Great Balls of Dirt

I thought I was through writing about sunflowers, but there is always clean up to consider. It occurred to me, of course, that for a plant to grow as thick and as tall as a sunflower, it had to have roots. But, having never seen a sunflower root before, I didn't quite know what to expect. Each plant was pretty well anchored with a good thick ball of roots. I wasn't successful uprooting plants until I used the garden fork to loosen dirt around the base of the plant. But even then, the root came up as a large ball. Indeed, taking care of each sunflower was about like trying to deal with a small tree.

The next challenge I faced was just how to get to dirt off of the root. In a raised bed, dirt is precious. And it is apparent that a lot of whatever was in the dirt was up in the air in the stalk of the sunflower plant. Many of the stalks were about an inch in diameter at the base. My solution to getting the dirt off involved finding yet another use for the cold frame hoops. I primarily use the cold frames to brace myself while I bend over the garden boxes. The second use is when I grow tomatoes, as a way of anchoring the cages so they don't blow over when the tomatoes get big and the wind blows. Their use for me as a device to hold up plastic sheeting in the winter is in doubt. (I wasn't very successful growing things in the past this way.) So now the next use is as something to bang the root ball against to get the dirt attached to the roots of sunflowers off and back into the raised bed.

Weighty Matters

I calculated the weight the cold frame would have been subjected to.

Given that the weight of water in pounds per square inch is 0.036127, here is what the water on the ribs might have been:.

Depth   Weight outer ribs   Weight center ribs
1 inch                     23.41               46.82
1.5 inch                 35.12               70.23
2 inch                     46.82               93.64

I cut out some snow and found that, after some melt, there was about an inch of water that would have accumulated on the top of the cold frame. No wonder it collapsed.

Frosty Failure

It snowed and iced yesterday. When I had anticipated what effect it would have on the cold frames, I thought the snow would sort of slide off to the sides. I didn't anticipate what would actually happen. What really happened, of course, was that most of the interior ribs broke and the covers collapsed. A catastrophe in both the mathematical and horticultural sense.


My design of the cold frames was obviously a failure. Although, one of my favorite quotes is from Francis Bacon.

Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.

It will be until the snow leaves that I will be able to do a complete post mortem. However, it appears without question that the biggest stress was on the center sections. While damaged, the end ribs didn't actually break.



On the other hand, the greenhouse stayed intact.



I had enough sense to put something up against the entrance to the beehive. In this case, I hadn't taken the top cover and inner cover in from the hive that had died from a moth invasion in, so I just laid them up against the front of the hive. Better than last year when the March storm blew snow and ice right inside the hive. I hope this helped.

16F

A temperature of 16F will evidently kill broccoli even if it is covered by a cold frame. That was what I experienced this week. I went out to pick some broccoli for dinner and found a horrible smell coming from under the cold frame. The spinach and lettuce still seem to be doing fine.

The lesson to be learned here is to plant broccoli and cauliflower earlier so I can harvest earlier.

I have thought about figuring out how to install a small heater with a fan in the cold frame that I could kick on when the temperature falls too low. I may continue to think about this. If I were better at electronics, I would design one that had a built in temperature sensor to auto-start it when under-the-frame temperatures dipped below a certain level. It might be worth thinking about or even searching for should someone have already thought of it. Then, instead of paying $3 a head for broccoli at the store, I could pay $10 a head as a prize for growing it myself. I obviously have to think about this.

Cold Frames Finished

All four cold frames are finally finished and covered.

When Jeff and I were installing one of the frames, a rib broke. Of the 40 sticks that made up the ribs, to only have one of them brake is not too bad. It would be better, of course, if none of them had broken.


I thought about why this might have happened. The first two frames went up flawlessly. They were designed in large part because of the accidental breaking of the plywood when Jared and I drove it home from Lowe's. The larger of the two pieces had a minimum length of 49", so that was the length I followed. But for the two new pieces, I had Lowe's cut the length to be 48" (this cut the 8'x4' sheet exactly in half, two 4'x4' pieces). I did this so I could just put them inside the car. It avoided using the trailer. So my first thought was that loosing 2" on the length of the rib might have put more stress on the boards than they could handle. However, when I took out the lag bolts that held successfully installed ribs, they had already started to hold the curved shape they had been forced into, so the wood's flexibility was sufficient to accommodate this arc.

I think the better explanation was how this one board was installed. Each ribs is fastened with two lag bolts on either end connecting it to the frame of the raised bed. For all other ribs, I only put the upper lag bolt in first and put it in loosely, allowing the rib to flex a little while I started the second bolt. For this one, the first bolt went in tight. When we tried to put the second bolt in, it was difficult to find the lower hole and we pushed it too quickly. I think it stressed the rib too much and it snapped.

I replaced the broken rib (didn't lose any hardware in the process). Then I installed the fourth frame without incident. I had learned the lesson, so I proceeded slowly, leaving the top lag bolt loose until the lower lag bolt was in place.

I went to my office earlier in the day to finish constructing the cover. (The office has a large room where I can spread the plastic out, cut it to size, fold the edges and tape them, then put in grommets.)

