Branching Out's Seeds and Sprouts

[Branching Out]

Saw an interesting hoop house type cold frame today, built on the base of a folding table with a sheet of plywood placed on top. No plants in it though. Maybe it gets too hot given that we are in the midst of a heat wave?

And the second cool thing that I saw was a very small child's flip flop, placed on a branch with the leaves of the tree growing around it. It was reminiscent of those bottles of Armagnac that have a full-grown apple inside the bottle.

 

[digitS']

I bet that little hoop house would be very useful.

There was one try with a cold frame for me – house window, slanted frame. After I tortured the plants with cooking in the sun, I moved them to a nice long window in my utility room and built my first backyard greenhouse the following season. Messing with the plants in the cold frame while on my knees was a secondary problem.

The hoop house would have a larger air space for more time to respond to too much sunlight. A door at both ends would be needed and, probably, keeping things on flats so that they could be more easily reached.

If the table was covered with film to the ground, a heater could be placed under it to run on the cold nights.

 

[Branching Out]

I bet that little hoop house would be very useful.

There was one try with a cold frame for me – house window, slanted frame. After I tortured the plants with cooking in the sun, I moved them to a nice long window in my utility room and built my first backyard greenhouse the following season. Messing with the plants in the cold frame while on my knees was a secondary problem.

The hoop house would have a larger air space for more time to respond to too much sunlight. A door at both ends would be needed and, probably, keeping things on flats so that they could be more easily reached.

If the table was covered with film to the ground, a heater could be placed under it to run on the cold nights.

Good points digitS, especially your suggestion of a heater to warm the hoop house from below. I would love to have a raised hoop house like this, that is well off the ground through the cold, wet, winter months.

 

[ducks4you]

Great design, but, as I plan my build of my greenhouse sitting in a kit in my garage Now, I have to bear in mind that we get 50+mph winds here on occasion enough to blow it away, or dismantle it.
I also bought two 6 ft landscape timbers and two 4 x 4", 8 ft long timbers to anchor at the corners.
It has aluminum framing and I plan to buy self sinking screws to secure the frame to the wood.
It is 1/2 of a 6 ft tall greenhouse, with a sloped roof going down to 4 ft.
I will sink all timbers 2 ft+ in the ground and use stone dust (don't like cement) in the holes.
It is very much like when you sink 3 ft/8 ft fence posts (8 inch diameter) so that the post is 5 ft tall--NOT going anywhere.
The best place for a greenhouse is somebody's suburban back yard with 6 ft fencing to stop all wind.

 

[Branching Out]

My mom has had this rosebud azalea since I was little, and it is so beautiful when it blooms. Nearby is a small patch of poached egg plant, which interests me because they are discovering that it may hold promise as a cover crop. I received a bunch of tiny starts from a friend last autumn, and they have grown a lot and are now in full bloom too.

 

[digitS']

My 9' x 20' greenhouse is actually a sunshed – framed wood construction north wall and roof, concrete block fountain. Right now, the 9 x 20 temporary, plastic film and pvc pipe hoop house sits south of it in a 18' x 24' garden. That space is bounded by my carport/garage and the back of the neighbors' garage; a 6' wood privacy fence runs between the 2 garages. The next door neighbor has a woven wire fence on the east.

The hoop house is tormented by 30mph winds, no question. It can be chaotic in there but I make an effort to hold the film in place with bricks and lathe holds it to wood door and window frames on east and west ends. Ropes are tied to stakes at the corners and cross the top of the hoop house NE/SW, NW/SE.

My only significant problem over the 20+ years that it has been up each March to June has been snowstorms. Still, re-straightening the window and door frames wasn't too difficult and indicates the casual nature of their construction . It ain't too pretty but it's difficult for anyone to see over the 12 weeks.

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

My mom has had this rosebud azalea since I was little, and it is so beautiful when it blooms. Nearby is a small patch of poached egg plant, which interests me because they are discovering that it may hold promise as a cover crop. I received a bunch of tiny starts from a friend last autumn, and they have grown a lot and are now in full bloom too.

The Poached Egg plant also helped to save the Sperm Whale from being killed for use in the cosmetic industry. 🫶

 

[Branching Out]

Tomato experiment: while bumping up seedlings last month there were a few small starts of early, cold tolerant tomatoes that had popped up-- and that were in excess of what I needed. I decided to take the tiny 1-2” tall tomato plants and pot them up in tall 6”cups, filling the containers only half full so that there will be room to top them up as they grow. On March 26th I put them outside under the overhang of the house in a sort of over-sized milk jug set up, with the 6" pots set in several inches of compost inside the large opaque jug. Essentially I wanted to see if they could survive unattended. The varieties are Andrina, Kalinka, and Uralskiy Ranniy.

It has been almost six weeks, and the tomato plants are now beginning to grow. Everything that I have read suggests that their tomato production may be stunted given the long stretch of cold weather that they were exposed to. It will be interesting to see how they do once they start fruiting.

Update: what were tomato runts left outside in a protected spot since March are now beautiful tomato plants. I will have to bump them up; then they will really take off I am sure. So far their growth is exceeding my expectations.

 

[heirloomgal]

Update: what were tomato runts left outside in a protected spot since March are now beautiful tomato plants. I will have to bump them up; then they will really take off I am sure. So far their growth is exceeding my expectations.

Wow! Those plants look wonderful! Sometimes experiments really do turn out well.

 

[Branching Out]

Wow! Those plants look wonderful! Sometimes experiments really do turn out well.

Agreed--- and how fortunate we are to have extra plants to experiment with. One of these three is a dwarf by the name of Andrina, and she is rapidly earning my admiration. The other two strong Andrina starts that I had have already produced cute little green tomatoes-- and the plants are only 5" tall. Remarkable. I have two of them in a low oblong patio planter, and they are quite ornamental as well. (I will try to add a photo of them soon). And all things being equal, by the end of the summer I will have seeds of this one for sharing Heirloomgal. Wouldn't it be great if we could have fresh home grown tomatoes to sustain us through the long winter months? 😍

Renaissance Farms indicates that this is their favourite red micro-dwarf tomato; they even grow them indoors under light in the winter. https://renaissancefarms.org/product/andrina-micro-dwarf-tomato/