Low Tunnel Update

We had amazing tomato and pepper plants pop up in our compost. Shouldn’t be possible (compost is hot), but the enormous plants are evidence to the contrary (we have pepper plants that are three feet tall, with more than a dozen little peppers growing). We had a frost warning yesterday, so Anya and I went out to put the greenhouse up over the compost bed. Pulling the CPVC and rebar from the garden bed sounded like a quick task. An hour later … low tunnel greenhouses are not as easy to move as I thought. Earlier in the year, we drove the rebar into the ground with a drilling sledge. To pull it out, we had to dig down about twenty inches. Luckily I didn’t actually *need* all of the rebar — we pulled four of them to get greenhouse plastic over the tomatoes and peppers.

Once the rebar was out, getting the greenhouse together was quick and easy. We’ll eventually have two garden beds — one greenhouse and one where we’ll put the stuff that needs chill-hours. For crop rotation, we’ll switch those each year. Certainly going to want rebar in each bed!

This was also my first opportunity to use the real greenhouse plastic we bought this summer. It is so much nicer than plastic painting drop-cloth. Cost a lot more, too – but there is significantly more light getting through.

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