End of January: Cold, Fishless Waters and a Greenhouse

  I guess one of the disturbing observations this month has been the absence of any fish in The Creek.

  Perhaps the concern is more a product of my poor memory than any fact of a mid-winter abnormality.  Water flow remains better than average, with plenty of water-rock sounds filling the little Canyon.  Water clarity is normal. Water temperature feels cold. Algae grows in the swift and richly oxygenated current as well as in slower pools. And macro-invertebrates of a variety of species continue clinging to the darkened undersides of submerged stones. So where are the minnows, carp, gar, bass, and perch?

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(This juvenile green sunfish was actually found February 4 and added to the
blog entry later. No other dead fish have been found. No living ones either.)

  This month we began construction on a twelve- by thirty-foot hoop-style greenhouse to help us moderate the extreme temperatures (freezes up into the second week of April and one hundred degrees by the end of May), the rapacious jaws of grasshoppers, and the stray chicken.  

1. Level a spot.
2. Fasten together four two by sixes of treated lumber to form a frame that will help hold together the base of the house as well as support a couple raised beds on the inside.
3. Dig post-holes.
4. Insert five-foot sections of one and five-eighths inch seventeen gauge pipe, set three feet into the ground and standing two feet above.
5. Level these support pipes and secure with concrete.
6. Then fasten the support pipes to the two by six frame.
7. And, finally, insert arched one and three-eighths inch pipe (actually, two of these pipes joined to form one complete arch) into the tops of the support pipes and secure with screws.
8. Then it's simply a matter of building a door, framing up the ends, and securing everything again and again.
9. One big sheet of plastic comes next.

Mixing concrete for each support pipe

Note the single pipe down the middle, connecting all the ribs

Bending pipe on the deck

Chickens supervising the process 

One of the ribs secured to the top of
one of the support pipes and fastened
with a couple stout screws

A hole full of concrete (cheap insurance)

Top pipe fastened in the middle

Top pipe fastened at one of the ends

Framing up one end, beginning with a door

Part of the end framing, notched and
screwed to an end piece of arched pipe

Framing at one end

A lower corner of the door

The middle of the door with wires crossed
diagonally and tightened to form a firm door

  Below is a series of images showing construction of a wire fabric fastened along the lower two feet of each long side so that the plastic will be able to be pulled up without also allowing grabby hens to enter the greenhouse.

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Clear plastic sheets for the two ends. Marking a line to cut.

With some old trauma shears from work.

Duck tape along the rough edge of the panels to avoid
tearing the plastic film that will come into contact with it.

And screwing the clear panels to the frame on the end.

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Adding U-Channel to the sides. The plastic will be fastened to this.

Wonderful TEK® screws used all over the greenhouse.

Then fastening the plastic to the U-Channel with "wiggle wire"
(or Stainless Steel Spring, as the good people at FarmTek call it).

Advice: please hesitate to secure plastic in any other way.
This really does work well. Easy installation, too.

Amending the loose, sandy soil with peat and compost.

And framing in the two main beds with 2x6's.
Planted on the left: spinach, cucumber, pole beans, onion sets,
broccoli sets, beets, and mustard greens.

Beautiful cold weather for greenhouse construction.

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