well the hired help has been busy. 

      preparations for the first yockey greenhouse open house are well under way. i have kept my crew busy trying to finish grading the retention pond area, and planting bulbs as well as sunflowers on the dike and wild flowers will adorn the dike later this summer . we have cleaned out the office building and have been moving pots to their new storage area and in general trying to pull everything together.still have to weed pots and deadhead as blooms are at their peak in the greenhouse now. 

      new water retention pond will allow me to utilize runoff water to water plants during drought conditions. we will use a storage tank at upper end of complex  to store water and meter it out in drip lines to pots out side. or to use as a waterfall feature. was going to use a layer of plastic to seal thew bottom but the clay soil in this area seems to be ideal for a pond as i had very little leaching away. i can always go in when water is used up and seal then. eventually i would like to power the sump pump with a solar panel and storage battery. i intend to use solar as much as i can with new led grow lights which offer full spectrum light to encourage plant growth. this should allow me to manipulate growing times and eventually blooming cycles. this will only happen with solar . the heat will change to outside wood fired boiler and we will install the pipes in the floor to radiate the heat up. this will heat the beds in the wintertime and encourage early plant growth. something i had problems with early this spring. i had also lost a lot of starts to inadequate heat source and persistent cold winter that would give me no mercy. should have some tomatoes by next weekend , but some i replanted are still small and will be closer to june 1st. before ready to plant.

        but this will; be a green- greenhouse with renewable source of fuel for heat and solar for light and ventilation. it only makes sense to be efficient as possible .

         the topsoil i used on the dike area over the old clay soil  is a 50 percent blend of organic compost from my own composting process. and 30 percent topsoil from  farm and sand to improve he tilth of the soil. it is unscreened and in short supply but next year i intend to offer it for sale. 

    this is a picture f the inside of the potting shed office. the above picture is looking down the lane and what a view. below is inside the shed.

       and of course when i want babe to do something she gives me that your crazy look . somewhat like she has now as i wanted to take her picture. any other time she would be nosing into the picture on her own. just another day oin the old hacienda.