THE COLD FRAMES
Three levels of cold frames. The very top bed still has the "experimental" covers that allowed kale and swiss chard to grow all winter. 5 yards of dirt was slugged up that slope to fill the two lower beds.
Well, it has been a busy busy Spring. Over the winter, our cold frames worked so well, that we had Kale, and Swiss Chard all winter. The small green house I made last year, managed to keep the peppers alive, so I was harvesting Habanero Peppers until March. The Hot Banana Peppers are STILL producing.
The Hot Pepper that wouldn't die. Planted this last year, and it survived the winter with a few of its friends.
Since the best sun on our property happened to fall on the 31 degree slope in the front yard, we decided to expand the size of the cold frame for a larger harvest next winter. It would also double as an excuse not to cut the grass on a steep slope again. Building a three tiered retaining wall for the grow beds was tedious at best. The slope was hard to walk on. The ground was hard, and digging was tough. We planned our strategy. First we put in the posts for the lowest level. If anything, this would double as a foot hold while we moved up the slope. We then added the 2x6 boards to give even more foothold. Then the sides, and finally the walkways on top. Once that was established, we decided steps were in order. Surprisingly, they turned out to be rock solid.
Due to the steep slope, the beds had to be deep in order to get any dirt depth at the top end of each bed. The neighbors joked that we were making bunkers (knowing we were preppers). But since we have great neighbors, we built on. We dreaded the thought of moving 5 yards of soil up that slope. We couldn't get the dirt up behind it without hauling it up the driveway which was well away from the mountain of dirt to be moved. Our strategy? Denise would stay at the edge of the lower bed, and I would shovel dirt into 3 gallon buckets and hump them up the slope. We thought of alternatives, like load up rocks in the bottom, but they were heavier, and awkward. The bucket plan only required psyching ourselves up mentally, and a bit of physical training on my part. I started to lift some weights a couple weeks before the big dump. When the truck came, our neighbor, Sue, let them dump it on the parking area, on her lot, which is close to the beds. (SEE we have GREAT Neighbors).
When I got home from work on Saturday morning, the humping began. Surprisingly, it went smoothly, although we were expecting to be exhausted and sore the next day, so we got as much as we could done. Sunday it rained and ended the progress. No aching muscles to speak of, but we HAD to get that dirt in the beds. Monday, I told D I would finish the dirt transfer. As soon as I got home from dropping her off at the train, I started.
5 yards of blended dirt, ready for planting. NOTE: the tarp with the rest of the dirt underneath.
It took just over an hour to fill and hump 90 pails up that slope, to finish topping it up, once the rain stopped. The lower bed, I accessed up the slope, the upper bed, I used the steps I had built.
We still haven't finalized the design for the accessible top portion, but we have the summer to worry about that, and build up the components.
THE NEW GREENHOUSE
With the trailer moved, and the greenhouse in position to receive all day sun, I built shelves to hold the trays, and aquaponics.
While it rained, and prevented us from moving dirt (that is our excuse), we decided to go to Buckerfields, one of the local nurseries. Lo and Behold, they had a 8'x10'x8' greenhouse for sale. One of my next projects was to make a bigger greenhouse, where we could collect water, house the aquaponics, and grow tomatoes in the rainy season, to prevent blight. D told me it was my Father's Day Gift from the Cats. Gotta love those cats.
There was one catch to the greenhouse project. In order to optimize it, we would have to move the trailer, and put the greenhouse in its place. Simple? Well, not really. Remember, the driveway is on a slope. A STEEP SLOPE. You can't see the hitch, and 1/2 the trailer, so you have to depend on directions from some one at the back. In order to maintain marital bliss, I did the hookup when D wasn't around. She thought I was gifted, and I keep getting well fed. But that was only 1/2 of the ordeal. The trailer is BIG and low to the ground. Going down the driveway will cause either the front or the back of the trailer to drag on the ground as it levels out after the slope. In order to combat this, we have purchased no less than THREE trailer hitches. One for on the highway, that incorporates stabilizer bars, One with more clearance, so we don't take the bottom of the hitch off when weight is applied. And one that was too long, and would act like a plow cutting a swath down the drive.
I pulled the trailer about 3/4 the way down the drive until the expected scraping sound occurred. Unexpectedly, it was the foot on the front jack that was dragging. I parked the truck and trailer at the bottom of the drive so we would have space to build the greenhouse and transfer the seedlings from the smaller, older enclosure. This greenhouse is made from nylon reinforced flexible plastic. Fast to assemble, it took about 45 minutes to complete. Leveling it was a different story. But with the help of a level, we got it done, and the plants transferred on to one stand I made just for the trays.
The next feat was to park the trailer beside it, on an angle (so I could open my garage door), and still have enough room to walk around it. D directed me back, since I couldn't see anything driving backwards up the steep drive. Success.
Those buckets have my tomatoes and peppers in them.
Lots of room for seedlings. When they are transplanted, the tomatoes will grow through the shelves.
THE AQUAPONICS
The heart of the aquaponics, a sheet of Styrofoam, with 24 - 3 1/2" holes cut out to accommodate the grow cups.
This little beauty is my biofilter. Inside is a top secret unpatented design that lets the dirt and any murky water be cleared in about 2 days of cycling.
