Tag: Aquaponics

All Done, Greenhouse # 4

After a bit of a web break the greenhouse "saga" will be finished. I guess that is a bit of an overstatement isn't it. Regardless. The greenhouse is finished and has weathered the winter weather beautifully. We have even had people over and compliment us on it too. Not bad for a couple of rookies that really have no idea how to build something like this. There are two doors, one on each end. This is so we can get a cross breeze in the summer. Above the back door there is also a transom to let any excess heat escape. The other one will be put in in the spring as the less heat we loose right now the better. The original square foot box frames were kept to create seedling tables for the spring. It is really exciting to know that we will be able to get a full day sun on our seedling his year. No more bringing flats in and out of the house, or shuffling trays to the top of the indoor greenhouse three times a day. The plan is that five of the six small  beds will have a plant rotation. We are going to put a small aquaponics system in the greenhouse for the summer. Currently the thought is to not do tilapia, but focus on White Perch instead as they can tolerate colder waters. We are not sure what effect it will have. With luck it will be able to heat the greenhouse next winter along with a compost pile with the help of a stock tank heater or something similar..  To try and create a kind of eco-system inside the little house will be fun and I am sure many unexpected things will end up happening. The central beds are made of compost. We are making a half-hearted attempt to heat the house with compost, but as much of our hot poop from the barn was frozen it hasn't gone very well. We will be far better organized next year. Right now we are seeing what the traditional filled pop and large water bottles will do in the greenhouse. It is supposed to moderate the temperature in side the house as the water goes through a phase change and give off heat. We are not too sure that it is working, but we'll wait and see. Now the holidays are over we will spend a bit of time in there and do things like put them in the compost and get some fresh manure to heat with.So far this year the coldest it has been in the greenhouse was -5C and the hottest has been over 30C, but that was before the snow flew. During the true winter weather the warmest it has been in the greenhouse is 14.4C.  There is a little oil filled heater on a timer to also help moderate the temp. Now sure if that is working either right now. Just because we finished the structure, it doesn't mean that we have finished the project. This one is just beginning.