San Diego Tomatoes in Lath Houses

[LDx4]

Today I learned how to resize pictures and post them on Tville, thanks to some helpful Tville members: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=26363

So now I can offer some photos of our tomato-growing setup in our small (about 1/5 acre) backyard. I'd been growing a few tomato plants each summer for many years, but it's only been in the last two years that my tomato addiction has really taken hold. You see, here in San Diego, we have an epidemic of tree rats, and since we live adjacent to open space, they are especially bad. I would lose most of my small crop to the rats each summer. So I never had the space or motivation to grow more than a few plants.

Then in 2010 we had a bad series of rain storms and our old wooden retaining wall that separated the small, flat part of the yard from the upper slope gave way. Luckily, my husband is in the contruction trade, so he built some concrete+block retaining walls to replace the old wooden one. As part of that construction, he built a gravel pad to put a Harbor Freight 10x12ft greenhouse up. But it quickly got too hot in the greenhouse for my tomatoes. My husband, a very resourceful guy, realized that he could replace the polycarbonate greenhouse panels with sheets of rib lath, a type of reinforcement screen used with exterior stucco/plastering. The rib lath sheets are exactly the same width as the polycarbonate, so they only needed to be shortened. One idea led to another, and he then designed three more "lath houses" using wood frames with rib lath and polycarbonate for the roofing. He terraced the slope and built the other houses on the slope, increasing the size of my growing area.

Now I can grow my tomatoes inside the lath houses and the rats can't get to them! Last summer I grew 75 plants in 15 gal containers. You can see some of the harvest in the pictures. This year, he is going to build two more lath houses at the top of the property, as I am planning for 200 plants this year -- all to be protected from birds, rats, rabbits and other wildlife.

I've started a small business selling tomatoes locally. You can also see more photos at www.lathhousegardens.com.

I've learned so much from Tomatoville and its members - thank you for letting me share!

Lyn

[JamesL]

Lyn,
I am struggling to find the right adjectives. Ingenious, impressive and gorgeous spring to mind.
Jealous too! Your husband's got skills!

[Heritage]

Lyn,

Wow, that's really impressive! When do you get your first ripe tomatoes? Do you heat the lath houses at night?

Steve

[Cole_Robbie]

Very nice. Great pictures.

[Doug9345]

Very impressive.

[Deborah]

Does he have a brother??? I'm only in San Marcos !

[Rockporter]

I keep trying to figure out what kind of Lathe you are using? Those are fantastic houses.

[Redbaron]

I am stunned! Completely blown away by the beauty, organization, usefulness, workmanship, just everything!

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by Rockporter

I keep trying to figure out what kind of Lathe you are using? Those are fantastic houses.

It took me a little searching but it appears to be high rib expanded lath. I didn't know that such a product existed.

[LDx4]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Steve, last year I had ripe tomatoes in the beginning of June. We tried to heat the HF greenhouse (without removing the rib lath panels) and our SDG&E bill went up $200 in less than a month. Too expensive for us! We also thought about covering the new houses with 6 mil poly for the winter like hoop houses, but the cost was again too much for us. We had decent tasting tomatos right up to Christmas, but this recent cold spell a few weeks ago made the remaining tomatoes mealy and tasteless. So, the lath houses really don't affect the temps at all, except for near the roof where the polycarb panels block the wind. And Steve - many of the tomatoes I'm growing in the houses this year are coming from your seeds!

Deborah - San Marcos is not that far away! My husband works all over SD county -- he can travel up there!

Rockporter - here is a link to Home Depot for the lath that we used: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by LDx4

Thanks for the kind words everyone!



Rockporter - here is a link to Home Depot for the lath that we used: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

Thanks, I suppose I couldn't find it because it isn't available in my area. They don't build many stucco houses around here.

http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Ma...&storeId=10051

[Alpinejs]

LDX4.....great pics and nice workmanship by hubby!! I was particularly glad to read that
you had a Harbor Freight greenhouse as I just bought the smaller version for a starter house
up in Canada. Were you happy with the construction, the instructions, the quality? I know
you said it was too hot, but that likely won't be a problem in Canada. Yes, my hoophouses
in San Diego need more monitoring for hot than for cold. but some of both.

[dustdevil]

Nice photos! I applaud the creative use of your hilly ground...where there's a will there's a way. Enjoy your tree rat kabobs

[nicky]

What a beautiful yard! Thanks for posting the pictures (although my husband will not be thanking you)!!!

[LDx4]

Thanks again for the kind words everyone! My husband will be happy to answer any and all questions about the lath houses. He's the builder and I'm the grower in this operation

AlpineJs, if you take a close look at picture #5, you'll see that he used the smaller version of the Harbor Freight greenhouse as a starting shell for the lath house at the right side of that photo. As far as quality and workmanship of the HFGs, he was NOT impressed! He did some major refitting and reinforcing to the frames and attached the polycarbonate panels (the ones that are left in place) more securely. I know he would give you all the advice you might need for construction in Canada. I'm still planning to come out to one of your plant sales in March and I'll bring him along with me so you two can talk.

Lyn