Blog

I knew this was going to happen. What to plan, when… and there is such a difference between the greenhouses. One is a walipini greenhouse and everything is in pots, the other is a cattle panel greenhouse and everything is in the ground. I have extra space I could be using and am… Read more: 2023 Greenhouse Planning Thoughts

I’m going crazy. I have tried two Wi-Fi extenders to the Cattle Panel Greenhouse. I cannot maintain a connection. I thought maybe there was an IP conflict, so I made sure the sensor systems were on two different IP’s. (I’m using the same code and the IP’s are hard coded) At the moment… Read more: No Connection

We now have two different types of greenhouses. A pit greenhouse and a hoop greenhouse. Actually considered a high tunnel greenhouse because of the height. Regardless, there’s two different types. One with ground source heat and one unheated. For years we have used the pit greenhouse and I have a pretty good idea… Read more: Resources

What can I learn from my sensors? Life has been so busy I barely glance at my graphs. What are the highs and lows for the day? What are the trends? I can answer the easy questions. But there is a depth I feel like I am missing, a huge amount information that… Read more: Sensors

What an odd year for the garden. We did not ease into summer, we had a cold spring and then HOT – and it stayed hot! Then the fires and no rain. Today is the first real rain I can remember this summer. We pulled the garden early because of water issues. This… Read more: Fall is in the air!

Over time I have explored different gardening methods. Ruth Stout and her no till method, Larry Hall and his Rain Gutter Gardening System and my favorite Eliot Coleman winter gardening. And of course, there is always Monty Don. In the beginning… I had moved my garden to a new spot and was building… Read more: Gardening Methods

I was determined to get at least a few Anaheim Green Chili’s this year. We had lots of bell pepper seeds so I started them in February as well. It was a fantastic year for peppers – hot and dry. And did they produce! They were so prolific they needed to be thinned.… Read more: Peppers!

We had our first light frost of the year. I was up early and washed down the plants. We did not lose anything but it sure surprised me. It is so early! It added emphasis to getting the greenhouse set up for fall. The lettuce is looking great, but I need to get… Read more: First Frost

It took a very long time for the garden to start producing. In addition to planting later than normal the summer was hot fast. My kale, kohlrabi, basil and other plants struggled. We are finally able to harvest some of each, but not near what we were expecting to harvest. The bell peppers,… Read more: Harvest 2021

Water is always an issue this time of year. Unfortunately this year there is very little water in the irrigation system. They are shutting off the water this week – Aug 16, 2021 with plans to work on the irrigation system while it is down. There will not even be stock water. No… Read more: No Water

2021-August Fire season this year has started early and the smoke is in the hazardous range so we have been inside way to much this summer. The gardens have more weeds than normal and I have not been able to maintain my thyme porch. But! The flowers are still blooming and look delightful… Read more: East Garden Update

I have been asked many times about our pit greenhouse and how to harvest during the winter months. The following video links, book recommendations etc. helped me learn about gardening in the winter months. Although these are not pit greenhouses they do show different ways to harvest successfully from garden successfully in the… Read more: Greenhouse Research

Our last frost day for 2021 was the day after Memorial Day, which is later than we have been experiencing. I had just moved my plants into the garden. I was not concerned, the low for the night was supposed to be 38. Plus the snow is off the heart, always a good… Read more: Strange Year For Our Garden

Montana is not used to weeks of 90+ temperatures and no rain. Everything is bone dry. Karl has been watering twice a day. Early morning and in the evening. The nights have been warm as well. Come on rain!