work done and have the chance to post.

G,

OK, we did get 4 posts in the ground but I haven’t had time to write or post images. Our post installation is a bit out of the norm and I will cover the mounting brackets and all that later. For today I wanted to post something about Solexx that I found online early this morning. Solexx was over 65% of our budget. Check out this little video and see some of the reasons we chose it over polycarb or film.