Tearing Down the Greenhouse

Like many new homesteaders Mel built a greenhouse out of pallets and cattle panels. Watch videos  here. It actually worked fairly well. But there were two major problems with it. It way too hot in our GA summers and the winds howling through our hollow destroyed the plastic covering so we had to replace it yearly.

As you can see, those nifty shelves filled up with assorted junk too. Nothing was protected from the elements for very long. It became a royal pain in the behind in upkeep to grow vegetables  and house rabbits in winter.

Kassity @ 5 months old

Stripping the shredded plastic covering off the outside and the floor was the easy part. It took two days with chasing down Kassity who insisted helping us by carrying off pieces to other parts of the property.

We got smarter after chasing her a couple times. We started stuffing the plastic into an outdoor trash can to prevent this. We'd take a break making sure to press the lid closed only  to find the trash can rolled down into the orchard and the plastic pulled out of the can. The trash can lids couldn't withstand rolling down the 25' incline littered with small blueberry bushes, fallen trees branches, and a 40 lb puppy jumping on it the whole way down. The lid didn't stand a chance with this puppy having fun. How could you stay mad at such a sweet, lovable face? We ended up hauling the trash can into the barn during breaks.

Finally, the plastic was off. Then the job of cleaning up the mess. Every few handfuls we'd traipse to the barn with it. Kassity, not to be left out, would grab something and follow us...most times. If the item was something fun to play with or had a good chewability factor, she'd try to run off with it. We'd stop her in her tracks by the only way we've found that works- a cutesy voice with that held  the promise of play or being loved on.

With Kassity's help, it took us a week to get it accomplished. I'm just glad the greenhouse is only 8'x8'. I shudder to think what the three proposed 8'x 24' greenhouses will be like. But we're thinking of old windows and doors or those clear tuftex panels for those. We've got some time to gather what we need for that project slated for 2020.

Now all that's left to do on the old greenhouse is to install the shade cloth over the wire structure. It should arrive next week.We've filled the new planting beds on both long sides of the greenhouse with the cleaning out of the rabbit barn on top of wood chips. Everything planted is growing well. Inside the "new" shaded greenhouse should allow us to continue to grow cooler weather crops and jump start our fall garden seeds.

That's it for this week.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo