• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Lots of Helpers

Our family's life in New Zealand

  • Home
  • Our Library
  • Math Freebie
  • Contact Us
  • Legal Policies
    • Disclosure and Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Archives for Greenhouse

Greenhouse

Greenhouse

October 5, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Today’s helpful tip: If you buy plastic for a greenhouse, make sure it is high quality. We bought greenhouse plastic twice, a few years apart. The first cover was used in Cheviot for a couple of years, and then we bought another cover for another greenhouse. It was never used over there, but we brought it here, and when we set up the greenhouse last year, we used both pieces to cover it. The newer piece shredded after just a year, and when we had a couple of storms in the last few weeks, with high winds, it blew off—in pieces! The older one is still in good shape. So, we bought a new piece of plastic to cover the entire house, so it won’t have to be pieced together. When I got on the website of a greenhouse supply company in the North Island, I found the end of a roll of plastic that was bigger than we needed, for less money than ordering the exact amount cut to size! That gives us enough to recover the miniature greenhouse I use for starting plants. On Saturday, the boys got the old cover off, and they and their dad put the new one on. At one point in the afternoon, I was urgently called outside—all hands were needed. They had unfolded the new cover and put it over the greenhouse—the wrong direction! I got out there to see this: 3-IMG_6843

 

After I took that picture, Simon said, “Wait! Let me pose!” So, he struck this pose of wondering what to do about the mess they were in.

2-IMG_6845

A few hours later I went out to see how the project was progressing, and they were finishing fastening the plastic to the roll-ups on the sides. They had the plastic securely fastened down to the side of the house, but the bottom foot and a half or so on each side rolls up on pipes. 4-IMG_6846

This is what I have growing inside. Lots of salad stuff! I was out there today, and the lettuce to the left has about doubled in size in the last two days! 1-IMG_6847

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Garden, Greenhouse

Birthday Blessings

October 12, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 6 Comments

I have some wonderful children! I really don’t care if I receive any gifts for my birthday or not. It’s lovely to know that I am appreciated and loved, but they make sure I know that anyway. However, now that they are reaching adulthood, they are doing some incredible things for my birthday. Last year, they installed lights in the food-storage room in the garage, so I don’t have to find a flashlight when I need to get something from that room. I am appreciative every time I flick on the lights and open that door. This year, they topped that—when I didn’t think they could come up with anything I would like better!

My birthday was yesterday, and no one had any gifts for me. It was just a normal day, until after family worship—just at bedtime, actually. We finished our evening prayers, and the two youngest boys took off out of the room. They returned with:

14-IMG_6102

A very interesting lemon cake that they had made without a recipe! It tasted fairly good, to my surprise. I was quite pleased with their thoughtfulness and initiative.

This morning early, the two oldest boys and Mr. Sweetie took off to town. I didn’t think much of it, because Simon goes to town on a Saturday morning every so often. They returned a few hours later, and brought a bag of kumara (sweet potatoes) into the house. I was surprised, and they told me, “We have a secret informant!” Last evening, Gayle had asked me, at bedtime, if the meal I made last night was my favorite. I told him I like it—but I like most of what I make! I had thought, while I was making it, that kumara would be good with it, but we didn’t have any. Apparently, he told the boys that I was hungry for kumara before they left!

The next act was to forbid me to go to the other side of the garage. I had planned to work in the greenhouse today, and pretended to fuss about not being able to go out there. Before lunchtime, however, they came in and told me to go out with them. I got to the greenhouse, and the first thing I saw was that the brick path was finished. The next thing I saw was:

15-IMG_6107

A hazelnut tree and a lime tree! I wanted a hazelnut for a pollinator for the four we already planted, and the lime tree someone gave us froze this winter, so they replaced it for me. We’ll take more care with this one! Then, as I was admiring the trees, I suddenly got wet. Someone had turned on the sprinklers they had just installed along the ridgepole of the greenhouse! There are enough sprinklers to water the entire area, by simply connecting a hose to our outside tap! They had also tilled everything that needed replanting, so I got to play out there this afternoon and get some things planted. Isn’t this a beautiful place?

