Greenhouse Update – Mrs. Barn’s SIPs

Things have been popping in the orbit of Shangri-la, what with summer gardening (soon to be complimented with winter gardening), visiting the grandsons (and their parents), preparing for the upcoming woodfinishing workshop and historic trades fair, and a multitude of other stuff disrupting my writing and blogging routines.

The greenhouse is currently the home for a series of Self Irrigating Planters Mrs. Barn asked me to create for her.  We built five different versions and in keeping with her background as a plant scientist she was conducting a standardized experiment to determine which version is the one to go with in the future.  We plan to use SIPs almost exclusively inside the greenhouse so her efforts are well worth it.

These images are from a month ago, so the plants are all bigger now and burgeoning with tomatoes or eggplants.

In addition to the greenhouse experiments she’s been harvesting the seeming bushels of green beans we love so much.  Nothing quite like fresh green beans, and her dilled beans are the best.

The asparagus season is long in the rearview mirror but was savored intensely in its time.  The asparagus plants are now full-blown bushes about ten feet tall.  Mrs. Barn sez this is one of the keys to keeping an asparagus bed thriving.  She must be right, ours is many years old.

As for all the other activities, stay tuned.