Vertical Wall in the
Greenhouse
Or Are You Vertically
challenged- Part 2.
Well the
vertical wall in the greenhouse is finally coming along and filling in quite
nicely. Also today, I will be drawing
some attention to my rhubarb I planted earlier this year giving you an update
of where I am going to go with that also. In fact I will be giving you updates
also on my berries and how it is going with transplanting of them.
Let’s talk
about the vertical wall around the swimming pool and it is going great. The lace
and trumpet vine I planted in these huge pots are performing quite well after a
major cut back on the lace vine as I trimmed it hard to transplant it into the
pots I had. This was done in an effort to get the vine where I wanted it, which
was around the pool. There used to be two vines and they just went wild
shooting roots in the pea gravel clean across the greenhouse. Then when I trimmed
them I had to cut 10- 15 ft. of a root system going wild completely off the
original vine. I did this on both of them. One made it the other didn’t. So
instead I planted trumpet vine instead to fill in the lattice I erected. The lace
vine is just now starting to bloom. The idea was to separate the pool from the
rest of the greenhouse. It looks as though this is going to happen. It is
starting to shape up. I will include some pics of how it is coming along. All this
is done in pots and could easily be done on your patio or anywhere you want an
instant green wall. Lace vine usually takes about a year or two to establish so
if you want results now then the trumpet vine would be better. I had the lace
vine I have about 3 years in a pot to let you know how long it takes to get a
good start on them. Also one must remember
they are considered to be a noxious plant if allowed to be planted outside. Inside
the greenhouse it can be contained. Outside it would spread and could easily crowd
out other beneficial plants if not trimmed on a regular basis. The combination
of lace vine flowers and trumpet flowers should make for an interesting green
wall. I expect the wall to be even better next year as I doubt that the trumpet
will be established enough to have flowers this year.
Next up is the
rhubarb. And this I will plant in a bed and will have about 25 rhubarb plants
going into the bed. I could have forced these into better plants, but at times
was lucky to get them watered. Some I repotted and they are doing great and are
almost a foot taller than the former pot size. I know these pots are root bound
and hope when I plant into a bed they will be able to snap out of it and store
some food for the winter yet. Some plants look like I could start harvesting
off of as soon as next spring. These were started from seed and grown in small
pots. Except about 12 I have transplanted into larger pots. So far I have about
a 75 percent survival rate, which is pretty good. The rhubarb is fairly hearty
plant and this rate of survival reflects the nature of the plant. It seems to
have customer appeal and is in limited quantities when harvest time comes
around making it a popular pick of the season. I am starting a bed of them for
pick your own. This bed and the bed for the berries will be in our old pasture
along the upper side of the lane. Water can be accessed from across the lane
and a storage tank I have will be located up the hill and filled with well
water by a hose and then be able to gravity feed back down the hill to the berry
and rhubarb beds and drip lines will be established to allow the new plant to have
plenty of moisture when needed.
Mowing will be
accomplished by a finish mower allowing a smooth surface and wide rows to accommodate
foot traffic from consumers on a pick your own basis. So far it will be berries,
rhubarb, and berries, the berry varieties will be black berry, dew berry, black
raspberry, and red raspberry. All these can be grown naturally and organically requiring
no chemical fertilizers and will be grown in hay mulch that has been composted.
The rhubarb will be grown in heavy straw mulch in an effort to prevent weeds
and reduce labor. Asparagus may also be added depending on how much I can
accomplish. It also depends on the quantity
of mulch or compost I will have available. So today I am going to mow this area
off and prepare by discing in the area of the beds to eliminate weeds an break
up sod. Considered plowing but doubt it will sink in ground due to dry
conditions. and try and lay out these beds so I have an idea of how much
compost I will need. Over the hill I have taken the hay from the first cutting
and just piled it up to compost it where it sits. Need to let it compost down
some so I can move it over the hill to the berry beds where I will need it.
that is a quarter laying there
Being located
next to the lane will bring back some memories of when I as a kid had to take
pruners and go out and clear brush and can remember working in that same area cutting
vines so huge that they hung into the drive and would scratch the cars as you
went in and out. It has been a pasture field for a long time, and at times it
was plowed. I made hay on it this year once, but now it will be converted back
to berries and rhubarb due to its location, being located along the lane. I can
harvest the hay early and park cars in the field directly across from it. I will
just need a stand at the y where the lane splits and someone to collect money
during picking time. I have berries I just potted up to transplant from behind
the house. Also I plan on going through our red raspberry patch and thinning
out the plants and re mulch those also. It is a well-established patch that
would be much better and yields huge berries if well taken care of. I have been
slacking the last couple of years. There is just so much to do. But I finally
came to the realization that berries have yielded the best for us for
absolutely no investment but our time to pick them over the years. Traditionally
they have also been seen to do better when mulch and organics are applied to
them to help hold the moisture and have it available in springtime when its needed
to make huge berries.
I looked at my resources
and figured as I did years ago when I was starting to chainsaw carve. What can I
do with what I have and make something more out of it, to be able to utilize my
resources to my best advantage. Back then I had artistic talent wood and
chainsaws and still have that but also now I have hay I can’t sell that can be
easily converted to mulch, berry vines all over the place. I have berry bushes
that were bought. But I believe if I was to transplant wild varieties also and
if given the right conditions I believe they will produce as heavily as store
bought varieties. With the wild ones I know they are winter hardy for my area
as compared to the store bought. They say they are but you never know.
Anyhow I have all
the perfect storm components of a pick your own farm outlet for berries and rhubarb.
Just need to get it done now.
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