More Cold Frames

It was 30 degrees when I woke up this morning, with the over-night low being 29. So, the cold weather is upon us. I'm glad to have installed the covers on the cold frames yesterday.

I looked at the broccoli. I have one large head. It seemed OK, but I will need to check it again.

At lunch I bought more plywood for the two frames I want to put over the broccoli and carrots and onions. I have one cover ready to go (#3). I need to make a fourth.

This evening, I started making the frame. I had Jeff help me cut the plywood into 2" boards. The last time (which was the first time), I wasn't as concerned about precision. As a result, the boards weren't as well formed (size varied just a bit more than I should have let it) and I tried to drill press multiple boards at the same time. This time, I watched closely as we cut the boards. I used a template I had created on Excel to mark where the holes should be drilled and I drilled the holes on one board at a time. I am very pleased with the result. The joints lined up much more cleanly.


It was too cold and dark to get the frames installed, so Kathy and I just put sheets on the broccoli for tonight.

First Frost

I went to bed last night a bit worried about frost. I haven't created the cold frame covers yet and a frost was predicted. Sure enough, the outside thermometer (Oregon Scientific) read 29 when I got up this morning. It was at its over-night low. After I walked the dogs and ate breakfast, I walked out to see whether there was frost or not. There was frost on everything. However, after my morning shower, I returned and found that the leaves on all the plants had apparently recovered -- even the lettuce, which is the first to wilt in my experience. There is now an urgency to get the covers made because a frost is expected again tonight.

I plan to follow the method of creating covers I previously experimented with, using sheets of 6 ml polyurethane sheeting, fit to the size of the raised bed (plus the frame) and tied down with short bungee cords. I went to Lowe's at lunch to get the materials. It occurred to me when I was buying the sheeting and bungee cords that self-sufficiency isn't cheap. The cost of the frames wasn't great -- the plywood was under $10 before taxes and the nuts, bolts, and washers was about the same, and that for the two frames I built -- but things add up.


The polyurethane went for $59 for a 10' x 100' roll. That will make 5 covers. Then there's the grommets, etc. to put the bungee cords through and the bungee cords. Buying lettuce, turnips, broccoli, etc. at the store would be cheaper. But I figure I can use the frames and the covers for years to come and, should hard times or inflation come, an investment now that makes us more self-sufficient and allows me to gain skill at growing things in cold weather is a reasonable trade off. If I didn't have the money, it would be different, but there may also be cheaper ways to accomplish what I am after. Besides, last night, we had potatoes, onions, and carrots all from the garden; fresh or frozen veggies from close to home.

Eric Reese helped me complete the first cover. Time is another cost. It took the two of us about an hour to measure it, cut it to size, and put the grommets in. However, in the end, it seemed to fit nicely.

An end note: the frost did the potato and sweet potato plants in. I'll have to look under ground when I get a chance to see what they produced.

Starting Off

What I think about a lot is the concept of having sufficient for our needs. It's an interesting concept that has led me to think about the economy, self-sufficiency, and what I value in life. It also has some practical aspects that I think about every day. So, why not have this the topic of my blog.

I think what prompted me to start this blog was a couple of things. First, I have been gardening ever since we bought our first house back in 1982. I think about it a lot, but haven't documented very much. From a practical stand point, I can use the blog to keep track of what I do in the garden and with the bees.

For instance, today I harvested about two dozen carrots. They were pretty nice looking for the most part. I peeled, cut, vacuum sealed and froze them. The point I should remember is that some of them had started to split.

Second, yesterday I finished building two frames that will be turned into cold frames when I attach plastic. I have raised beds -- six 4 x 12 boxes. The cold frames will allow me to keep gardening through the winter. But the story of building the frames is something I should document. (Here it is.) Last week, Jared, my oldest, came home for a few days during fall break. I like to have Jared as a helper, because he joins in and also questions what I am doing and why I am doing it. I had been dreaming about how to replace my old cold frame (made of PVC) for some time. I finally decided on a thin plywood cut into 2" strips and bent over the raised bed. We went to Lowes to get some, but didn't take the trailer; we just tied it to the roof of the Volvo station wagon. We got a few miles successfully, then I must have sped up past the point of catastrophe and, wham! it broke in two and lay behind us on the road. We drove home without it. But then he questioned the basis of how to make it, thinking that what I had planned wouldn't work because the plywood would just break. I showed him what I had planned on a similar piece of paneling (that worked perfectly). So, I went back and got the plywood off the road. We changed the plan a little, and yesterday, with the help of Jeff and Kathy, I installed frames on two of the raised beds.

What I like about these frames is actually two things. One is that there is an artistic element of symmetry and balance to a half-circle. The other is that they are very functional. Rain will run off. (It used to gather on my flat frame.) The sides are relatively free from obstruction. (The flat one had a cross member that ran where you wanted to reach.)

It's a good thing I did this -- build the frames, that is -- because it got down to 33 last night based on the outdoor thermometer. I will need to cover the cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and turnips very soon.