I love these onions. They are a yellow storage variety from Down to Earth. Next year I will plant more as it is only October and I have used most of them. They grew great scattered all around the garden.

Collecting fennel seed. I found that if you take the seed heads and rub them roughly against the palm of your hand that the seeds will fall out. I like to do this over a very large bowl so that the seeds fall into the bowl. You can also do this over newspaper. I harvested lettuce seed in  similar manner. To separate the seed from the left over debrie I used a very large bowl and first picked out all of the large non-seed pieces. Then I swirled the bowl which when done correctly settled the heavier seeds to the bottom and the pushed the debrie to the top where I could pick off with my fingers. Finally, I spread the seeds in a thin sheet at one end of the bowl and blew the remainder very light debrie to the other side and  then lifted it out. One thing to remember is that you will have plenty of lettuce seed. If you lose a few seeds in the process it is OK. 

Harvest time! I'm not so happy with the types of tomatoes that I grew this year. These are an heirloom variety that although are very large and beautiful were not good for eating fresh. They are a little mealy and don't have the nice acid and striking flavor that I look for in a tomato. We did however make salsa with these and it turned out very tasty. In the future I may grow one plant of these varieties. Another note about tomatoes this year; the two plants that were grown in bed #1 against the house, both withered and died half way through the season. I suspect that these were cooler weather varieties and didn't like the heat but I do worry that there is some tomato disease in those beds. I'm going to not plant tomatoes in this bed for a few years. Maybe use it for peppers.

This side yard is very ugly right now. I plan to remove the dieing raspberries on the right and plant the miniature apples along the fence. This will be good for the apples and it will also free up some space in my yard. This will also have an additional benefit as I will be able to more easily incorporate support for the apple trees as they tend to get very heavy with fruit.

New color for the house which I like to call "duck weed". I really like the way that it complements the garden. We got the paint from Sherwin Williams and really had a great experience.

"wild" plot

This is a plot that I normally use to grow beans and/or squash. With the building of the greenhouse this spring I got a late start with this plot. When I went to turn it under I noticed that many seeds had spouted including; poppies, tomatoes, arugula, sunflowers, mustard, and some weeds and flowers (the bottom image). I decided to let it grow pulling out the noxious weeds such as the grasses. The results are in the top image. The plot was dominated by arugula early followed by mustards and now poppies. The tomatoes are peaking through as well as the sunflowers. I think that it is a good practice to let some things go to seed and self sow. This provides a constant source of wanted weeds in your garden. Some are pleasent to have around such as the poppies and others like mustards, lettuce, and arugula you can eat!

Plants in the grenhouse

 

My first attempt at aquaponics.This is an water table that I was given that recirculates water from the bottom trough to the top. I plan to grow plants in the top trough and fish in the bottom.





Begonias in the greenhouse that are waking up.



A tropical plant (name here) added.

Tomatoes in the greenhouse

This is my first attempt at growing tomatoes in the greenhouse. I'm going to try and grow a sweet 1 million (cherry tomato, top image) and an Oregon variety (bottom image). These tomatoes where put into the greenhouse early May and have been fed ~ 1/week with a granular organic fertilizer.

Below is my first tomato, 5-30-12. It is from the cherry tomato. Next year I will start my tomotoes earlier in the greenhouse. I think that it may be most useful to start the plants in the greenhouse but then move them out to the beds once the soil warms.

Apples in bloom. It looks like it will be a good crop this fall.

One of the beds of sugar peas. I noticed that the radishes growing in the mint mulch near the peas are much bigger and healthier than those not in the mulch. I think that I will start to incorparate a layer of mulch in the future when planting carrots and radishes.

The greenhouse has been getting into the 90's during the day and staying above 50 at night. I bought two tomotoes and placed them on pots in the greenhouse to "play" with. I have also placed two 100 gallon rubbermaid tubs in the greenhouse. One is housing golden medaka, daphnia, and giant duckweed (images coming soon).

Done!Overall I like this greehouse. The structure is excellent and I don't think that I will have any problems. I do wish that the plastic glazing was a little more substantial as it's fairly thin. I will need to do a bit of weather proofing so that this greehouse can keep the heat. I'm going to add some 100 gallon rubbermaid tubs filled with water to act as a heat sink and to grow goldfish. The first thing that I want is some citrus for the greenhouse.

Weeeeet! It rained all day! It may not be apparent in this image but it was very wet. Still had fun building this greenhouse.

Glazing going up. Definitely going to need more clips. This has been a great kit. Everything has fit well, the directions are adequate, and all of the parts are present. The only thing that I would like to imrpove on is the support over the door and how the panels are anchored. I think that I will achieve this by adding more clips and possibly screwing some of the panels down.

Day three of greenhouse building

Walls and support up. Tomorrow I'll complete the roof and may get to the plastic panels. The directions are pretty good. I noticed that many of the things that the Mudhouse blog mentioned as issues have been updated in the 2011 catalog. For the most part, it has made sense how the pieces are supposed to fit together. The one issue that I have had is the back wall which I've read is infamous for being difficult.

Another greenhouse helper.

Here are a few of my fellow greenhouse builders. They are really pumping out the eggs now.

Base done. Time to construct the walls.

Base of the greenhouse framed. Filling with rock before I put the walls up.

Oh no, Not again!! Gravel for the base of the greenhouse and woodchips for around the beds and paths of the backyard. I hurt all ready.

Peas, radishes, kale, and other things that I planted last month are up. It snowed 6"+ here last weekend. The lettuce starts that I planted didn't make it. Riley the boxer, decided that the newly turned dirt smelled too good and dug up the bed. I raked the bed flat and spread a bunch of lettuce seed.

Building a 10' x 12' Harbor Freight greenhouse. The base is 4" of 3/8" crushed rock. I like this size rock as it packs nicely. The foundation is 4"x 6" pressure treated posts.

Here is a link to the greenhouse: Harbor Freight

And one to a nice blog of someone who has put one together with some good tips, reinforcements, and add ons: Harbor Freight Greenhouse blog

Future site of 10' x 12' greenhouse.

Spring Planting

Planted lettuce, kale, and Chinese cabbage. The lettuce and kale look a little long and stringy from being in the fish room for too long. Next year they will be started in the greenhouse. 

Seeds sowed:

Bed next to house - "Sugar Star" sugar peas

Bed #1 - "Oregon Giant" sugar peas, and Italian and winter kale

Bed #2 - kohlrabi

Bed #3 - "Cascadia" sugar peas and two kinds of radish. 

It may be a little soon as we are still getting some cold nights but I think that the peas will work and probably the kale. We will see about the radishes.