The Compost Bin

Well I set out to build a hoop house this weekend but I wound up with Snoopy's Dog House instead.

I know I could have taken a few PVC pipes and bent them into arches and covered it with plastic like most people do, but I really don't want PVC anywhere near my vegetables. Call me paranoid but the whole BPA, baby bottle situation has me rethinking my plastic use.

And besides, that paranoia also led me to build this unique looking hot house for my garden. I built it with 2x2 lumber for the frame that I screwed into the raised bed for stability. Then I covered it with this Garden Fabric that I bought a few years ago and never did anything with.

The fabric is stapled to the frame but I left a large flap so that I could get inside when I need to. And hopefully I'll need to get inside it a lot so I can harvest very early spring vegetables.

Next thing I have to do is weed inside the raised bed and add some compost (of course). Then I'll bring my Min/Max thermometer out there and check the temps for a few days. It's been warm enough lately that I should be fine but since it's still early March I'm still on the lookout for more frost.

The last step will be to transplant the cold tolerant greens. The spinach, lettuce, arugula, swiss chard and bok choy that I started under lights in my basement are doing well. In another week or two they'll be ready to go into the Snoopy Dog House.