2015-2016 Winter: Regular Garden Maintenance

During this winter season, I was growing collard greens and swiss chard. Amazingly, you can keep cutting the leaves of these plants and eating them as they grow back. I was able to get about 5 harvests until spring came when the plants started to bolt.

Growlight
To grow during the winter, I installed a shoplight with fish aquarium and plant bulbs. I noticed that the leaves seem to grow sideways to catch the light as well as angle themselves toward the sun. The ballast of the shoplight had the added effect of providing a little heat to the small enclosure. It wasnt much but the small temperature variation helped.

Air Circulation
I also noticed that dew was building up on the walls and especially the leaves so utilized a small desk fan to blow on the leaves. Leaves need to stay dry so that they can perform their photosynthesis properly and reduce mold. Periodically, I would move the fan to point at which ever plant needed the most air or had the moistest leaves.

Controlling Humidity
After heavy rains, I would unzip the door and allow the greenhouse to air out during the day. Unfortunately, this attracted more bugs because of the light. Also at night, the bugs could be seen crawling to get in. Luckily, the winter chill killed most of the bugs in the month of january and february.

Temperature Control
As I stated before, the ballast in the shoplight provides some heat to the greenhouse. And of course, the sun provided heat, too. It does help that I am in the south. Here in Georgia, temperature is relatively mild as compared to the northern states. (Most Georgians say its cold out when they cant wear their flip-flops and shorts.) Temperature in the greenhouse has been mild even though the outside temps have fluctuated a fair range from 70-80s to below freezing. I have had only two or three nights that the temp inside the greenhouse was below freezing and icicles formed on the drip lines. Fortunately, the ice melted each day and the plants were resilient enough to keep growing.

Algae
The main line I am using for the pump is a 3/4 inch clear hose which allows me to monitor algae build up inside. To flush out the algae, I remove the stopper on the end of the hose. The pressure from the pump is capable of flushing out the algae back into the gutter. I only do this flush when all the drip lines are clogged and no adjusting to the drip lines help.

When I first started the zipgrow towers, I used worms that I purchased from the store to clean out the algae. It took about a month, but worked great. All I had to do was open the tub of worms and place the tub upside down on the tower. Over the course of the week, the worms shimmied through the line and into the irrigation. The worms and worm eggs then spread through the system. Eventually, the algae was eaten up and the lines were clear. But during the winter, worms remain dormant, so this option is unavailable.

Pests
Periodically, I would inspect the plants and take the appropriate action based on the insects encountered. Snails and slugs were the worst. Aphids were common. Centipedes. Flying insects. I will detail their control measures at another time.

Fall 2015: Greenhouse on Stilts

This is a pic of the garden from fall 2014.  The fence was put up to keep the deer away. Earth Box containers are elevated off the ground to reduce ground moisture. Tires contained sweet potatoes. White basket was a strawberry tower. This was the first year for Zipgrow hydroponic towers. Greenhouse in the background was used for storage and seed starting.

Unfortunately, the deer had tore up the greenhouse searching for wild strawberries over the 2015 summer. I repaired the greenhouse and decided that I should use it for the hydroponics. Originally, I had planned to make a 20x10x10 greenhouse which is why black plastic is on the ground, but I never got around to filing the permits. So, I wanted to cut to the chase and try to make do with what I had. Here, the greenhouse is elevated on top of a wooden frame which made it easier to level since the ground is sloped. This construction had the added benefit of placing the greenhouse higher than the sump without the need of digging a hole. The wooden frame is covered with clear plastic tarp which is overlapped by the greenhouse tarp. Clear tape is visible patching some of the holes. As an added precaution, plastic sheeting is hung inside the greenhouse to cover the patching if the tape peels away. A tarp zipper is used to repair the big rip in the door and replaces the original zipper as far as function.

