The plans for getting water to the greenhouse evolved over time. The initial plan was to have rainwater barrels immediately behind the structure to capture water from the roof and feed into the sink area. This requires an elevated structure for the barrels to generate enough pressure, and a gutter system for the roof edges.
However, the collection from the main house was already in place and much more robust, so plan B is to run a hose for now from those barrels, and feed the sink area. Not very elegant, but functional, and it avoids/delays the whole gutter solution for the greenhouse itself. The pump and the timer will be powered by the Jackery, although a long extension could reach the side of the house. This whole setup may be revisited at some point…..
The fill for the beds is roughly following the Hugekultur method. The bottom layer are branches, logs, and other pre-compost materials from the property. The middle layer is topsoil, and the final layer is natural organic compost. Each bed is filled one wheelbarrow at a time with major help from Anderson. It takes a couple of days for the finished product.
The next logical step in the process was to tackle the roof. There was a race against time for planting season, but the final roof material was not available, so a temporary solution was put in place. UV plastic was doubled up and spread across the roof. It was clearly not going to withstand any significant wind and rain, but we were in the latter stages of the dry season, so we took the risk. Shade cloth was added on top to control the brutal sun’s impact on seedlings and starters. The clips worked ok and it actually looked fine as long as it was not pulled too hard. Length was fine, but we had barely enough plastic for the width. We will see what happens with some rain…
With the external structure in better shape, attention could be turned to the internal components. This was relatively simple in that it consisted of a sink section to bring in running water, and planting beds. The concept was to allow for planting beds and aisles wide enough for a wheel barrow. This resulted in three beds that were between 12 and 14 feet in length. Everything was constructed from materials saved from demolition or construction. Scraps of wood, the old double sink found onsite, and bits of plastic sheeting in a few spots. Since the external structure was far from a perfect rectangle, the internal components just roughly followed the outline. There was no attempt to create beds of a uniform size. Nature doesn’t work that way either.
In many areas, the walls were too soft to hold tapcons or even concrete nails, so I got creative in order to make structures which would not bow. The floor worked for anchor points in the first two beds (partially). In others there is just a structural “U” which will probably need bracing over time. Boards used for concrete forms were scraped to get back to wood, and steel rebar was used in places to support the corners.
The sink area was just formed from the back corner. The eventual intent is to bring water from the rain barrels in via a small pump, and to route the drainage back out and into the drain we just created/fortified right outside this rear corner (see drainage post).
The beds are roughly 24″ in height, and a few new pieces of 1×12 were needed to avoid a really time-consuming mosaic. The floor dictated that the beds were not perfctly level. Again, no concerns for this purpose as they will each be filled to a level height. All in all, a real mixture of bits and pieces with no exacting carpentry in sight !
There were many options for framing the structure including wood, a PVC hoop, metal hoop, and more. In the end, I opted for a 1/2″ galvanised pipe structure which could be tied into the lower walls. It obstructs the least light, is much stronger than pvc, and readily repairable.
It took a few days to construct and attach securely to the walls. The old building was not square, nor were the sides the same height, so it took some creative configuration to get it done!
It turned out higher than needed, but that will just encourage some vertical growing !
The floor was the first area of attention. Despite being loosely filled in with the construction debris, it was far from even or solid. Wheelbarrow loads of dirt were removed from the concrete half of the structure. To finish off the floor, we used many wheelbarrow loads of rough sand which had been sitting in the rear of the property forever. It was also used to fill in holes on the concrete side as well.
Next, attention was turned to the walls, or what remained of them. They had gaps and were not stable in a few places. Some rough masonary work remedied most of it, and made it good enough for the non-load-bearing role that it would have going forward.
Drains coming from the house, and water coming off the roof were sending a deluge toward the greenhouse. This was probably partly responsible for the shifts in the structure over time. In order to alleviate this going forward, drains were created in order to divert the flow around the structure.
It turns out that on one side there was already an attempt to do this in the past, so we just uncovered and fortified it.
This drainage is also important to the front of the yard as portions of it were always “swampy” during the rainy season. There is a drainage ditch toward the rear where all of this water ends up. This was likely created years ago to direct water down the hill or toward areas needing irrigation.
As you can see from the first image, the structure is completely overgrown. After removing several old refrigerators, rusted corrugated roofing, and much debris, and several hours of machete and weed whacker work, the structure is uncovered.
Surprisingly, half of it has a concrete floor ! The other half still has some old corrugated zinc and probably much more below, but we decide that this is a solid enough base for our purposes. Note the rainbow in the 2nd image. Always a good sign 😉
The remaining structure is broken, cracked, or has moved over time, so some repair work is needed. In order to bring the two halves level, we use the broken concrete from the demolition work on the house to fill it in. A perfect use for more material that we would otherwise pay to take to the dump.
The first step in creating something sustainable, and a key tenet of permaculture, is to use what you have. Recycle. And so it was that this old ruin on the property became the natural site for a greenhouse. We are told that it was once a chicken coupe, and alternatively that it was a Cocoa drying house. You can see the remnants of the cocoa drying rack columns close by, so it lends credence to that assertion. On the other had, there was much chicken wire in the debris, and a layer of rich soil on one half lending credence to the chicken coupe theory. Perhaps it was both at different stages of existence. Regardless, it seems that it was used for agricultural purposes, and to sustain the property and occupants long into the past. And now it will again.
Beneath the foilage, it was filled with old appliances and chicken wire and plastic bottles and glass bottles and tires and tiles and discarded concrete materials. Almost an archeological dig of refuse over time. Certainly a mosquito paradise. It took several days with help to clean it out.
