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Post by roofgardener on Jan 1, 2016 14:34:54 GMT
Welcome to Roofgardeners 2016 blog. Well, it was an action-packed 2015. (see the closing entry ). What wonders will 2016 bring ? Well, for starters... my camera - which locked up the day before Christmas Eve - spontanously burst back into life two days ago. Which means I can show you pictures of the Roofgarden Reloaded. But you'll have to wait a few hours ... (I'm typing this from my Parents house, having just been thoroughly fed ! ) To Be Continued. |
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Post by daitheplant on Jan 1, 2016 20:31:49 GMT
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Post by Moonlight on Jan 2, 2016 1:06:56 GMT
Welcome to Roofgardeners 2016 blog. Well, it was an action-packed 2015. (see the closing entry ). What wonders will 2016 bring ? Well, for starters... my camera - which locked up the day before Christmas Eve - spontanously burst back into life two days ago. Which means I can show you pictures of the Roofgarden Reloaded. But you'll have to wait a few hours ... (I'm typing this from my Parents house, having just been thoroughly fed ! ) To Be Continued.  that that Camera behaves. |
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Post by roofgardener on Jan 3, 2016 14:51:39 GMT
Roofgarden Retrospective
As we enter into a new year - full of anticipation, excitement, plans, and - do doubt - weeds, I thought I'd do a quick retrospective before showing the new Polytunnel 2016. I hope you like it   |
Back in November of 2014, and my first ever blog entry , this is what my 'greenhouse' looked like. It had served me well, but it was tiny. You could sit in the Comfy Chair, but your feet would stick out of the door.
In December, I wrote...
I HATE this time of year. HATE HATE HATE.
Everything is COLD and DAMP.
My pvc tent-frame greenhouse leaks.
The floor is a series of PUDDLES.
PUddles mixed in with bits of newspaper... it's a DAMP COLD SLURRY.
My feet are wet.
My tools are wet.
My gardening gloves are damp.
My Comfy Cushion is a Mould Garden. And it's damp.
My chair is damp.
Everything is dead, dying, damp, or mouldy.
I HATE GARDENING, AND I AM GIVING IT UP.
I'll take up steeplejacking instead. At least that means the Pointless Chimney will have a use !
BAH !
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So I bought my first ever polytunnel, which looked like this.
A vast improvement on the previous tiny walk-in greenhouse.
But it blew away a couple of weeks later.
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So I moved it to a new location, and it looked like this. The shelving was made out of bread trays. Which was nice, and I grew TONS of stuff in it. |  | Then I ran out of space for tall plants, so I created some low-level, slightly wider, shevling units using more bread trays. It looked like this, which worked really well. |
But then I started noticing problems with condensation. daitheplant warned me about this. So I started thinking. When it rained hard, water would flood into the 'tunnel and soak the floor. No problem, as I have mesh tiles to walk on, but and I suspected this was 'feeding' the condensation. So I've now "floated" the 'tunnel on 6mm thick strips of rubber.. sort of like little "flood defence walls". I've also treated myself to some new shelving/workbench units which - unlike the previous tarpaulin-clad bakers trays, do NOT block the ventilation panels, and allow air to flow around better. I also jiggled around the bubblewrap insulation, and made sure that the exterior 'skirts' of the 'tunnel are pointing outwards , not folded over inwards (which diverts rain straight onto the 'tunnel floor).
|  | .. and now it looks like THIS. (click for a larger version).
But....It didn't work.. at first. The floor still flooded. But WHY ?
Seemples...
the roof leakes ! As do bits of the walls.
Over the months, they had accumulated lots of tiny holes. In addition, the ventilation panels let in rain during heavy (or prolonged) showers if you leave them open.
It wasn't condensation I was suffering from... it was RAIN. So... a quick whip around with some duck tape, plus I shrouded the wooden shelves with some cut-up plastic tarpaulin so the wood doesn't rot. (it's only cheapo MDF).
And NOW... despite heavy rain ... the work surfaces are pretty much dry, and - of course - the lower shelves are protected ANYWAY. So my books, and gardening gloves, and other stuff, is all DRY. I just have to get into the habit of opening the vent panels when its dry, and close them when it rains.
Yaaaaaaay.
Anyway... a quick tour...
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OK... so ... left-hand side: the soil-reclamation/heating bin, then the workbench, with storage beneath. (currently holding my seedling soil box, and one of the propagators). To start with, this will be the working surface, though eventually I guess it will fill up with seed trays. |  |
Right-hand side: Dry storage below, and seed trays above. Oh.... and I'm really pleased with these. I've fitted them with a heating wire; a sort of low-temperature propagator that just keeps gives the plants a little bit of warmth to help them out.
Perhaps.
Well, we will see.
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A small shelving unit, currently occupied by some (previously outdoor) soggy plants drying out a bit. (mini cyclomen, sage, and some primroses).
|  | I recycled my old worktop plank (actually a leaf from an old table) to act as a 'bridge' at the back for extra seedling space. The owls quite like this ! |
Gosh what a long - and self-indulgent - entry. I hope you wheren't TOO bored.
(pokes dianthus to wake her up).
I've got LOADS more to tell you all, but it will wait for tomorrow.