It's not pretty, but its functional. ZipGrow towers are placed on top of a gutter system made from plastic sheeting. The greenhouse middle bar from the middle shelf is removed in order to bring the towers in easily (this works because the greenhouse is elevated). The upper bar of the greenhouse shelf is helping to hold tower stationary with the help of the ties (originally the hangers). A top bar (not shown) is holding the top of the towers in place. The plastic sheeting guides the drainage water into the sump where the pump then delivers the nutrient water to the top of the towers. Tubing with dripper lines can be seen hanging from the roof supports providing the nutrients to the top of the towers.  A fan is visible providing horizontal airflow on the plants (excess moisture was found building up on the leaves).

In the towers, southern collard greens seedlings are started. Near the sump, Earthbox planters contain cauliflower (They take up a considerable amount of room).

2015: Greenhouse Building Permit

Looking online at local building codes for my county (it will be different for your municipality), it required the following (summarized):

1. Shall be located in the rear yard behind the house.
2. Must be located no closer than 5 feet to any side or rear property line.
3. The size shall not exceed the size of the existing house. If it is proposed to be greater than 500 square feet, it shall be finished in siding, stucco, or brick and shall not have a metal exterior finish.
4. A schematic of the design and a "to scale" drawing must be provided showing the proposed building or structure. The scale drawing (or location plan) must show the lot boundaries, location of the existing home and driveway, utilities, easements, streams, buffers, clearing and impervious square footage of the home for the local river system. A copy of the loan survey with the proposed building or structure drawn upon it is the best way to satisfy this plan requirement. Or, I found that the Geographic Information System (GIS) survey of the land can also be used (I will describe how to use later). The schematics and scale drawing must be reviewed by the Development Review Section of the Department of Planning and Development.
5. If the home is served by a septic tank, approval from the Environmental Health Department is required prior to permit issuance. This may require scheduling or additional fees.
6. Submit the drawing Location Plan to Stormwater Plan Review Section of the Department of Planning and Development. This may require scheduling or additional fee.
7. A building permit is required to be obtained for structures that are 32 square feet or greater in size. A building permit is required to be obtained regardless of size if the building or structure is proposed to contain an electrical, mechanical or plumbing system. The fee for the building permit is assessed at $6 for each $1000 of construction cost plus $25 for the Certificate of Completion. The minimum permit fee is $30 plus $25 for the Certificate of Completion. The building permit is issued through the Building Permits Section of the Department of Planning and Development.
8. A possible inspection of the structure after it is built with the building inspector. This may cost per inspection and follow-on inspection.
9. Permission from Housing Organization Association (Luckily, I don't have a HOA).

How to Use the GIS

Luckily, my county has an electronic survey of all property with property lines and utilities. This made it immensely easier than locating the deed or loan survey and using the information depicted in that. Using the GIS was very similar to using google maps or mapquest.

1. Navigate to the website and make sure the browser can support pop-ups.
2. Input the home address
3. Zoom the image until it showed only the property lines
4. Use the utilities features to show which utilities that I wanted. In this case, water, gas, sewage, hard-surfaces, road surfaces, property addresses, property numbers, etc.
5. Take a screenshot. For my keyboard, it is pressing CTRL key and PRNTSCR key at the same time. Or, it can also be ALT key and PRNTSCR key at the same time.
6. Paste the screenshot into a drawing program. I used MS Paint. To paste, CTRL key and V key.
7. Edit the image, if necessary. I like deleting or cropping out computer screen lines. I copied the scale from the website into the drawing (not shown here). I drew where the greenhouse is supposed to be in a bright color that does not match the lines used by the GIS for the other utilities. Label all lines in a legend on the drawing. I have my image as a reference with many identifiers removed for my privacy.
8. Print the image on a single sheet of paper.

If your county doesn't have a survey available online, use google maps and take a screenshot of that. Then trace over the image so that it will be in scale while labeling all the utilities. Keep the scale from the map on the image.

I have not submitted the plan as of yet, but I have all the required documentation as I know it. I just have to submit it. I ran into a small change in priorities and decided to use the seed-starting growhouse as a greenhouse for fall 2015/winter 2016 season which I am using for my hydroponics and a couple of earthboxes (I will detail that in a later post). I still plan to have a larger greenhouse, but it will have to be at a later time.