One Alaskans greenhouse

[Alasgun]

Carrots are in the barn to dry for a day or so before going into cold storage. I set up a work station where i could rough trim them, saving the tops for rabbit fodder. I saved a dozen shocks of those shown.

Then there’s the “haul”; best Carrot’s i’ve ever grown. Very uniform, of good size, few “distort’s” and only 2 split’s.

Did electroculture play a part? I’ve yet to make a determination. Other strong contenders for credit would be the Lord and the tremendous rain’s we’ve had all year. More then likely it will take a more normal year for me to say; however a “thank you Lord” is always in order for what ever we get each year!
Excited to work the beet’s, parsnips and potato’s next.

 

[heirloomgal]

Carrots are in the barn to dry for a day or so before going into cold storage. I set up a work station where i could rough trim them, saving the tops for rabbit fodder. I saved a dozen shocks of those shown.

Then there’s the “haul”; best Carrot’s i’ve ever grown. Very uniform, of good size, few “distort’s” and only 2 split’s.

Did electroculture play a part? I’ve yet to make a determination. Other strong contenders for credit would be the Lord and the tremendous rain’s we’ve had all year. More then likely it will take a more normal year for me to say; however a “thank you Lord” is always in order for what ever we get each year!
Excited to work the beet’s, parsnips and potato’s next.

Beautiful carrot harvest. I've shied away from carrots over the years because of my carrot rust fly issues, but my DD planted some anyway this year and I was really shocked at the size and quality of the carrots she harvested. And there was no rust fly damage either even though she only applied coffee grounds the one time in early summer. Whatever the reason for the great carrots, I'll take it!!

 

[Alasgun]

Thanks @heirloomgal, the “fly” part of your carrot story sparked a thought. We use to struggle every year with root maggot's in onions, then i started covering them and for 2 years running i’ve not had one onion damaged!
When i plant the onion sets i will till and trowel the bed, tamping it a bit with the trowel. Then using the dibble board i’ll move along a foot at a time planting. Then i lay out and hook up the drip manifold for onions and place 4 hoops along the length of the bed. Once hoops are in place i lay a precut piece of Agribon 19 cloth over the top of the hoops and using spring clips i make sure it’s tight in all directions. When the fabric is on correctly there is a 1 foot tail hanging down all around. Using a piece of good 5/16 diameter nylon rope i make end loops in a piece that will go all the way around the bed but is 2 ft. Short of coming together. An elastic bungee cord makes the connection and once in place the tail is pulled down tight as well and the ends tucked.
I only open this twice during the season to weed etc and then at harvest it all comes off.
Carrots are enough like Onions that the same/or similar arrangement would work for growing them.
Food for thought?

 

[heirloomgal]

Where do you get Agribon 19 cloth? Does it create a greenhouse effect, or are the temperatures in and out of the enclosure about the same? I've been wanting to try some agri fabric but wasn't sure about the type.

 

[Alasgun]

I get mine from Johnny’s seeds. I buy the 30 ft wide stuff because it’s easy to cut covers that fit my beds, all beds being the same dimension.
It’s advertised as insect/light frost barrier And comes in numerous weights. The “Agribon 15” is too lite for my purposes and tears easily. The “19” passes light and rain pretty well and im sure there is a small perk in terms of heat holding, but it wont be much.

For the onions i reuse the cover year after year. In a couple weeks i’ll cover the remaining kale with Agribon and before long it will be a big tunnel in the snow that i manipulate to cut another plant when the one hanging outside the back door goes away. The kale covers are trash by spring.

Here’s a link. They also sell a conduit bending tool to make various width hoops. The Blue spring clamps are from Bootstrapfarmer.com

Search Results | Johnny's Selected Seeds

Johnny's Selected Seeds

www.johnnyseeds.com

 

[Alasgun]

Parsnips are ho-hum this year but when you consider this is a 120 day crop and we had a very late start and near flood like conditions for 60 of those days; it looks pretty good!!

Now that i have my own seed for these, im curious as to whether i’ll have any improvement in this crop?

 

[Branching Out]

Where do you get Agribon 19 cloth? Does it create a greenhouse effect, or are the temperatures in and out of the enclosure about the same? I've been wanting to try some agri fabric but wasn't sure about the type.

I buy Agribon 19 from William Dam in Canada, $70 for a roll that is about 7 x 250'. If you are careful it can be used over and over for several years.

 

[Alasgun]

Beet root’s are on the barn floor for a couple days before cold storage. Tomorrow i’d like to get the Potato’s in there as well.

I’ve always enjoyed @heirloomgal’s attention to detail in her photo shoot’s and how she even keeps color groupings together and in the right place. well; in trying to emulate her, the only other red thing i had to go with the beet’s is this piece of moose backstrap. Hey, i’ve seen stranger stuff on here. It is “harvest season” which to us means one thing.

These are big animals; that strap was 10 inches wide and 4 feet long. Think about that for a minute, 4 ft. Of T-bone, Ribeye etc.

 

[heirloomgal]

You certainly have an eye for color subtleties @Alasgun! That color symmetry is about perfect!

 

[Alasgun]

Except for some standing Kale, Broccoli and Chard; the beds are empty. They’ve all received a wheelbarrow of compost which was tilled and troweled. There was enough compost this year to give everything a good dose!
The supply hose‘s for Rabbit water and Irrigation were pulled and the irrigation manifolds were blown down. At this point nothing is exposed to freeze, the rabbit system is operating on it’s winter “Tank and pump” and i’ll hand water the remaining greenhouse stuff As long as i keep it going. We seem to have moved by the rainy spell for a bit so if the light holds out a while longer some of those new cucumber’s will come to fruit!
I still need to renovate the strawberry patch and mulch several things to be completely winter ready. With several hard freezes predicted for the week-end, im ready at a good time.
For the year, we put away 13 gallon bags of carrots And beets, 6 bags of Parsnips and roughly 50 lbs of potato’s. The Red Norlands produced as usual but the Magic Moly’s grown from new to me seed were a flop And i’ll have to find some better stock for next year.
Those onions in the door bin are still ones were working on from Last Year! Large amounts of Beans, Broccoli, Snow peas etc. were frozen and vac-sealed too.

Thank you Lord, it was a real good year!

Moving ahead there’s the tinniest little cukes forming on the indoor plants! It never ends.