A quick shout out to daitheplant, who's pictures of his OWN polytunnel inspired me to ditch the bread trays, and go for the workbench/shelf thingy instead. The photographs make the shelving look smaller than the previous 'bread tray' version, but in fact the working surface is actually larger .. so... MORE SEEDLINGS 
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Post by dianthus on Jan 3, 2016 18:50:39 GMT
Ouch.... I'm here now roofgardener 
Looks like you have been busy whilst I spent the New Year with friends. |
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Post by SueA on Jan 3, 2016 20:08:07 GMT
That looks great Roofy very neat & tidy! Don't want to rain on your parade (& flood your polytunnel! ) but I think you might need more tape for the holes. I had a little zip up greenhouse with what looks like the same sort of cover - green 'string' type squares with plastic in between- & they are badly affected by the weather especially direct sunlight, more & more of the little clear plastic bits fell out of mine so that eventually I had to buy a new cover.  |
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Post by daitheplant on Jan 3, 2016 21:02:01 GMT
I agree Sue. I also have the added problem with my tunnel of the local squirrels using it as a climbing frame. All looking good though Roofus. Considering you wanted to pack in a year ago, you have now matured as a problem solving GARDENER. |
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Post by grindle on Jan 4, 2016 5:03:42 GMT
not boring at all roofie you have made a great job of your polytunnel and it's all looking great It's put me to shame, I need to get out in the greenhouse and finish putting up the new shelves (well shoe racks actually  ) |
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Post by roofgardener on Jan 4, 2016 13:56:02 GMT
Thanks for all your kind comments folks Yup, you are correct SueA. The material is MUCH thicker than the typical walk-in greenhouse, but even so it will have a limited lifetime, for the reasons you mentioned. I think I'll struggle through 2016 with it, but get the whole thing replaced in the Autumn. The cover DID take some abrasion damage when it blew away (or rather.. when it landed). Still, at least I don't have daitheplant 's squirrel problem Oh, I think I'm also going to take up daitheplant's earlier suggestion about removing the bubblewrap insulation. It is very difficult to get it to follow the contours of the polytunnel walls/roof, and I'm not entirely sure how much good it is doing. Rather than try and keep the entire 'tunnel warm, I'm hoping that the soil heaters will keep the plants reasonably cosy. grindle, I am intrigued. You're going to use shoe racks as shelving ? Curiously, I need to get a shoe rack myself. For shoes. My current improvised magazine rack is... NOT working very well. |
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Post by KC on Jan 4, 2016 14:03:20 GMT
Looks amazing, I need you at my house at the moment to get me organised.
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Post by roofgardener on Jan 4, 2016 14:15:47 GMT
YAAAAAY - hi there KC. Hope you had a great Christmas. How is the front garden coming along ? Do you have any new photographs ? It's funny how you mention "organised". This is NOT usually a word applied to myself, except where it is preceded by "totally dis-" However, there is a new development......
"... a cunning Plan, M'lord... "
Well, I got a nice Chrimble present. Actually, TWO presents... but ONE of them was from last year, and I never got around to using it. Introducing....
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The Gardening Journal
Well, it's just a book of blank pages... a bit like the jotters/blotters we used to get at junior school. I never got around to using it, until a few days ago.
The deciding factor was getting a Gardeners Diary for Chrimble. It's quite neat... seven days per page, with a little space for notes etc.
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| Soooo... what I've done over Christmas is to use the Journal to draw up tables of all the Veggies, 'Erbs, and decorative/pollinator-attracting flowers I want to grow, listing WHEN they need to be sown. (and at what temperature, and do I need to buy the seeds or do I already have them etc).
I also use it to note down odd "to do" lists. These lists are then merged into a "month-by-month" summary table, which in turn is then copied across into the Calendar. So now I have a week-by-week aid memoire of what I need to do.
How terrifying is that ?
If you click on the picture for a larger version, you can JUST make out my main Herb table. (and my "to do's" on the calendar for last week.)
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Post by KC on Jan 4, 2016 14:29:49 GMT
Well that's a lovely welcome back yes thanks we'd a quiet Christmas, I was off work just under 2 weeks which was nice but tough to get back to the grind today. The whole time I was off my sinuses were up the left but of course I'm not too bad today... now the holidays are over!! lol. Update on Lease of Life thread, but no new photos at the mo. I will definitely take some soon and get them uploaded onto the forum. I have the back yard to sort out too, and I must downscale, so can take photos of that too when I'm done The weather put a bit of a hold on the front. We still have to finish it. Son and Hubby are sorting bricks and sand today with the view of laying them first chance we get. I really am at a complete loss with what to do plant wise for the front. Basically I need something that doesn't need much maintenance for the beds. I have some odds and ends of shrubs planted there, a couple of roses and fuchsias, a forest flame and a cordyline but no idea what the others are. They're just kind of bunged in at the moment. I have a row of freesia/gladioli (unsure which) along the fence, I just cut those down to soil level yesterday. I also need easy to grow plants from seed outside, ones that I can just scatter along the fence for a mix of low growing plants, some trailing in the mix perhaps. Any suggestions? I've a big pile of seeds, just need to figure out what is easy to grow or not. My hands aren't going to cope with as much gardening this year, very peeved by this news actually but need to get organised for it. |
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Post by KC on Jan 4, 2016 14:32:04 GMT
lol don't you love finding presents from a year ago and getting to use it aaaaaaaaaaaahahaha look at you all organised, I'm proud of you. My OH called me Mrs Organised the other day I also got a gardening diary this year, hoping that might help me keep in mind what needs done when! |
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Post by KC on Jan 4, 2016 14:34:12 GMT
Your table is just like my tomatoes/herbs/fruit/veg spread sheets only difference is yours took more time and effort as I done mine on the computer. It really helps, hope yours helps yours too, lovely wee book too |
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Post by KC on Jan 4, 2016 15:29:29 GMT
Any more recent photos of the way you currently have your roof garden set up? Love seeing it Gives me ideas too lol  Your polytunnel looks great. You even have room to shelve up another layer for seedlings my OH would really like to get the polytunnel up over at this homeplace this year, we're going to need to sit down and properly plan that out though, to sort the practicalities out. |
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