Ahhhhh so you noticed, did you? These are the intakes and drains. The one on the right is pumped from the fish tank, through the biofilter, and into the tank. The middle one is the drain that goes back into the fish tank to aerate the water. The third one I DELIBERATELY put 3/4" higher than the normal drain, is the overflow. Should a leaf or something block the middle drain, the water would keep pumping and over flow, this overflow will send it right back to the fish tank as well. DON'T put them at the same level, or they will both get plugged. I learned that on my inside system.
For several months I had been cycling water through a new aquaponics set up, before I added any fish, and planted any veggies. I needed to make sure the ammonia levels were acceptable for the incoming fish. NOTE: if you are going to put ammonia in to kick start the process, use a SMALL, VERY SMALL amount. I put a cap full in to 50 gallon tank, and it was way too much. Hence the cycling.
Back when we purchased the greenhouse at Buckerfields, we also purchased a huge Rubbermaid trough, for the final design of the fish enclosure. It is all black, so less light will get into it creating algae, it is super sturdy, has a drain, and has a built in spot for an automatic float, which will allow any evaporated water to be replaced automatically from a rain catch, tank.
The original stand I had made was not big enough to allow the new tank to fit underneath, so I made an extension and some new higher legs. The original stand was shortened to accommodate the tank that would collect the rain water.
Since the system was already set up we only had to drain a 1000 lbs of water, and move it to the greenhouse. Since I wanted to keep the water, we transferred it in buckets. Yup, same darn dirt buckets.
Once the system was in place, I made sure that the drain hoses were doing a lot of splashing in the fish tank. To keep things somewhat dry I pointed the hose up and put a plastic cup on it. This lets the water splash, creating oxygenated water for the fish.
The drain hose from the grow bed and the overflow hose with cups to help defuse the water. This aerates the water for the fish to breathe.
I then bought a bag of pea gravel for the bottom of the fish tank. This will trap some of the dirt, but sooner or later it gets sucked up the hose into the grow beds.
When I opened the bag of gravel, I noticed it was dirty, so I washed it as best as I could in a bucket. Yup same damned buckets, and then poured it in to the fish tank, trying to keep it away from the pump, so it wouldn't clog. As soon as I poured it in, I noticed I didn't do a good job of washing the gravel. The tank went murky fast. After a few hours of cycling, the water cleared up enough to see the bottom.
The next step was to test the water for Ammonia. All was good. In order to keep the fish entertained. I made some hidey holes for them to feel protected, out of PVC pipe elbows, connectors, and end caps with holes in them. A fish's playground.
The fish in their new home. Lots of places to hide, and play. NOTE: the water is crystal clear.
I purchased 20 Feeder fish (aka those cheap little goldfish for .30 cents) When I brought them home, I placed the bag of fish into the water to allow them to slowly acclimatize to the temperature in the tank. Since it was about 10 degrees cooler than the tank at the store.
After about an hour, I opened the bag and set them free in the tank. As a treat, I fed them and they seemed to like the new digs. AND, they had an appetite.
The system was let to run for a week before planting any plants in the grow beds. I chose Buttercrunch lettuce and Coriander as the two crops. The lettuce hadn't been doing well anywhere in our gardens, so I figured it needed Super Fish Poop to get it going.
The Buttercrunch Lettuce the day after transplanting them into the grow cups. When I put them in they were all laying with the leaves upside down. The next day, they are all reaching for the sky. The five cups on the right have coriander seeds in them, to see if they will grow in water.
This is the back view of the grow bed and tank, the yellow hose is an overflow should there be a failure in the auto fill float system. The grey hose from the left goes from the water collection tank outside the greenhouse, this collects rainwater and automatically fills the fish tank when the water evaporates. I had the yellow hose in the white bucket (YUP same buckets) to collect the overflow from the tank, hoping no fish will be lost. I can use this water for watering other plants. Fish Poop water is Miracle Grow for Organics
My rainwater collection system. There is a hose that attaches this tank to the float system in the fish tank. As the rain water fills up this tank, I can put the cover back on the 'funnel' to keep it clean
Once all this automation was in place, I thought to my self, 'Self, If I were me (which I am), what do I dread doing other than getting dirt under my finger nails"? My answer to my self ' Self, you hate watering the plants, since you always splash water in your own face'. I had a point, and since I knew myself well, I opted for an auto watering system. I put 1/2" PVC under each of the top shelves and inserted little nozzles (three over 8 ft of length). to water the plants on the top two shelves. In theory, the water would then trickle down through the plants an trays on the shelves, into the bottom level plants. This would change once the seedlings were gone and transplanted, and I could put the tomatoes and peppers in the bottom self. Only one set of nozzles would be used. THIS WORKED BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS. Six nozzles per side on the shelving units.
The pipe coming up from the ground is connected to the garden hose for now. I hope in the near future I can connect it to a pump from the fish tank, or even a sump that drains water from the fish tank, that way the plants get all the nutrients that the grow bed does. I just hate to see all that good fish poop water sprayed onto the ground. The shut off valve is to stop water from hosing the second shelf full of plants, and just let the upper nozzles work. This lets the water drip through all the levels
