Traude Karia's GH365 Eco-Greenhouse

Green Growers Maxim #6 -- Everyone likes to be touched with affection---even Mother Earth.

We have begun construction of the next GH365 Greenhouse --

Traude Karia's GH365 Eco-Greenhouse.

A word about Traude Wedding. She is a lady full of energy and life, seemingly ageless. Traude is also a specialist in "green medicine" i.e. alternate remedies through the judicious use of often common plants and herbs. So for her, a year-round greenhouse makes a lot of sense.

At this point, the site has been levelled and prepared with a solid gravel base; the continuous concrete footings have been poured; framing has been started; the north heat retention wall is nearing completion and the roof joists are in place.

Traude's greenhouse will be larger than my original prototype at 26 ft. x 26 ft. and a south glazing vertical span of 16 ft. It will look quite magnificent and will incorporate several improvements. As an example, the heat exchange unit, hot water tank and other mechanical, plumbing and electrical components will be in the preparation room allowing more growing space. The solar collectors will stand more upright at 18 degrees off vertical to be more effective during the coldest months and to shed snow better. The 16 ft. glazing span allows for a much larger greenhouse (growing) area of 26 ft. x 18 ft.

I will keep you posted on a regular basis as Traude's GH365 Eco-Greenhouse takes shape.

Spring Thaw

Green Growers Maxim #5

'The month of May is when you win or lose your war on weeds'.

The winter of 2010/'11, has been a challenging one up here in Northwestern Ontario for a year-round greenhouse due to the inordinate amount of overcast weather. Last winter had an overabundance of sunshine and was reasonable short. This winter was the opposite. And yet, even with the electric back-up shut off, my GH365 greenhouse performed quite well. Certainly the tomatoes weren't as vibrant as last winter but they survived and I picked fresh tomatoes until a couple of weeks ago. At that point, the older ones were simply not productive enough and had to be replaced with new seedlings for a more efficient use of space. Now I have about 80 to 90 tomato plants coming along from about 3" to 8" in height and all looking very healthy. There is a mix of sub-arctic plenty, beefmaster and sweetie cherry.

The best performers were the broccoli, lettuce, spanish onions, parsley and wheatgrass. Basil has only now in the last month or so begun to show vigorous growth. Marjoram, Rosemary and Oregano in 9" pots, brought in from outside in September, continue to do just fine.

As a small diversion from updates on greenhouse activity, I thought that since today, April 13, '11 marks the fourth year since I returned to my homestead from Southern Ontario, I'd show and tell you a bit about the setting here. My newly renovated log house is set on 160 acres which is about 50/50 fields and boreal forest. Additionally, through a deep gorge that cuts into that forest flows the Whitefish River through my property. And I'm fortunate in having one of the most beautiful sections of the river with a series of spectacular waterfalls only a 15 minute walk from the house and greenhouse. I took that walk today and have posted a photo of my house and the South Cascades.

Veggies and Greens in the Dead of Winter

Green Growers Maxim #4 -- There are two rules for watering: 1. For inside plants, when in doubt, don't. 2. For outside plants, when in doubt, do.

This winter I'm taking some risks and testing the limits of my GH365 greenhouse. I shut off the breaker for the electric back-up in my water heater back in mid-November. So I'm essentially heating my greenhouse by passive solar and solar thermal means only. We've had some cold periods reaching a low of minus 31.29 degrees celsius on December 14th. But what is of greater concern is the fact that we've had an unusually high number of overcast (cloudy and part sun) days since November. And yet the coldest temperature I've recorded in the greenhouse was +4.49 degrees celsius, not surprisingly, on December 14th. Otherwise, it never went below +5 C.

Now that's still pretty cold for a greenhouse but as you can see from my photographs taken earlier today (January 6, 2011) the vegetables, for the most part, are performing well. Admittedly, the cold sensitive plants like tomatoes are taking an unusually long time to germinate and to ripen. But the ripening has more to do with the lack of sunshine than the lack of warm temperatures. Even one day with good clear sun has noticeably shown a significant reddening of those reaching maturity.

I've included some photos showing the ripening tomatoes as well as the one with the smallish red one and two green ones with broccoli in the background. These are on a tomato plant that I seeded on November 11, 2009 --over a year old and still producing. Pretty amazing!

Notice as well that the other more cold-resistant veggies like the broccoli and spinach behind the parsley are doing great. Not a bad way to spend the winter!

Wheatgrass Juice

Green Growers Maxim #3 -- "A gardener is a producer. Anyone else is just a consumer".

