A-frame shelter

I decided the best design for the sun shelters was to build A-frames. Takes fewer materials and they're easy to build with pallets. I built the first one this evening using two fairly large pallets and some 2x4 pieces salvaged from some other pallets I had previously cut apart for other uses. Just a simple A shape with legs on it and nailed some crossbeams in place. Whole thing stands over 5 ft tall, so a decent height for tomato plants. Placed over one of the mounds. Transplanted a smaller tomato plant into the mound. See how things look tomorrow. I don't think there's a need to anchor it between the weight and the air flow through the structure meaning low resistance.

In the first sheltered mound, I had transplanted a weak looking tomato plant and it seems to be recovering and doing better. The other two plants there are doing well and growing quickly now. I had been apprehensive that something was wrong with the soil in that area but this is bearing out that the soil is good. (At least with all the amendments and organic materials I've added.) The strawberries with the pallet over them are also doing much better than they were and growing quickly. That gave me some hope, so I planted all the strawberry seeds I harvested not long ago to try planting in the planters with shelters. Hope I let those seeds dry long enough.

So, I'll be building more shelters, mostly A-frames in different configurations to figure out the best design. May take an effort to convert to cold covers later in the year but at least rain and snow will run right off them.

The Ironite has shown some serious value in only a few days. Lots of things look larger and healthier than before. This has to be one of the more valuable additives I have used so far.

In the main (south) garden, all the rows now have growth nearly all the way down. Except for the far west end, which is where the soil turns from sand to clay. The vermiculite appears to be helping but a lot more compost and mulch will probably help more. At some point, I'll probably just tear down those mounds, mix the sand and clay from the two areas and add lots of compost and mulch to normalize it all. As it is, it's now looking like I should have melons, green beans and cucumbers in a few weeks and pumpkins before Halloween. Larger than 4" across, that is.