Setting Up, Moving In

 Here is the completed greenhouse on Halloween day. Not visible is the guyline going from the back end to a driven 2X4, all conceived of and installed by the Patient Spouse to minimize racking and provide one more anchor against prevailing winds. Shelter Logic's plastic tarp "glazing" seems much sturdier than standard 6mil greenhouse film, but it is hard to imagine enough light coming through to foster plant growth and also allow the interior to warm significantly.
     Originally, I was going to install the end panels only, to check if that mystery roof angle (remember the gray macaroni pipes?) was properly done, then box up the glazing and wait until seed starting season to finish the project. It seemed a waste to start the clock on wear and tear from  sun and wind, since the completed house was intended for seed starting. It also seemed like installing the cover would take no time at all (meaning I could remove the glazing in summer and grow crops in-ground on this site). However, as construction progressed, I began to plan differently. It seems like a waste to have indoor space and not start experimenting with it. I'd rather know how it heats (and freezes) relative to the outdoor climate now, and not when there are $200 worth of seedlings inside. Why not try out a winter crop, recognizing that this should have been planted in September but that a few free sample seedlings could provide a sense of what I'm working with—and maybe a dinner as well.
      As to the future summer use and permanence/impermanence of this house, having put up the cover and sides it is clear this is no quick job. 2-3 hours seems a modest estimate of what it takes to dress or undress the frame, and that's with nice unrusted hardware. It may remain an indoor space year-round, though that will mean coming up with a reasonable and inexpensive means of irrigation if it is going to be useful growth space all season next year. IN THE MEANTIME:

     Last year's two cold frames are installed, giving a 1' path between them for watering and servicing. Eliot Coleman promises this greenhouse-within-a-greenhouse will add nearly 20 degrees of protection to any winter crops with the cold frame covers installed. As an experiment, I've planted some seedlings salvaged from the vegetable garden (self-sown): "Tennis Ball" lettuce, dill, cilantro, misticanza and arugula. Outside of the frame is a row of onion "Ailsa Craig" I think might sprout at some point and provide me seedlings for the summer onion crop with far less trouble than I'd get planting them indoors in February. I've seen nothing written about fall-seeded onions, and only know this is how the Evergreen Bunching Onions manage if left to their own devices. If you think about it, in the wild any plant ripens and drops its seed to winter some dormant season on the ground. So why don't we seed in the fall and let the seeds time themselves, rather than coming up with these elaborate indoor methods? With plants native to warmer places, it makes sense that the gardener has to make an artificial early spring in a heated greenhouse. But for cold-climate crops like onions, potatoes, spinach, leafy greens, etc., why not fall plant?
     Guess I'll find out. Meantime, it's tempting to go crazy with the theory, and put in more than a plot of arugula and a row of onions and lavender. I start to imagine a nastirtium crop put in now, while I'm thinking of it, to vine and trail around the outside foundation wall as soon as it's of a mind to sprout in spring. Why not carrots? Broccoli? Kale? Easy to fool myself and my years of experience, as the in-house temp soars 20 degrees above the outdoor 60F on this first, sunny, warm fall day...
     I think Coleman sez "no," though—something about the lessening hours of sunlight and its lowering angle causing plants to shut down growth until early February. So I put the seeds away for more well-reasoned times. Still, a November salad looks a promising prospect. I spend the remainder of the day moving the burn pile a safe distance from this meltable plastic home, and my spirit soars towards the coming season. Bloom!