The first week of May brought a storm through the area. It’s kinda rare to have a thunderstorm in the central valley but we received a good one complete with plenty of thunder, lightning, and wind. It is beginning to become apparent that if there is a stiff breeze on the valley floor then it’s going to be gale force up in our hills. If you think I’m exaggerating, remember this pic from a couple weeks ago showing the new screens for the greenhouse roof?
Well, this what I found two days after the storm came through…
Um…. yeah…. did a bomb go off nearby? Seriously. It blew bunch of fairly heavy (appx 5lbs or more) stuff all over the place. I found some of the panels that are missing in the second picture over 200 feet away. The greenhouse put up a fight before it blew apart, it bent a 1/4″ x 3/4″ brace and a corner bracket before it went.
The bracket in the second picture is showing the entire roof moved over about half an inch. I found all the panels, straightened the structure, reinforced some areas, and then put it all back together. On the bright side, all the plants survived just fine and look even healthier than the last post. we are supposed to have another set of storms roll through this Thursday (5/16) and Saturday (5/18), so we will see if it holds together.
Oh, check out what it did to the solar panel mount. Lol.
I laugh because the expensive mount literally blew apart, but my cheap temporary rigged mount below it did better with the storm.
I also did some more work on the raised bed planter. I continued the work by putting down a thick layer of weed block….
Then I put down two layers of fine aluminum screen mesh to see if it will keep out gophers, cause there are a TON of gophers…
No, the dirt didn’t get darker, the light being reflected caused my phone to filter it. As you can see I used the next layer of blocks to hold the weed barrier and screen in place. I also figured it wouldn’t leave gaps for anything to get though. Next came the final layer of blocks….
I was going to use PVC pipe in the cinder block holes to interlock the blocks and layers together, but PVC pipe has gone up in price. Would have cost me over $40 to cut 28 pieces of 2″ pipe at 24″ long. Instead I went with….
2×3’s. Yup, 2×3 wood instead of PVC cost me $17. I’m cheap and this is a proof of concept trial, so wood works. Since the blocks overlap I figure locking them together will give them a little resilience in case the pigs investigate it….
Next is to build the wood portion on top of the block base that will have the screening to keep out the bugs. I will tap all the 2×3’s down to level before I cap the blocks with the wood structure.
Finally for this post, I’m trying something I have never grown before but have always been interested in. I’m trying to grow some tobacco from seeds. I started the seeds in a seed tray on the 26th of last month and here is a pic of the fresh little sprouts….
I started them in potting soil put in paper ketchup cups. The seeds are super tiny and I didn’t realize I got so many in some of the cups. Lol. When they get about 2″ tall I’m going to try and separate them out into individual plants. There are 5 different variety and 4 have sprouted. From left to right (in vertical rows) are Yellow twist, Virginia Gold, Standard Burley, Tennessee Red Leaf, and Orinoco. I’m hoping Orinoco is just a late sprouter.
If you want the plant bed to be permanent wouldn’t concrete be better to interlock the blocks?
Tobacco? You don’t even smoke…what are you going to use it for?
All looks good, sorry for the damage. I know how you feel with those crazy high winds, we get them here ALL THE FREAKING TIME!!! LOL
I dont want tje planter bed to be permanent yet. This is a tesr run to see if this type of bed will keep all the various critters out. If it works I will make a few of them in a different location. As for the tobacco, I grow things for the experience as much as the usage. Ive always wanted to grow and air cure tobacco, so Im doing it. No other reason needed.