October 4, 2008: Nice surprises are showing up from the first bin planted (Bin 1) only 5 weeks ago! A picking totaling about a bread bag full of lettuce, chard, spinach and beet greens were picked along with a couple radishes. The leaves are large, thick and look extremely healthy. Steamed, the greens taste great! The plants are only trimmed of their leaves, leaving the new shoots to continue on.

Only a few of the radishes produced a good looking radish. Carrots, beans, onions and peas are still growing well in Bin 1. Bin 2 is also doing well along with the extra plants in pots.

3 holes, which are half of the future windows, are now in the south side of the greenhouse wall for venting. During the day the door is opened, the bottom vents are all open so as to keep the daytime temperatures in the mid to high 70's. Morning temperatures are hovering around 60 degrees at night. Outside night time temps are still pretty mild.

On and off I check the CO2 readings. In the morning they're around 580ppm.

October 13 - 19, 2008: Transplanted most of the seedlings into pots. The transplanted cabbage, broccoli, etc. is split into 2 categories. Half of each variety is under light and half are not. The half that are not under light are right up by the south wall. The south wall, made of polycarbonate, allows 73% of the sunlight through. The sunlight is about 1/3 into the greenhouse with the days getting shorter and the evenings starting to cool down. The future window holes either have test remote opening windows or a cover to cover them. By opening the door and 1-2 of the windows creates air movement enough to make it comfortable inside on sunny days. The bottom vents are mostly closed. I heard a "rule of thumb" that one doesn't need to sweat when in a greenhouse.

End of October:  Finished transplanting seedlings, finished gathering up dirt in pots for winter planting and observed how things are growing.  Small amounts of beet greens, chard and spinach are still being picked.  Nights are cooler, day light hours are shorter.  The windows have been installed, the remote temperature activated controls are being installed on the windows and the bottom vents sealed up.  The sun is about 1/2 way into the greenhouse during the day.

September 5, 2008 is the beginning of planting.

Seeds were planted into one of the larger 4' x 10' planting beds. 11 Commercial Florescent lights were hung overhead with spacing ~1' apart. Each light holds Qty (2) T12 / 40Watt tubes, for a total qty of 22 light bulbs. The lights were left on 24 hours a day for the first 4 weeks. Cost of running all 11 lights, 4 hours a day, is estimated at around $45.00/month for the one planter. Pretty expensive greens.

Weather this past Sept. was pretty warm. We had a fair amount of sun, 60 degree days and even some 60 degree nights. Seeds that were planted Sept. 5 germinated within a week and the germination rate was good. The qty of veg. is small, 12 varieties were planted for some diversity and some of the mature alfalfa clumps were left in for additional nitrogen.

Vegetables planted were: a few pole beans, 1 row of Medina spinach, 3 rows of Nantes carrots, 1 row of Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, 1 row Swiss Chard, 3 rows onions, a couple Romaine Lettuce clumps, 1 row of radishes, 1 row of Early Wonder and Feuer Kugel beets, a few Sugar Lode 3' pea plants, a clump of Lemon Basil and 1 Geranium.

After 2 weeks of growth, mulch consisting of chopped oak leaves and pine needles was added to retain moisture, keep the soil cooler and to give the still living night crawlers some food. Because of the lighting, plants grew straight and well. Natural sun was about 1/4 of the way into the greenhouse.  Nights are still warm, days have brought beautiful fall weather.

Sept. 9-12, 2008:  More plants are started in germination pots which will be grown in individual 2-5 gallon containers.  The germination pots are placed by the south wall with the same fluorescents assisting the germination and seedling growth.  Store bought starting soil is being used to start the plants.  The goal is to get these plants started, transplanted and somewhat mature before the weather starts getting colder.

3 kinds of summer squash, 2 varieties of cucumbers, midget melon, 4 varieties of tomatoes, 4 varieties of broccoli, 2 types of cabbage, 2 types of brussel sprouts, 2 types of fennel, 1 type of kohlrabi, 2 varieties of peppers, 2 types of celery and 1 white scallop will be our container crops.  Other container crops that will be planted throughout the winter will consist mostly of lettuces.

September 24: Qty (1) 4' x 4' planter bed is planted with lettuce, spinach and a row of rutabagas. Plants germinated well. Nights are still relatively mild, days are mild.

Additional plants acquired are: 3 banana plants, 1 pineapple, 1 pineapple guava, 1 mango, 3 kiwi vines, 2 pilgrim cranberries, 3 blueberry bushes, 1 echinacea, 1 miniature citrus orange, 2 small red peppers and a boat load of geraniums. These plants are all in individual large pots.

Additional work being done at this time is bringing excess dirt into the greenhouse. The mix being accumulated in 1-5 gallon pots is approximately the same as was put in the planter beds: 1/3 horse manure, 1/3 super soil and 1/3 field soil.

Mid - End of Aug. 2008:

Rye and Alfalfa are "mowed but clumps of Alfalfa are allowed to grow.  The soil in the planting beds is loosened and turned over to disrupt the roots, mix in the cut rye and alfalfa and kill the rye.  About 1/2" of composted cow manure is mixed in the upper layer of the soil beds, a small amount of "greensand" is sprinkled on the soil, one application of compost tea brew is applied to all 7 growing beds, 5 dozen night crawler worms are split and added to the 7 beds and a thin layer of chopped maple leaves are placed on the top of the soil.  Loose lying plastic covers the above concoction to retain moisture, encourage decomposing and "mellowing" and occasional watering is done.  The sun is still not shining very far into the greenhouse so the beds are still shaded and cooler temperatures are easier to obtain when all the bottom vents are left open 24 hours a day.

The "greenhouse" which is approx. 25' deep and 125' long and attached to the south side of the manufacturing building is intended to act as a "multi-functional" greenhouse. Heat from outside solar panels will be pulled from the panels, in through indoor ducts then pushed down into 10 miles of tubing under the manufacturing/office portion of the building. Once the air circulates through the tubing, the air and whatever heat is left in the air will exhaust itself out into the greenhouse. The heat for the greenhouse will be supplied by heat stored in a sand mass under the floor of the greenhouse that has absorbed the remaining heat from the solar panel's hot air. Windows are to be added for ventilation and cooling control.

June 2008:

7 plant beds are built and soil has been added. Sizes of the planting beds are 4' x 10' and 4' x 4'. The soil in the planters is ~12" deep. The soil mixture used consists of 1/3 horse manurue, 1/3 "super soil" and 1/3 sandy HUG field soil.

Using our soil sampling kit, I ran a test on the finished mix that was put into the planting beds. The ph is ~6.5 with all other nutrients at a pretty good level, according to the kit's pamphlet explanation of the readings.

During June, patches of Alfalfa clover and rye are planted in the planting beds, watered as needed and left to grow as a mini green manure cover crop. The goal here is to mix, fertilize and start building humus in the soil for preparation to plant a fall planting of edible plants and vegetables.