Green house planting-pallet style!
Posted by: TammyFirst, I have to update you on my greenhouse. My original flat roofed design failed after our first serious rain storm. I had tears in the plastic from it being dragged down under the weight of the rain. I wanted to challenge myself to make the necessary modifications without a trip to the hardware store but, in the end, it was a hybrid job: homestead ingenuity and a few more dollars for the hardware store.
I created an arch in the roof of the green house utilizing heavy duty flexible electrical conduit a neighbor gave us years ago. I lashed it to the center cedar poles to create an arch. So far, so free. I realized that even arched, the plastic would sag between the top of the arch and the side supports which led to the purchase of four sections of 1/2″ PVC electrical conduit.
Before you say a thing, “Yes, duct tape can fix almost anything!” There is a copious supply holding the PVC supports that run parallel to the outer walls and give the lift I needed to the roof. That piece of wood is a salvaged piece from wooden pallets I dismantled to make furniture for the cabin last summer. The additional PVC ran me $12 and a bit of change. So my final amended cost of the greenhouse after I returned an unused roll of plastic comes to $58! Here is how it held up with about 3″ of heavy wet snow after two days of wind gusts topping 40-50 m.p.h!
So now I get to fill my new greenhouse!
The ground is frozen solid in there. With little hope of workable soil for the foreseeable future, I decided to use up a supply of wooden pallets I had. Yesterday I made a pallet planter. I used a leftover supply of landscaping fiber and a staple gun to “seal” the backside of my chosen pallet. I picked a pallet with wide enough spaces to allow me to put in my soil and then plant seeds.
I placed the completed pallet on top of another salvaged pallet in the greenhouse to keep it up a bit and then added organic garden soil from the local Agway. Here is my youngest helping me plant some crops that can handle the cold like radishes, swiss chard, spinach and two types of lettuces. We watered with warm water before closing things up for the day. Now to await those tiny little green leaves that will pop up in the soil between the wooden slats. On to the next pallet garden project to help me fill my little greenhouse!
