For the last couple of days I have been with my SO at deer camp. We took the RV out there, so the accommodations are better than at your normal deer camp. And this week the food is better because I've been doing a lot of the cooking. We've had some actual vegetables, which the SO's son commented on last night, with appreciation. But today I had to get back home to be here for FedEx to deliver my greenhouse. I can't wait to put it up.
The people who lived here before us raised dogs. Our neighbor told us they were bulldogs. So there is a dog pen and exercise yard out on the north side of the house, against the high game fence that surrounds the next door ranch. We've been keeping the riding lawn mower out there, and using part of it as a storage building. My SO took down the wire fence around the exercise yard and plans to expand his garden this spring. On the other side of the tin shed is a concrete pad that also had a wire fence around it, and the SO has removed that fence as well. The greenhouse will go on the concrete pad.
Last week, when it rained so hard, we went out there several times to make sure that concrete pad drained well, and it does. Within a few minutes, all the water was gone off the concrete, so I think water from the greenhouse will also drain. And out here in the country, I would much rather have a greenhouse on concrete than attached to the ground where snakes and other creepies can find their way inside. I'm sure we'll have some of that even with the concrete foundation, but maybe it will be less. And I know it won't be as muddy. Now, I want a composter so we can make our own soil. We have a compost pile, but a real composter does a much better job.
It's going to be nice to have a place to put up all the hanging baskets and small foilage plants for winter, and also it will be good to be able to take cuttings and start seeds. Daddy is probably more excited about the greenhouse than I am -- a good excuse for him to come over, and he does love to grow vegetables from seeds.
This greenhouse comes complete with shelving, a heater, and an exhaust fan, plus it has hard sides so you don't have to change out the plastic every couple of years. The concrete pad has a good cover of shade trees, and we may not even need shade cloth in summer, although I have a big piece of it in case we do. There are also some T-posts that are already embedded in the concrete, I suppose for the former owners to cross fence little dog runs, but we'll use them as tie downs, to help secure the greenhouse so it doesn't blow away in our high winter winds. But it's made of aluminum framing, so I think it will be sturdier than the PVC greenhouses I've had before.
Anyway, it will be a big day-long project putting it together. Might try it on Thanksgiving, or the day after. The weather is getting colder so I'm in a kind of hurry to get it done. I have a lot of money and time invested in potted plants and foliage basket. Some of these plants are 15 or more years old, and have flourished out under this motte of oak trees we live beneath.
Of course, the next thing I'm going to want, although I haven't mentioned this to my SO yet, is a walkway from the house to the greenhouse. But I've been known to built a stone walk all by myself, and can do it again if he balks too much. I'll have to sink it low enough so the lawn mower can go right over it. But that's not impossible either. I love it so much here, and have so many ideas for making it even more magical than it already is. In so many ways, it's the home I've always wanted.
Feathering my nest, I guess.
Onward ....
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