16-IMG_6108

Freshly-planted cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.17-IMG_6109

The last of the lettuces we set out in April, and some of the tomatoes I’m growing for this summer.18-IMG_6110

My baby plant nursery, out of reach of the slugs, and the silverbeet (Swiss Chard) plants the neighbor dug out of his greenhouse and gave us. We’ll get a few meals off it before it bolts.19-IMG_6111

One of the sprinklers.20-IMG_6112

I love that brick path!21-IMG_6113

The sprinklers are on—Mr. Imagination likes to get wet!22-IMG_6114

Esther shared some photos with me that she took while they were doing the work. I enjoyed seeing them all working together!

10-IMG_2527

They pulled out some of the bricks that were already in place, compacted the soil and leveled it, then finished the path.11-IMG_252812-IMG_253013-IMG_2533

The last step was to till everything again so it looked perfect!14-IMG_2537

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Garden, Greenhouse

My New Greenhouse!

June 8, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

My boys spoil me. They do so many things for me, and I just have to keep wondering how in the world I ended up with such wonderful sons! The most recent big project was building a greenhouse. When we lived in Cheviot, we were given the frames for two greenhouses, from two different people. We used one for a couple of seasons, and Simon assembled the other but it didn’t get covered with plastic before we moved and had to dismantle it again. They were two different shapes, but when the boys started working on erecting them here a month or two ago, they figured out how to put them together to make one long high tunnel, about 40 feet by 10 feet (13.5 m by 3.5 m)! The next hurdle was to cover them. After some searching, they found the old plastic from the hoophouse, and the new plastic we had bought for the other one. They were able to cobble them together and cover everything except the lowest part of one side; Gayle built a device for rolling up the lower couple of feet of plastic on the other side, for ventilation during the summer. We bought sheets of clear plastic to finish the part we didn’t have plastic for, and they built frames for them, and hinged the frames so they can be opened in the summer, as well. Now, I’m enjoying having salads growing in there for at least part of the winter! Here are a couple of photos of the boys working on tacking down the plastic.

4-IMG_56696-IMG_5671

This was a peek inside, during construction.

5-IMG_5670

….and a view from the same place, this week!

3-IMG_5738

This is a close-up of the bed right inside the door. I found a new-to-me variety of radishes called German Giant. They were advertised as getting large without getting pithy, and not going to seed so quickly. So far, they’re living up to their promise—I’ll sure be interested to see how they work in the summer! We’re really enjoying having radishes on our salads.4-IMG_5740

We transplanted the lettuces on the left into the ground here right after the framework was erected, and have been eating salads from that bed for a month now. I set out the lettuces, bok choy, and other things on the right a couple of weeks ago, and we’ll start eating them soon.5-IMG_5741And, here’s a fun picture! I found this leaf one day when I was washing lettuce. It was two leaves grown together! It’s hard to tell, but the midribs were stuck to each other. I had never seen one like this before.

1-IMG_5737

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Garden, Greenhouse, Homemaking

Primary Sidebar

  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Goodreads

Recent Posts

  • Book Review–The Two-Cent Piece
  • Science
  • Book Review–The Me I See In You
  • Book Review–She is My Child
  • Little Girls

Archives

Disclosure

Some links on this site are affiliate links.

Subscribe to the Blog

Thank you!

Please check your email to confirm your subscription.

.

You can unsubscribe anytime. For more details, see our Privacy Policy.

The Family:


Dad and Mom (Gayle and Emma)

Girl #1, Esther, my right hand

Boy #1, Seth (Mr. Handyman)

Boy #2, Simon (Mr. Inventor)

Boy #3, Mr. Intellectual

Boy #4, Mr. Diligence

Boy #5, Mr. Sweetie

Boy #6, Mr. Imagination

Girl #2, Little Miss

Girl #3, Miss Joy

Book Reviews Website

IgniteLit

COPYRIGHT © 2023 · TWENTY SEVEN PRO ON GENESIS FRAMEWORK · DISCLOSURE & DISCLAIMER · PRIVACY POLICY