Everything in the basement got big and needs to go out. The weather here has been hot then cold then hot again. Rain, hail, strong winds and some frost at night have all taken their turn in the forecast. Add to that near or above 80 degree sunny days and we moved right out of greenhouse weather to bug net weather.
We have had some big items on the to do list and we have actually to done some of them but we are about to lose a few days for personnel reasons. Unfortunately the plants don’t care. The tomatoes got so huge that they just fell over in their tiny pots. The brassicas are not loving greenhouse life when temps are so warm. The peppers went from happy to sad, to very sad and the corn has almost completely given up. We were either going to accept that we will lose it all or we needed to act now and try and get things into a place where they can manage a few days without constant attention.
We had purchased mini greenhouses to go on our four raised beds out front, way back in December. I looked on Amazon but they are no longer available which is a shame. They cost $29.99 for a set of two and they are okay. I ripped one putting the cover on and I don’t expect them to last for years and years but they worked this year. Easy to put together and the size was right for these beds, we are happy. But it was time to go from greenhouse to bug free netting because the brassicas were cooking. I also needed this to come together quick so no judging, my netting job will not be winning any beauty contests.
I could not find enough of the PVC clamps and the diameter of the [poles is smaller than the camps so I had to bunch things together to make it thick enough to hold. Plus I was trying to get away using one PVC clamp where there should have been at least 2.
If your wondering about those pools, yep they are the cheap dollar store kiddie pools. We bought them years ago to put bags in for watering. You put some holes about 1″ up the sides and then you put your grow bags in and you just fill the pool till water runs out the holes. The bags wick up what they need. Not beautiful but they were in the way back and I wanted function more than beauty. Since then the pools have acted as temporary holding pads for new plants to help make watering easier. They have been the bases for quick compost bins for leaves. They have been a dog splash pad. Today they were pressed back into service to hold the tomatoes that I have been potting up. Poor little plants were in tiny pots and struggling. We are still at least a week or two away from having their beds ready for them. I gathered up a bunch of empty pots and up potted everyone then put them in a pool. Bill did a quick run of water to the pools so that they all get watered when the greenhouses do. As soon as their real beds are ready the pools will start to act as quickie compost bins again.
That little bed is made of the left over parts from the bigger columnar apple bed. All those iris are from my mom’s. When we had the foundation work done they had plowed through the front of the house and I thought I had lost my iris. Low and behold all they did was spread them around and we ended up with dozens more. Getting ready for the apple trees we dug up everything on the side of the little greenhouse and discovered loads of iris. Finally they have a proper bed where they won’t get crowded out.
The apple tree bed still needs to be mulched but how happy is that? From the kitchen window we can look out and see our apples. To date only one has flowered and has leaves but Jung assures me it can take up to 8 weeks for bare root plants to wake up. We put some of the iris from mom in the bed and as I dig up strawberries we are putting them in the front of the box. There are snapdragons to put in the box as well.
In keeping with the theme of make it quick, semi cheap, and easy I needed stakes for the floppy tomatoes. I tried to find bamboo sticks but they only had the 6′ ones. Yes, I know I can cut them down but remember I said quick. A lot had to happen this week. Walking through Walmart I found a package of 20 balloon sticks for $2.57 so I bought several packages. I also found giant wooden craft sticks in the crafting area, think tongue depressor for a whale. Add to that Sharpie extremes and bags of dirt and I repotted somewhere around 80 tomatoes. I used small zip ties to attach the tomatoes to the supports leaving enough room for them to move a bit so they will hopefully build up some strength. Future me will probably be cursing all those zip ties but current me is happy to be done.
Plus I got a cloths line back up and if you tell me that orange twine tied between two trees is not a cloths line I will fight you. It doesn’t last but it works and I got it up and was hanging cloths on it in less than 10 minutes.
