Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Greentent

It's time to get some stuff planted, but it is still winter. We can grow some Cold Weather Stuff, assuming we get rain. But it doesn't hurt to give it a little help.
This jumble of PVC pipe is part of our collapsible Greentent system. The Fuzz designed this for us a couple years ago. He got the idea on a camping trip when he saw some tents made of PVC pipe and plastic tarps.
That design involved bending the pipe into an arch. He quickly realized that that wouldn't work on this small scale and substituted the A-frames. The A-frames are glued together, but that might not really be necessary. The horizontals, are just a slip fit.
After the frame is assembled, it is covered with clear (sort of)) plastic.
The plastic is held down along the sides by bricks, and can be pulled to one side on a warm day. Today, it is windy. Every time we put this thing up, it gets windy. So far, if we use enough bricks, it is OK.
Does it work ? Yeah, it does help. It's not as good as a real Greenhouse, but it does help keep those plants a little warmer on those cold nights.

2 comments:

The Lazy Iguana said...

If you REALLY want some massive explosive growth, get yourself a 20 pound tank of CO2 and a regulator. Put the plastic, weight it down, stick a hose under the plastic. and turn on the CO2 flow. The plants will love it.

Jandi for The Fuzz said...

That sounds preaty intense.