Greenhouse Test Number One Gone Kaboom

in #hive-1406353 years ago

Greetings, Fellow Plant Planters And Seed Sowers!

How's your year going so far? I started my first gardening session of 2022 with a blast! And I am going to tell you about it.

The blast was very much literal and it came literally because I turned out to be only half prepared.

I was about to build a small cover for some experimental super early carrot growing test. Beneath a good cover they might have been able to develop from seeds and get ready for the picking by late march or early April...

I don't know if we shall know because today's attempt was not a glorious success. Perhaps I have to make a clean shot at it again in the weekends to come.

But let me tell you of today's fiasco.


GreenHouseF_3.jpg


It all started neat, at first. I had a wooden frame prepared ahead of time. Using some additional thick wooden sticks as poles and some nylon rope for binding them together with the initially attached ones, I made the support a bit sturdier.

GreenHouseF_1.jpg

Kitchen nylon is thin and not quite long but I had little surface to cover, so I gave it a try. It was still looking good.

GreenHouseF_2.jpg

My initial plan, though, did not account for the possibility of future snowfalls and the thin nylon on top would give way in such an event...well even in the event of rain in the next three months which is pretty much guaranteed.

So I decided to use a few old bus windshields that I had at my disposal. Don't ask me how I had them there. All right, I shall tell you. They are family treasures passed down from one generation to the second next. Anyway.

The light wooden frame would not support them as well, so I decided on adding a few iron rods to the design.

GreenHouseF_4.jpg

But as the Power Metal band Blind Guardian say,

Joyful it seems but...
Then suddenly,
By one false move it's blown away.


I used four rods altogether so that they would support two windshields at an angle. Adjusting the second one to close the gap a little bit better, I might have slightly struck the first one. Edge to edge, sideways.

And it burst so unexpectedly and so bad...

GreenHouseF_5.jpg

I even cut myself a bit on the thumb while trying to remove the larger pieces of glass from withing the experimental carrot field.

GreenHouseF_6.jpg


I tried writing "FAIL" with my blood but I failed even at that.


GreenHouseF_7.jpg

Still unwilling to quit, I fetched two more windshields, though lesser of stature.

GreenHouseF_8.jpg

When failing, roll on with it. That is my motto and I continued wrapping the holes as far as I could manage with poor design and little material. Not quite happy with the results. Annoyed, actually. But, eh...it's experience. I shall plan the whole thing through next time and see if I can get a better execution.

Who knows...there might still be carrots from this experiment. Hope is alive.


Come on, ride the bus!
Come on, ride the bus with us!

— from a version of "The Wheels Of The Bus Go Round And Round"

GreenHouseF_9_BW.jpg


Even though this one looks as if somebody went A.A.! on the rest of the passengers.

Anyway...as I said, there might still be an early carrot or two. We shall see. That's it for now.


Peace and Parsley!

Yours,

Manol

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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
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7

They are family treasures passed down from one generation to the second next.

😂

Yeah, and I just blew one of those :( I guess the next second next generation shall not be as wealthy as I was...

I hope your thumb is okay now, I like your spirit, you do not give up even if you shed blood. Keep safe.

Nothing more than an insult to my pride ;) I felt dumbish at that moment but one can only stubbornly go on. Or go back. Hating the waste of time, I roll with whatever happens...to some end. And beyond. The lessons from experience is what we carry beyond, so every lesson counts and I appreciate those.

so every lesson counts

Indeed, we learn when we made mistakes.

Yup. I tend to learn a lot ;)

Looks good and keep trying. I wouldn't be using glass like that, sorry to hear about your finger.

My tip is to just use cheap vinyl or even plastic food wrap, also on the north side, you don't need vinyl because the sun won't be shining from that direction.

the sun won't be shining from that direction

Ah, you gave me an idea. If I want to increase the temperatures I could use mirrors outside of the vinyl. Then it be shining from all directions until the carrots inside are well cooked.

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Cooking foil or anything white is also cheap and in the winter, the sun isn't powerful enough to do much damage.

But I know the people growing in Northern China usually place black vinyl on the floor and make a dirt slope on the back wall to act as a thermal mass.

Thanks for the beer :)


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I am sorry for your bad luck! But the post turned out pretty amusing :)
And maybe you'll have some carrots after all!

But the post turned out pretty amusing :)

Glad that worked out, t least ;)

And maybe you'll have some carrots after all!

Yeah, I hope so. But mainly because I am not stopping here. I had carrots last June-July but now I am trying to design a cycle that yields every few months or so by planting from January and February, Through March and April and then again September-October and why not later on. I shall be working on better makeshift greenhouseshuts though.

Sounds like a solid plan!

Maybe you can also take some ideas from professional constructions like that:

http://www.agrinova.gr/xamilikalipsi.html

Love the recycling ethic here, though gutted the first one smashed! Hopefully your cold frame will work!

I don't know if it will but I'll find make another one as soon as I can and continue the experiments.

Yeah, I have a lot of recycling ideas about that place.

My takeaway from that is that one of your windshield family heirlooms has been destroyed; yet all is not for naught, as your blood itself is now mixed with the soil, quite literally. Those carrots will be quite something.

Might be so. The temperatures dropped so much today, though...I think that cover won't be enough. We shall see. Green stuff has its way of growing against all odds.


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