Greenhouse Filling & Prototype Failure

 

There were a fair number of learning opportunities this weekend.

The first thing I learned: The prototype raised bed will not be duplicated.

It was expensive - over $200. It was time consuming. A good chunk of the day on two separate weekend days. 

Because of the questionable banana-lumber employed, I had to fix a gap that I could easily picture a chipmunk penetrating. 

We then received a garden supply catalogue which showed a number of products - probably the best (and almost certainly equal to my primitive attempts) was a $179 4x8 tent cover. It would have saved money and time and done at least as good a job. Perhaps next spring. 

This is the thing about prototypes. A prototype is just a prototype. If it doesn't work out, you don't replicate it. You don't really know for sure how something will turn out. So experimentation is good.

Another thing I learned: After a week under black contractor bags, the soil in the prototype bed was precisely the same temperature as the soil in the standard raised bed immediately next-door. 

This is actually a good thing. We won't be purchasing more plastic. Since we had these leftover from the final cleanup on our move last year, it was no bad thing to at least try it, as rumor had it you could seed a bed earlier. That rumor is not true.

On another front, I finally abandoned a dozen banana peppers we'd planted in January. I'd overwatered them and they hadn't grown at all since then, despite being infested with fruit flies. I wasn't sorry to see them go.

I replaced them with a good number of other plants that we'll need for the plan in a couple of months.

A full tally of the plants in the greenhouse right now follows:

To date, most of these things have taken longer than I thought and cost more money. This is typical of home projects. Usually I double the cost and triple the time estimate.

Still, not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning.