The namesake of the top environmental concern in the world these days is not actually something most people have much familiarity with anymore. The greenhouse, once an essential boon to farmers and gardeners in colder climates and shorter season areas, is now as rare as people who grow their own food.
When planning our house, Sara and I considered a greenhouse a necessity for passively heating the house, for providing fresh food through the winter, and for giving our garden a huge head start every spring. In the past couple months we've finally started to reap the benefits, and we are in love with it. On sunny days we bask in the sunlight that floods our house and heats it even on the coldest winter days. It allows us to get vitamin D infusion while wearing next to nothing. On moonlit nights it's a perfect place to stargaze.
We glazed the greenhouse with triple-walled polycarbonate panels, which we felt had several advantages over glass-- including flexibility, the ability to be easily cut to any shape or size, and a comparatively high R-value. A protective UV coating is a significant improvement over standard polycarbonate sheeting which degrades rapidly in sunlight.
For added temperature control, we made the south wall under the windows that separates the greenhouse from the rest of the house out of cob, an earthen structural material that has a high thermal mass. We also built our stove into a corner adjacent to that wall. So when the sun isn't shining and naturally heating that thermal mass to re-radiate through the night, we can heat it directly with the stove. Jugs of water provide added thermal mass for the same purpose. Hopefully, by next winter, we'll have quilted thermal curtains for added insulation.
On the first day of spring we were busy tending numerous seed flats of lettuce, brassicas, onions, herbs, flowers, artichokes and even some tomatoes and other nightshades. We'll keep at it for the next month and half or so until danger of frost has passed, and then we'll be transitioning to summer mode.
We plan to attach some shade fabric to keep most of the sun's intensity out of the house, and further shade it by growing vining plants like luffa gourds up onto it. We'll also be adding screened vents to some of the panels, and screen doors for the door panels that open to the outside, so that we can have a semi-outdoor living space attached to our house.
Natural lighting and a view of the outdoors not only reduces the need for artificial lighting, but also allows us to stay a little closer to nature. As I wrote in a past issue of the March Hare, it was sad when we left tent living behind, because I had loved being surrounded by all the sounds of the outdoors, night and day. The greenhouse doesn't give us exactly that, but it does get us half-way there. I can't imagine living without it.
Ironweed gardeners' favorite vegetable varieties:
Sara:
- Orange banana paste and black krim tomatoes for taste
- Papaya pear summer squash for texture and pest resistance
- Spaghetti squash for abundance in our climate
- Egyptian walking onions and other perennial allia
- French sorrel, which is wonderfully tart, perennial, and a good self-seeder
Ted:
- Brandywine and Pineapple tomatoes
- Scarlet runner beans for the hummingbirds and
- Any other beautiful dry bean
- Rouge vif d'etampes pumpkin
- Chinese cabbage for making kim chee
Tamar:
- Merlot lettuce for beauty and slow bolting
- Kinemontpas and Sierra lettuce for beautiful heads early and late in the season
- Purple asparagus
- Luffa gourds
- Minutina for an interesting salad green
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