The Real Greenhouses of McCall – The Timber Garden

Let’s take a greenhouse tour. In this area it is hard to grow tomatoes, peppers, and longer-season without some help. That’s why there are so many different greenhouses! I’ve never lived anywhere where so many people put time, money, or cleverness into these structures. I’ll start in our backyard.

Toby’s parents gave us our 10′ x 12′ greenhouse as a housewarming gift, and they couldn’t have picked a better gift. It is from Harbor Freight and costs around $800. There are pretty extensive online reviews and instructions on how to put it up perfectly, but we didn’t have any issues. The important thing is to get the foundation square. We had incredible luck…there was a pile of smooth rocks right next to where we wanted to put the greenhouse. We dug out a 6″ pit a little larger than the greenhouse footing. Next we leveled it, then filled in with the rocks. This keeps everything clean and dry, provides a fantastic heat sink, and raises the humidity in the greenhouse. If I there is a cold night coming up, I can ‘water’ the floor and the evaporation keeps the chill off the plants. We built beds inside the greenhouse, so we didn’t need to have access to a bare dirt floor. If you have the option I HIGHLY recommend using a rock foundation.

With the cat’s help, we were able to built the kit in about 3 days. We installed the beds after the greenhouse was finished. Even though they had posts, building them after the greenhouse was up wasn’t really an issue. My favorite thing about the greenhouse beds (and our raised beds) is they are build ENTIRELY out of material salvaged from the local dump. The bottom is trex decking that has 1/4″ spaces in it for drainage. And who throws away gorgeous 2x8s and cedar posts!? The tin is from our friends Sandy and Jeff who recently moved from McCall.

These beds were one of the last things we did, and we were really running out of dirt at that time! We used a lot of aged horse manure that was free-to-haul-away, but the summers start getting busy around May. These beds did get filled in more, but the tomatoes were really hurting in their pots mid-May so I got desperate and planted them. Look at the second one in, poor guy. He’s so confused he’s practically upside-down.

On the opposite side of the greenhouse we had a row of big pots with tomatoes. There were five large pots, some wooden and some plastic. They are hard to keep evenly watered, so we are going to build a low bed on that side in the spring. At first it seems like your plants are tiny and you have so much room, and then you can barely get
through the door without tomatoes attacking you. Give yourself some walking space, or carry pruning shears with you in case you have to cut your way out!

We didn’t have a problem with pests until the end of the season, when aphids started attacking the cucumbers.

The mystery pipe on the back wall? That is my failed strawberry tube. Although it has a moderately clever watering-system, it was much too hot when I transplanted the strawberries. They only got established in a few of the holes. I’m going to try again next year when it is cooler, although if anyone can suggest a good trailing plant that like the heat more, I’ll try it! Maybe a few cucumber seedlings?

-Sam