My greenhouse got whacked today!

[maryinoregon]

We've had some heavy winds and lots of rain out here in the Pacific Northwest, the worst of it on the coast. The winds turned my greenhouse over sideways, along with a wooden shelving unit next to it. The greenhouse wasn't super expensive. The wind bent some of the bracing bars and broke some of the plastic connecting pieces. I've been reading the threads about how some of you have built your own greenhouses, and they are quite inspirational. So I may try to do something a bit different for the new growing season. Anyway, enjoying the reading. Keep up the good work everyone. All the best to you.

[dcarch]

sorry to hear about your GH.

Making a greenhouse structurally strong may not be very complicated or expensive.

Post some pictures, may be we can give you some ideas.

dcarch

[maryinoregon]

Dcarch, I dismantled it, because the wind was going to continue ripping it to shreds. It is a cheapy from a box. Worked very well for my needs. I thought I had it suitably braced for the winds, but I was wrong. I'll see if I can find a picture and get it up.

[amideutch]

maryinpnw, sorry to hear about your GH. From what I heard on the news the PNW got pounded by back to back storms causing severe flooding and a lot of wind damage. Ami

[blackkrim]

Made my own little green house last week. Still standing and plants still alive. It's getting too cold for California, and Whittier too. Started a little pot of yellow plum type tomatoes in Dec 07. Kept it indoors. Now the little guy must brave the winter in his little green house outside. No heating devise, just pastic sheeting for insulation and the surrounding wooden frame. Very small.

Susan

[dice]

Now the little guy must brave the winter in his little green house outside. No heating device, just pastic sheeting for insulation and the surrounding wooden frame.

If you shove a bale of alfalfa in through the door and soak it
with the garden hose, the heat of decomposition (like grass
clippings) will provide some heat, and in summer you can
use the alfalfa for a nutritious mulch.

(Note that it will swell up around the baling wire when wet,
so you might need to prune it to get it back out again.)

[troad]

Dice,
If you put some ammonium sulfate on the wet alfalfa do you think that would be more heat or would that be over kill??

[gardenhappy]

I was embarrased to report my greenhouse comming down a week or so ago(don't think hubby was to happy with me telling ),sorry to hear about yours,we were in a hurry to beat a storm and hubby got called away on call and the wind beat the tar out of the frame!!!! But it's up again,braced!!!!,plastic goes on tomorrow and its a good thing because i have 15-72 cells to get out there and 8-45 cell aps systems as of today and as soon as my order of supplies gets here more I hate these storms,now they say we go into tornado season next month then hurrican in June Can any of us just have perfect weather,no weeds or Bad bugs,and tropical paradises,o,i'm sorry that is only in dream land Good luck with your green house,you'll get it right,we always do at some point

[maryinoregon]

Hi everybody. Have not put my greenhouse back together, as we have had some good blows since I started this thread. Even a couple of funnel clouds here in the northwest, one about a half hour away from me. Very little damage.

Vancouver, WA got whacked by a funnel cloud in a 4 mile long path. This is about 110 miles or so north of me. It made front page news here as tornadoes are so rare here.

Anyway, I think I will end up putting the greenhouse back together with duct tape if need be. But that doesn't have to be done until maybe April.

Wishing everyone well with your greenhouses.

[dice]

If you put some ammonium sulfate on the wet alfalfa do you think that would be more heat or would that be over kill??

I don't think it needs it. Carbon-Nitrogen ratio for alfalfa hay
is 12-1, according to:

http://www.microtack.com/html/compost_carbon.html

A little molasses in solution might speed things up, though,
maybe 5 tablespoons dissolved in 5 gallons of water (alfalfa
bales are pretty big, a couple of gallons is not going to soak
in very far), not so much for the nitrogen as for the sugar.

Maybe cut out little bowl-shaped depressions in the top and
then pour the solution in those, so that it will soak in instead
of running off the top of the bale and down the sides.