The greenhouse is small, and the layout hasn’t really changed in its three full seasons. A row of tables on the north side are where the seedlings go. On the south side, unshaded by the tables, is an open strip, about 8’x32′ (2.4x9m), where I pursue ever earlier lettuce, trying to have something for the very first farmers’ market of the year (it’s the first Saturday in May; last year’s second Saturday is the earliest so far). It’s a simple set-up. Still, every year, there’s one day when I head out there to assess the clean-up requirements and plan what to do. This year, today was that day. A lot of different gear gets stored on and under the tables. It varies each year. Here, it’s mostly floating row cover, kept up off the ground because, apparently, voles don’t like to climb (voles gnawed a hole through a good part of a roll one year…very annoying, imagine unrolling a neat row of ragged holes). Exposure to UV from the sun is not good for plastics particularly, and I do store most things in the drive shed, or the Milkhouse and barn, or under the tables, but things do get left out… Anyhow, this year’s action plan is settled: clean up!
Boy, it looks positively toasty in there. A question for you: What material is your floating row cover made out of? I know it’s some kind of breathable fabric, but does it have a specific name? Does “floating” in the copy indicate that it’s light enough to throw on young plants? I took a quick spin through your row cover posts, but didn’t see a name, if there is one. We were annihilated by cabbage worms last year and want to avoid a repeat of that, so we’re definitely in the market for some kind of cover.
How ‘small’ is that greenhouse as it looks big to me :-D
And thank you for the tip about seedlings to the north side, I’d never really thought of that. It didn’t make much difference where things were in my small (6ft*10ft) glasshouse in the UK.
Seeing your greenhouse is really making me want to get mine as soon as possible but I have a wood to plant first, not to mention a myriad other things to get on with, not the least being preparing the site for the polytunnel.
Is the lettuce in the ground? Could we see that too?
Meg: Floating row cover is usually spunbond polyester, looks/feels kinda like…interlining, the white stuff used to stiffen up jackets. I’ve posted more info here (I’ve gone a little tiny farm blogging crazy, a couple of months ago I started Tiny Farm Gear to post about tools and the like.)
Deborah: The greenhouse is 20’x32′. I have it set with the ends pointing east-west. The position of the tables to avoid shading stuff planted at ground level is really significant during spring, when the sun is still low from the south…and that’s when I use the greenhouse for growing!
BSM: First lettuce should be going into the ground at the beginning of March. I’ll record the event! You can see what the early lettuce was like last year by looking around March-April 2007, back there are at least a couple of lettuce pics…
Ah. Thanks for the info, Mike!