Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

I'm not sure about only southern exposure though. I'm about the same
latitude as your place, and I like getting light from all directions for
staked tomatoes. Single layer definitely seems simpler, with row covers
inside over beds. But it has to be lightweight, doesn't it? 

Robin mentioned using cold frames inside the greenhouse, really innovative.
With framed beds as their base you'd need enough space between beds to open
up the tops and lay them back, on hinges I assume. Or one top could rest on
its neighbor? How would that work? This double protection seems like a
sensible way to get around heating bills. 

Well, right now I'm still trying to finish getting our greenhouse covered,
the tomato seedlings need to get out of their pots, and it looks like rain
today. I have a peculiar system (or insane perhaps) but it works. I'm
working with 6 ml UV stabilized film that comes in 10x100 ft rolls, 4 year
warranty ($74), and a clear UV tape called Poly Patch, and a thin narrow
strip called Poly Tack that comes on a 500 ft. spool. What's different is
the way I go about it. I cut a section of plastic to fit a 4x8 ft section
of roof between 2x4s, and I staple strips of the Poly Tack on the edges at
the 2x4s, then cover that with the 2" wide Poly Patch. Then do every 4x8
section in the roof. I framed the walls 6 ft high, and the roof has a low
pitch so I can reach the peak with a ladder working by myself. The
difficulty is, I made framed beds last fall and how have to do the
greenhouse around them, including the ladder bit. The fun part is, I
twisted my knee weeks ago and try to manage all this with a knee brace and
pacing myself. Made this way it'll probably last longer than I will. And
it's only a fraction of what a kit would cost. 

Meanwhile carrots, bok choy, beets, and turnips need thinning and weeds in
the paths are getting away from me. Come on, rain.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 5/16/2007 at 6:06 AM E. E. Mitchamore Jr wrote:

>I really like the idea of two layers of protection, with no supplemental
>heating:
>
>1) A simple, single layer "greenhouse", preferably with only southern
>exposure and some thermal mass.
>
>2) Lightweight "Row Covers" INSIDE the greenhouse, over the seedlings. 
>These would be manually deployed only during the coldest nights.  Could be
>a sheet or tarp, too.
>
>Use of this two-layer approach simplifies the greenhouse.
>
>E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
>www.hillcountrynatives.biz