So how we doing guys?

I have to admit that so far our garden is doing extremely well. Our tomato plants are growing rapidly and already see the beginnings of some fruit. Our peppers and tomatillos also have the makings of fruit coming on. With our daytime highs in the 80's and nights in the 60's our plants and been exploding. I've been staying on top of the watering and feeding so that's helping a lot.
We'll be putting up our trellising today. I am going to go with something like this pic below, (this is NOT our pic but one I found online but I am going to "borrow" the idea), for our tomatoes. I still have about 9 more big tomato seedlings I need to put in containers and some shrubs and flowers for the front yard.
Going to be a busy weekend!

C'mon guys, give us some updates!   



EDIT: Here is a pic of our tomatoes as they are now. So far so good!  

Boy, those look nice & healthy!  Way to go!

Yeah, they look nice and there's plenty of 'em! Wish our nights were in the 60's now. But around here, that would mean we were well into the 90's during the day, which I don't look forward to.

Looks like you've got enough plants to put out a serious crop.

Yeah, that's just the tomatos. Tomorrow I'll be putting out about 9 more.
In the background is a 4x8 bed with a couple Charleston Gray watermelons, 3 cantaloupe, 2 regular cucumber, and some lemon cucumbers along the trellised portion. There are also 4 banana peppers, 5 sweet bell peppers, some onions, and garlic. Funny enough there is also some basil that somehow survived the winter and we now have some sprouts of that coming up here and there.
I'll take a pic of the full garden tomorrow since we have the buckets and 4x8 mentioned above plus another 4x4 with 16 pepper plants, one 4x4 with leafy greens, and then another that is just planted with things to attract pollinators.

Whew! 

Looking forward to your photos.   

Very nice!

very nice...your tomatoes look like small trees.

Still cool temps here at night in the 30's, so glad we are building the bigger and better greenhouse!  I start everything from seed in Jan or Feb since we have such a short season. Grow everything organically.
Also sell starter plants on the side and made enough that we can put the cash towards purchasing lumber and pavers for the new greenhouse!   I also "dumpster dive" for all the pots so I don't have to buy them. The larger greenhouses just throw them away. I rinse em out, then in the bathtub with bleach water and rinse again really well.

These are some of the plants, taken about a month ago   maters, peppers and herbs. These are in our little greenhouse, 4 ml polycarb. Poor insulating, so I have the whole darn thing in bubble wrap. Stays nice and warm in there now!





Maters and peppers today, need to sell em or get them repotted, they are tomatoes gone wild   







The new greenhouse!!!!  Wooo hoooooo . 20 feet long, 15 wide and 10ft high. Gonna love the extra space so I can put my lemon trees outside, and try corn, sweet potatoes, melons and not worry about my Dahlias hitting the ceiling again (they would in my little greenhouse   .  16 ml triple wall polycard on sides and 10 ml  on end caps...







Lower left is fresh air intake for gas heater. Just hooked it up yesterday and able to keep it 53 at night with minimal heating. Wooo hoooo    Property was sloped, so had to use fill dirt to build it up then rocks on sides and end to shore it up.

Gonna have growbed on each side and one down the middle. This one is 12 high, 15 ft long and 3 feet wide.






Potting bench, don't have to do it in the house anymore or outside in the cold wind!

Greenhouse has four roof vents with auto openers. Ran a natural gas line to use small gas heater on thermostat.   There is ditch door on each end, great for cross ventilation.
I spend so much time starting those little plants, this will make it much easier. Usually have three bedrooms full of lights and plants, plus my little greenhouse is jammed packed.  FINALLY, after 25 years of living up here, we can grow up here and not worry about the varmits, deer, elk, hail, snow, early and late frosts!!!!

Now that's a nice greenhouse!  

Holy cow that is gorgeous. Congratulations on having such a great place to grow.

The design is a bit unusual, to my eyes at least. Who's the manufacturer? And do you figure the sides will last a very long time, or are they the type you can expect to get foggy and/or decay and therefore need replacing in a few years?

Re the bubblewrap, that stuff is very expensive around here. It would cost as much as a greenhouse it was wrapping! I guess you must have found a wholesale source?

Marc Iverson wrote:Holy cow that is gorgeous.  Congratulations on having such a great place to grow.  

The design is a bit unusual, to my eyes at least.  Who's the manufacturer?  And do you figure the sides will last a very long time, or are they the type you can expect to get foggy and/or decay and therefore need replacing in a few years?

