Weathering the First Storm - Part 10

This greenhouse is 32 feet long, 16 feet wide and about 12 feet high covered in a single sheet of plastic that measured about 32x34 feet


Over the past 24-48 hours, we've had rain, snow, sleet, thunderstorms, and a driving wind from the east. The wind speed has varied from 15 and 25 miles per hour with gust to 40 mph and the greenhouse withstood the pounding without any sign of failure! That is a very good sign and a wonderful accomplishment. I attribute success in weathering the storm to the aluminum channels and wiggle-wire used to secure the plastic to the frame and the basic structural strength and design.

A thermometer censor is suspended and loosely wrapped in aluminum foil to reflect light and heat and send an accurate temperature reading to the bass station in the house on my desk.

The structure is solid and able to stand up to what should be some of the upper limits of bad weather in our area. Now to work on some of the failings. The underground water is one of the first and worst problems that I must try to tackle. So far, siphoning the water out has been the only successful way of removing the water. My shop vac would not suck up the water from the depth it's at and I don't have sump pump. Purhaps I'll have to buy one and see if I can use that to dry the system out.
Looking down the barrels to the opening connections to the 650 feet of underground drain tile. This is the waterlogged Subteranian Heating and Cooling System. In the photo, you can see perhaps a dozen pipe ends in the lower barrel, there are actually 27! There are many more below the water level in that photo. It also appears that the lower barrel is distorted in places due to the weight and pressure of the soil. That may have been an error caused by choosing an older (lighter) plastic barrel for that first one, different than the other barrels used in the system. The long white to green line in the photo is the garden hose that I've been using to siphon the water out.

Starting the Mantis Wisconsin - 24th of March, 2011, 10:15 AM. The temperature outside is 22 degrees. The greenhouse, for all the cracks and open spaces left to be closed up is already up to 46 degrees. The sun hasn't shown for several days and while the ground outside is frozen solid, I started the Mantis tiller and tilled up a little section in the greenhouse floor in the corner. Nothing frozen although the soil temperature is around 32 degrees, Nice! I'll wait a few more days to get things organized but I think Spinach could go in the ground in the corner right now or very soon? Maybe I'll get an old window and make an area to cover and start some cold weather seeds for the next few days or weeks until spring arrives a little more?