Our Green House

About two and a half months ago we used the lumber from our Sukkah to build a small green house (4 x 8). The lattice helps to protect the plastic from the wind.

Eight weeks ago I set up a hydroponic system along with two growing beds. The idea was to grow some cucumber and spinach in the hydroponic system and lettuce in the growing beds. By planting some seeds every week in the beds I hoped to have a continuous crop of lettuce.

Since I eat two huge salads a day I consume about eight bunches of red and green leaf and romaine lettuce a week. Also lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers and Italian squash .
Growing some of everything would help the grocery budget and at the same time have fresher and better quality veggies.

What I have ended up with are no cucumbers, they did not even sprout; six spinach plants in four cups, I planted six seed to a cup; and two lettuce plants that I moved to the hydroponic system last week. The lettuce has tripled is size in just a week in the growing system. I harvested a small baggie of spinach today. I am hoping to start harvesting lettuce in two weeks.

The growing beds are not growing as fast, that may be due to the cold weather. The first lettuce I planted was very close to the door and six feet from the heater. It is only about 1/2 inch after eight weeks. the next planting which is closer to the heat is about two inches and I am thinning it out and planting in another area so it can grow larger.

The left end of the bed is the first planting and the right end is the second, a week later. There are suppose to be three rows, but the back row by the plastic just has not sprouted well or grown.

The bed below was planted three weeks ago. It is amazing how the temperature effects how fast they grow.

As the days get warmer the results should be better. I am glad that I had the heat cube in there this week with all the extra cold for Arizona weather. One morning the thermometer said 40 at about three feet off the floor. The water bucket has a thin layer of ice in it.