Food Gardening

[wynnum1]

I'm going to convert a failed vegie patch into a shade house . 3.0 x2.0 . The patch turned out to be unproductive due to elevated position on reclaimed soil so the drainage was maximised and the plants suffered from a lack of water .
I rang the ABC radio gardening show and asked about the best way to do it and was told to go for a light shade cloth to allow for maximum UV but leave one end open to allow bees etc in to pollinate ,otherwise the vegies won't grow.
Ahh **** I thought to my self ,I have some sheets of polycarbonate and wanted to use them in the build but was told not to as they have a UV barrier in them and so using them would render the shade house as useless as the existing patch.
Hmm I might put a few sheets on the north facing walls to protect from the summer northerly's ,and a couple on the west/ south side to protect from the harsh winter winds seeing as the majority of the sunshine comes from above I reckon I'll be good to go.
It's a lot like home brewing really,experiment on a budget and go with works for you.
FFS I've just answered my own question

What temperatures do you get in summer and winter the shade cloth would be good in summer but poly-tunnel plastic film probably better in winter automatic watering system may be worth building.

 

[spog]

What temperatures do you get in summer and winter the shade cloth would be good in summer but poly-tunnel plastic film probably better in winter automatic watering system may be worth building.

Summer temps here can get very high and the shade house will be in full sun from 9:00am until sunset.
But if I build using poly tunnel I could use shade cloth as screening for the hot days so that would fix that problem.
And the poly would be better for winter protection as we can get some rough south/ south westerlies blowing in during winter,a cold day here would be 12 degrees ,hmm must look into it in more detail.
Auto watering is in the patch now so that would only need to be raised to be used.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I'm going to convert a failed vegie patch into a shade house . 3.0 x2.0 . The patch turned out to be unproductive due to elevated position on reclaimed soil so the drainage was maximised and the plants suffered from a lack of water .
I rang the ABC radio gardening show and asked about the best way to do it and was told to go for a light shade cloth to allow for maximum UV but leave one end open to allow bees etc in to pollinate ,otherwise the vegies won't grow.
Ahh **** I thought to my self ,I have some sheets of polycarbonate and wanted to use them in the build but was told not to as they have a UV barrier in them and so using them would render the shade house as useless as the existing patch.
Hmm I might put a few sheets on the north facing walls to protect from the summer northerly's ,and a couple on the west/ south side to protect from the harsh winter winds seeing as the majority of the sunshine comes from above I reckon I'll be good to go.
It's a lot like home brewing really,experiment on a budget and go with works for you.
FFS I've just answered my own question

There is no problem with poly-carbonate roofing spog I have two green houses which are made of poly-carbonate as for letting the insects in,if you are going to grow cucumber get an F1 variety which doesn't need pollinating, with tomatoes you just go around with an old electric toothbrush when the flowers are out give them a bit of vibration and they will think they have been pollinated.
I personally now will be going all F1 in the tomato range they produce more and are more resistant to disease, make it so you can throw a shade cloth over the top for the hot summer days,(I have one on the inside which rolls down like a blind)
The one I have eventually settled on 3,400 mm x 2,000mm approx 2,500 mm high woven film roof insect exclusion net all around.

 

[Dave70]

I'm going to convert a failed vegie patch into a shade house . 3.0 x2.0 . The patch turned out to be unproductive due to elevated position on reclaimed soil so the drainage was maximised and the plants suffered from a lack of water .
I rang the ABC radio gardening show and asked about the best way to do it and was told to go for a light shade cloth to allow for maximum UV but leave one end open to allow bees etc in to pollinate ,otherwise the vegies won't grow.
Ahh **** I thought to my self ,I have some sheets of polycarbonate and wanted to use them in the build but was told not to as they have a UV barrier in them and so using them would render the shade house as useless as the existing patch.
Hmm I might put a few sheets on the north facing walls to protect from the summer northerly's ,and a couple on the west/ south side to protect from the harsh winter winds seeing as the majority of the sunshine comes from above I reckon I'll be good to go.
It's a lot like home brewing really,experiment on a budget and go with works for you.
FFS I've just answered my own question

Plants utilize bugger all UV light for photosynthesis. Use up your polly.

 

[wynnum1]

Old electric toothbrush to pollinate can you put that sound on a mobile phone .

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Well actually the tooth brush I use is a wind up, I doubt they would have that noise in the mobile phone sound library.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

A good buy for anyone wanting to get into Hydro, like finding a 20 litre Braumeister at the same price.
Excellent value.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/Autopot-Hydroponics-Ket/301915614355?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&_trksid=p5197.c100068.m2280&_trkparms=ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140211130857%26meid%3Dc69b960a38584fc5a0efdea6cf5f75ca%26pid%3D100068%26clkid%3D4552462167281314752&_qi=RTM2003803

 

[Dave70]

I half expected to to find a bunch of hps lamps and Mylar reflectors under the 'see other items' tab..

 

[wide eyed and legless]

When I was selling the float valves some years ago, eBay used to declare on the sales the buyers recent purchases, one could easily build up a profile of what they were growing when on their lists it was, nutrients, bloom, grow lights and miniature pocket scales.

 

[spog]

Old electric toothbrush to pollinate can you put that sound on a mobile phone .

I was thinking about this today,now I'm keen on building a shade/ greenhouse but I'm worried my missus might hear me saying yeah baby which is accompanied with a buzzing sound.



Yeah it's Friday and I've had a few.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

This is what my wife spotted in the green house, got dragged over the coals because the widow over the road often comes in and helps herself to vegies.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Are you lubing your vegies first now ?

 

[spog]

Found this one online . 2.0 x3.0 x1.8 high for this price I couldn't build one.



Hydroponics sounds interesting too,I've got some lengths of 100mm sewer pipe and a little brown pump I no longer use for brewing and a spare electronic garden timer....**** I'm half way there already .


A better picture.

 

[Dave70]

Get the one with the flaps in the side sprog. When I said I they make a fine ghetto sauna I wasn't joking. Came home from work one arvo after a 30 deg day and it was ******* wilt city in there.

 

[spog]

Hmm,the flaps on the side doesn't suit the planned position ( erection) the frontal entry would suit me best as it is a well beaten path to the planned greenhouse and easy entry with no obstacles.
Ideally I would prefer a sliding door of sorts so I could simply flick the door aside and get busy with my windup toothbrush and commence to pollinate.
.

 

[Dave70]

Just so long as you can get some ventilation happening.

How are you positioned for rear access in regard to your erection?

 

[spog]

Just so long as you can get some ventilation happening.

How are you positioned for rear access in regard to your erection?

I reckon WEAL might be able to help if his better half hasn't ditched the item pictured in post # 551

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Just wondering if the rear of the green house backs onto a sewer vent...

 

[spog]

The mains actually,and I'm not joking.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I was trawling through the green/shade houses spog, my door had to be built on the side, the other reason is though those are cheap enough to buy if it is something which is going to be long term (hopefully in my case) I would like to be sure that the metal frame was galvanised before being powder coated.
My costs including the metal delivery exclusion netting and roof film is $357, the four corner posts of 50 x 50mm x 1.6g I already had the steel I ordered for the rest is 25 x 25mm x 1.6g apart from the roofing tubing which is 1.2g and round so I can make a long radius bend.
You and Dave may find you will need a fan inside in the height of summer working off a thermostat, just to keep the temp down.

The personal lubricant worked out ok with my wife I had actually bought it for fishing, I explained that I was smearing it on my grommets in the hydro set up.