Wheatgrass juice has been used for thousands of years around the world for its health benefits and healing properties. As an energizer, it gives one a great feeling of vitality. It is a 'whole food' containing all the nutrients for human existence. Wheatgrass juice contains every essential amino acid; vitamins A, B, C, E and K; a full complement of minerals including calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium and phosphorus as well as an abundance of enzymes which assist in nutrient digestion, heart muscle toning and slowing cellular aging. As a healer, it is an excellent detoxifier; the chlorophyll in it is a blood purifier. It can repair ulcers, reduce high blood pressure, fight bacterial growth, purify the liver, improve digestion and much more.

GH365 Wheatgrass Juice (Good Health Every Day) is all organic. The seeds are 'hard red spring wheat' certified organic by OPAM. It is grown using all organic fertilizers -- well-aged local manure, natural fish fertilizer, peat moss and horticultural grade perlite and vermiculite.

And it is all grown, harvested, juiced and frozen in our unique solar thermal greenhouse.

Look for our 'Wheatgrass Juice' page with more details coming soon on our website.

Nolalu Country Market

Green Growers Maxim #2 -- If you want to be happy for an hour, drink wine. If you want to be happy for a day, run away. If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy forever, be a gardener. (Ancient Greek saying).

Country (Farmers) Markets have been around over 200 years in Ontario with the first one established in Kingston in 1780. With a surge in the popularity of supermarkets and their 'convenience foods', pre-packaged and highly processed, country markets declined in the sixties and seventies. But there was a resurgence in the 1980's. Now with greater awareness of food quality and the impact on our health, country markets are more popular than ever. There are some 157 farmers markets listed on the farmersmarketsontario.com website.

And that does not include the 'Nolalu Country Market'. Held every friday from 4 pm to 7 pm at St. Urho's at the junction of Hwy 588 and 590, our little market is growing with increasing numbers of vendors and customers ranging from locals to campers. They come secure in the knowledge that the food is fresh, safe to eat and the next best thing to harvesting it yourself. Also all the artisans' crafts and creations are hand-made locally. Not only is it a way of connecting to the land, it is also a way of connecting with one another-- a wonderful social occasion. We may not always have exactly what you're looking for, but we'll always have a friendly 'Hi Neighbour!'.

Auxiliary Greenhouse

Green Growers Maxim #1 -"Anybody who thinks that gardening begins in the spring has wasted the fall and winter".

One of the important advantages that I came to realize in the early spring was the possibility and opportunity to now get bedding plants (starters) seeded and growing early. I had advanced starters growing as early as February in the main solar greenhouse. I realized that, with a good quality conventional second greenhouse, I could get those starters moved into an interim location, to clear space in the main greenhouse, and thereby be able to transplant them into an outside garden as early as the last frost would allow. Consequently, now it's possible to transplant, for example, tomatoes that are already blooming or even bearing fruit. Thereby, you can begin to pick from your outside garden, vine-ripened tomatoes and other ripe vegetables as early as May even in this cold climate region. This is much better than having to wait until the end of August or even September to begin to pick tomatoes while often worrying about the first frost destroying them. This happened to many of us in late summer 2009.

Additionally, the second greenhouse allows me to clear space in the solar greenhouse all summer long which allows me to almost double production. And finally, it also allows me to be able to use the conventional greenhouse as a control facility to measure the advantages of the solar greenhouse. To that end, I'm now also taking daily readings and noting the current temperature, maximum and minimum over the previous 24 hour period and the relative humidity in the second greenhouse to compare with the solar greenhouse prototype.

The Life and Times of Tommy Tomato

I began to make entries regarding our so called "Tommy Tomato" starting on March 13th, March 19th, March 22nd and April 7th including photos. You might want to check back. "Tommy" is a standard red beefsteak type tomato called "Cobra" from Stokes Seeds. It is described (in part) as -- "Best tasting of the greenhouse grown hybrids. Cobra has field ripened taste. Large and firm".

The seed was planted on Nov. 11, 2009. It germinated eleven days later on Nov. 22, '09. We transplanted "Tommy" from a 4" pot to an 8" pot on January 18, 2010. Blooms began to show on or around March 5th and we did our first hand-pollinating on March 11th. By March 16th, the fruit began to appear and was perhaps 1/4" in diameter at that point growing to about 3/4" in diameter by a week later on March 22nd. This morning, June 5th, 2010, I picked "Tommy" off the vine. He now measures about 2 1/2" in diameter and is deep red in colour. Slightly smaller than some but a very healthy looking tomato. Later today, I look forward to enjoying the taste and nourishment that the now late "Tommy" will provide.

Tommy's place in the greenhouse was toward the back and I think his growth was a bit stunted due to overcrowding and therefore some lack of light that would optimize growth.