Traffic jam

Between my daughter, the pup and the kitten, my house has turned into a traffic jam. Seems I cannot walk through the house without at least two of them planting themselves in my path. There's quite enough room to pass each other but somehow that doesn't happen. I'm not finding it amusing. 

I planted out all the climbing plants plus the green beans and strawberries on Friday. On Saturday, they were all dead. Still too cold for them. I'll leave the strawberry roots in place, as they may sprout again, being roots. Otherwise, just have to wait a few more weeks. I have the cold cover in place, which will allow me to get a head start of a few weeks before straight ground planting is feasible. Sooner if I add a second layer of sheeting to the inside or outside to trap warm air.

Stapled the plastic lining into the other shelf unit today. Going to do the same with it, fill it with leaves in the bottom, then a layer of compost, then the actual growing medium. In this case, I'm going to go ahead and use a mixture of compost and garden soil. One mistake I made with the first one was making the roof flat. Going to make this one sloped. I may be able to add a sloping roof and a second layer of sheeting by attaching more poles on the outside of the box, since I attached the first poles to the inside.

I'm going to make one side open with velcro, like the first one. I'm hoping the plastic sheeting will provide enough sunlight dispersion and filtering to make these good growing environments, if I leave the one side open for ventilation. If not, I'll have to add some shading material. Even though I'm going to be building the solarium, I want to be able to design low-cost, easily made growing structures which can be replicated by others. These have the benefit of being somewhat portable and can be moved from one space in a yard to others. Some alternative designs would make them more portable and able to move from one geographic location to another.

This is aside from the general benefits of a raised garden bed. It's easier to maintain proper moisture levels in them. With even a partial cover in place, this would be highly beneficial in the desert. It's easier to keep weeds out of them or remove them if present. It's easier and less expensive to fertilize them. In the design of these, they are rather high, which lets me leave space at the top to add more compost later. For now, it provides a wind break for seedlings until they grow strong enough to handle some wind. It's easier to attach covers, trellises or shades to them, especially if built into the initial frame structure.

These are still preliminary and experimental designs. Once I have some designs which are a bit more advanced, I'll draw up the plans and post them.

Everything I'm using is recycled from scrap lumber and plastic sheeting from the greenhouse. The only cost or new materials so far are the nails, though I will add paint later. For those lacking the plastic sheeting or money to buy it, plastic sheeting may be available from shipping companies or furniture and appliance outlets. If hard set on going with all recycled materials, some nails can be reused from wooden pallets.