Linette's greenhouses

[Linette]

Hi,
New to Tomatoville. MDVPC suggested I should post photos of my greenhouses here andI thought I'd give it a try, hoping I got the photos and the meter/foot conversions right.


The cold and damp climate in our area doesn't allow for grapes to ripen so we built the second one, a small 14’x6’ polycarb greenhouse around our 2 vine plants - and of course all the available remaining space was planted with tomatoes.


Then my tomato fever got worse and so we built a 9’10’’x13’ pvc covered greenhouse last spring.

The greenhouses are far from the house, without water or electricity and we installed a drip irrigation system using garbage bins as watertanks.

[Worth1]

Linette the place looks wonderful.

One thing I have noticed time after time about people from Europe.
Their concept of a yard includes lots of plants and gardens that they can eat.
Is this just because the only pictures I see are from gardeners?
So many here just have great open lawns growing grass they mow all of the time.

Worth

[clara]

[
One thing I have noticed time after time about people from Europe.
Their concept of a yard includes lots of plants and gardens that they can eat.
Is this just because the only pictures I see are from gardeners?
So many here just have great open lawns growing grass they mow all of the time.

Worth[/QUOTE]

Worth, I can only speak of Germany of course, but plots here are extremely expensive if you don't live in a very remote area or have quite a bunch of money. It's really a pity, but new houses, wonderful ones, here are built on what we call "towels". Sometimes you have the impression that you could pass sugar and salt to your neighbor just from window to window. I'm very happy that I bought my house in the 1970s, today I couldn't afford it - 1 sqm here near Köln/Cologne is actually for 440 Euros = $ 540. There are cheaper places to live, yes, but would you like to live in a trouble hotspot?
Those new houses are sometimes built on only 180 sqm, the average here is between 250 and 350 sqm. There is not much left for lawn and veggie garden. Those who want to have at least the impression of some space have mostly lawn - and some veggies near the fences.

[Worth1]

Clara they are doing the same thing here too.
Many of the houses are so close you can put a 16 foot 2x12 between the windows of two houses.
The front is mostly driveway and the back is a wee little private place with a fence around it.
Some of our members here live in these houses.
The "small" house 1.200 square feet like mine aren't being built anymore.
Mine is on an acre of land.
Now they are building larger houses the first time buyer cant afford.
Most folks have to rent because of this and can never save up enough money to buy.
To rent a place like mine is more than twice as much as my house payment is.

Worth

[Linette]

We have the same problem here in France.

My house is on an acre of land too, but to have that we moved to a small village not far from Beauvais, a small town, and that was 35 years ago.
Now even in our village the regulations have changed and the last houses that were built are on narrow strips of land - we even have semi-detached or terraced houses.

But judging from the number of TV programs about urban gardening, I think a lot of young people are trying to find their rural roots. Most can't afford them but they dream of having gardens and leaving the city.

[RobinB]

Linette, your garden is absolutely beautiful! I like your irrigation solution, nice!

[mdvpc]

Lunette-Thanks for posting photos of your greenhouses-they are great!

[Linette]

Thank you for the compliments!
(Sorry but my first message wasn't complete, a part of it disappeared and I had a blank box when I tried to edit...)

I agree with you, Worth, a lot of people here dream of having their little house with their little garden, and a vegetable patch in the back. And growing veggies is very trendy, especially raised beds and container gardening.

And we don't have open lawns with strict regulations and compulsory mowing, our gardens are enclosed and we can grow what we like.

But not everybody. My next door neighbor's garden is like a golf green. Trees and grass, I see him sitting on his mower and going round and round his lawn every week...

[Maggie 13]

We grow organically in a High Tunnel 21 ft wide X 48 ft long ( 6.4 meter X 14.6 meter )

I look forward to hearing more about your gardens.

What Hardiness or Growing zone are you?

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Linette

But not everybody. My next door neighbor's garden is like a golf green. Trees and grass, I see him sitting on his mower and going round and round his lawn every week...

[PhilaGardener]

@Linette , those look fabulous! Thanks for sharing them with us!

[BigVanVader]

Lawns, what a joke. The only grass I want is when its a cover crop. Beautiful place you have there.

[kurt]

I aree with BVV. "Lawns, what a joke. The only grass I want is when its a cover crop. Beautiful place you have there."


I agree lawns are a waste of energy and time,maybe out front at entry to house for curb appeal at most.Edible landscapes are the way to go.My motto "If you can't smoke it,eat it,or drink it why grow it!"

[ginger2778]

Linette, gorgeous setup. I love the flowers and the veggies together, and thats an attractive cover fabric on the one. But you still have too much grass! ( just kidding)
Thank you for taking the time to post these beautiful photos.

[Linette]

Thanks to all of you for reading and leaving a comment.

Our garden is in the eastern point of Normandy, on heavy clay soil with water up to the surface all winter. A land of meadows and grazing cows, and rich grass grows naturally there. Unlike our neighbour we never sowed a lawn, just cut the grass when it gets too high. It doesn't look neat, but at least it's alive with insects and frogs.

In reply to Maggie (I dreamed of a high tunnel as big as yours, lucky you! Mine aren't high enough and the tomatoes quickly touch the top):
I don't kow about growing zones here. Winters are quite mild with little snow and cold waves between -5/-8°C (18 - 23°F) but some years we can have a whole week at between -15/-18°C (1 and 5°F). It can freeze hard in the tunnels.

So Ginger, you noticed my splendid vintage shade cloth, .
We had very hot weather in may/june, (then rain all the rest of the season) and we had tomato blossom drop, so I used those old sheets from the late seventies (nostalgia…)