Re the bubblewrap, that stuff is very expensive around here.  It would cost as much as a greenhouse it was wrapping!  I guess you must have found a wholesale source?

It is unusual the shape, but rated really high for winds and snow loads. Important where we live at 8500 feet! It is a Riga, manufactured in Germany.   The panels are rated for long term wear and tear, I want to say 10 years? The little greenhouse has lasted really well and those are pretty cheap 4 ml single layer panels. This is our 5th year with that one. So not too worried about that.
Tho it may be too humid in there. We are still working the kinks out on how much fresh air we need in there once it is closed up for the night.  That is why the panels have condensation on em in the above pics. That greenhouse is air tight, caulked and sealed with strips of rubber on the base and around the vents.

Bubblewrap is expensive, I salvaged/recycled a lot of it from where I used to work.  And hubby would bring it home from his work place too when unpacking shipments that came in. Amazing how much of that is just thrown away. Is a pain tho when you have to tape the smaller pieces together to make one long strip.  

Gorgeous greenhouse! Drool

+1!  Although I think it MIGHT be a bit much for GA.  But it looks like it'd handle our hail!

         

AtlantaMarie wrote:+1!  Although I think it MIGHT be a bit much for GA.  But it looks like it'd handle our hail!

         

I grew up in Illinois and used to being able to grow anything under the sun. Much different out here since you can't even find real dirt.   It is all decomposed granite mixed with pine needles....
When I would go home to see my folks, I would load the diesel truck up with good black dirt and drive it all the way back to Colorado.    Then sold my truck, so last time I loaded the rental car up with bags of black top soil from Illinois, I think I need help     



I am jealous of you guys who have such a long season (tho I hate the humidity out in yer neck of the woods) and finally decided to do something about it.  I could probably live in there if hubby throws me out. He helps with my addiction of growing/planting    but I think he has had enough after building that thing  

 but I think he has had enough after building that thing

LOL    I was just up in Northern British columbia to visit family and my sister and her husband were just finishing up building that exact greenhouse... SAME complaints.... how long it took to put together... 
AND that the instructions were in some other language.

However WONDERFUL greenhouse and they seem to have done the same thing as you with the beds.

+1 on the building stuff!  Mike says he's done his honey-do list for the year... lol!

baileyhermit wrote:

This is beautiful. And though working with flat ground would have been easier for you, I think the way you leveled it by building up with the rocks adds to the beauty. Very nicely done. Congrats.

We got most of our beds planted over the past month.   Still have one more bed left plus the regular rotation plants. (beans, cucumbers...)

Here are some updated pics of the garden. I didn't get to put up the trellising like I had wanted. I spent all day working in the front yard pulling some old dead shrubs and replanting with some new stuff. I did put the last of my tomatoes in buckets along with some tomatillos.







The whole enchilada.

GWN wrote:

 but I think he has had enough after building that thing

LOL    I was just up in Northern British columbia to visit family and my sister and her husband were just finishing up building that exact greenhouse... SAME complaints.... how long it took to put together... 
AND that the instructions were in some other language.

However WONDERFUL greenhouse and they seem to have done the same thing as you with the beds.

Yeah, manual is in German PigLatin  I think  and not too easy to follow at times  .  It is German made and there is a English version manual. But some details left out. Luckily hubby is engineer type fellow but it tried his patience for sure.
That's funny your sister and hubby building the same one. We did ALOT of research on it and hoping money well spent so we can enjoy veggies year round now  

Grownsunshine - you might be able to get them from Sam's Club or Wal-mart bakeries.  Many grocery bakeries will give or sell them to you as well.  And you might check restaurants/coffee shops.

Doing it that way is much cheaper than Lowe's or HD.  And you know they're food-safe.

I used to live in Denver...no humidity and no chigger bites.

landarch wrote:I used to live in Denver...no humidity and no chigger bites.

Ugh, I forgot all about chiggers!  My mom used to have us sit in the bath tub with bleach water to git rid of em    

For buckets, try places that serve pickles

No joke, tho. I used to work at a coffee shop that sold sandwiches, etc, served with pickles and they are excellent, sturdy buckets that went in the recycling bin until my husband saw one, then they came home with me. We also had lots of muffin batter buckets, but not nearly as sturdy as the pickles!