When we last left off we managed to get two complete walls done on the greenhouse plus the roof framework on the structure. I had planned on laying the floor since it was time for gravel again and I figured I'd end up using a load of gravel for just this floor alone since I would want a good thick layer down to ensure that there's no "breaks" in the floor where mud can come up or weeds/grass can sprout through.
Of course to help this along I planned on laying a section of plastic sheeting over the bare ground to serve as a foundation for the floor. This way even as the gravel shifts and settles in the soft ground, it'll push the plastic down more so than just fully disappearing into the mud more and more under the weight of continuous foot traffic. What I ended up doing was salvaging a large tarp that I had originally used as a makeshift shelter for the scrap auto parts shelves I had set up against the southern fence line a while back. This tarp had already gotten blown around and damaged slightly from falling branches and was pretty much destined to fade away into the sun if I left it sitting where it was. I pulled the large tarp down from the area and spread it out. This tarp is pretty much large enough to cover up a whole car for all intents. To do my floor I brought the tarp into the kennel greenhouse and spread it out over the ground within as best as I could, keeping two of the corners mated properly with the slight overlapping up the inside walls. I then started cutting the tarp along one of the sides, allowing for excess tarp to overlap up the walls. The same was done on the final side until I had a cut out square of tarp from the large section. From there I trimmed the tarp at the excess ends to keep things somewhat even and neat looking. Of course I had to walk over the tarp in order to help settle the plastic into the ground, especially since it had rained previously and the ground was exceptionally soft. Next came the gravel. Since the location of the kennel greenhouse was on the opposite end of the garden from the midway driveway I had to use the wheelbarrow to move small amounts of gravel at a time to the floor. This meant traversing a series of soft spots and light gravel spots, so the wheelbarrow couldn't be fully loaded or I would've passed out trying to move that kind of weight that distance. When I started laying the gravel I started off in one corner, spreading the gravel out to go against the edges of the walls so the overlapping plastic would be held up against the inside wall. From there I did the opposite corner to get the plastic secure on that corner as well. From there I kept spreading gravel between the two corners until both were linked up with a layer of gravel along that one wall. From there I started spreading rock in the corner connecting the wall that holds the gate. I also started spreading gravel from the 2nd corner I started with and covered that wall to within a couple of feet from the gate. From there I laid more gravel to cover the middle of the floor as well as the gate wall until I eventually had 3/4 of the floor covered. In the process of laying the gravel I had to walk over the rock to settle it in more as it was causing air bubbles under the tarp and was shifting quite a bit until I got things fully settled underneath. I eventually made my way to the gate, getting rock over all of the plastic and even over the threshold of the gate going outside the kennel greenhouse. Again I kept walking over the ground to get the rock to settle more until it seemed somewhat settled enough that I didn't haven to move about anymore on the rock. Besides, when I start the work of building the beds and other infrastructure in the greenhouse, the rock will have plenty of opportunity to be settled in under the weight of my feet. The next thing is the beds that will be growing stuff within the greenhouse. I started off by moving a plastic drum inside the greenhouse. This drum was placed in the corner straight ahead from the gate. This drum has an open top but is a 55 gallon drum so it can hold a lot of water. The plan for this drum is to use it as a long term bulk hopper or the hydroponic gardens I plan to set up within the greenhouse. I will tap holes in the side of the drum for inlet and outlet PVC lines that will feed the hydroponic systems. A higher powered fountain pump will be anchored in the bottom of the drum and connected to the lowest fitting in the side of the drum, pumping plant solution into the manifold to supply the individual gardens. The gardens will have return lines that will feed a 1" PVC pipe manifold that will go back to a return line that will dump the water back into the drum. The whole system will be an interconnected permanent system that should be able to operate a long time with such a large capacity of plant solution stored. Now as for the raised beds and hydroponic gardens, I decided that the best way to handle the whole setup is to build integrated shelves going around the inside walls of the greenhouse. Instead of building individual raised beds and hydroponic gardens like the ones that are set up outside, the shelves will consist of boards that are mounted to the wall frames inside the greenhouse, using posts to hold the whole works up. This will use less material and still be just as strong as the individual tables. To do this I gathered up a small batch of scrap wood from my scrap pile, which consisted of some old porch/fence posts, some 2x6 boards, also from the old porch, and some miscellaneous 2x4's and pallet pickets. I may need more wood depending on how I set things up but all in all I think I gathered a good batch of wood to do the base shelving for the greenhouse. I started off by taking a 2x6 and measuring out and cutting a 10ft long board for the first span of shelving. This board will stretch across the greenhouse frame, going in front of the plastic drum sitting in the back corner of the structure. I laid this board on the middle portion of the wall frame then went ahead and measured about 2ft in from the edge of the long board then from that point measured across to the opposite side of the frame so I could cut another 2x6 board that would mate up to the first board. Now to attach this board I had to set up a leg for this. Since the posts are made of 4x4 posts that were cut to be decorative porch fence posts, I had to cut the decorative tops from them plus cut the half portion from the bottom of the posts so I can be left with a raw 4x4 post. From there I cut an eight inch long piece of 2x6 and secured the board to one end of the post. From there the post with the 2x6 was secured at that 2ft mark on the 10ft board, sticking about halfway out, where the post would be almost centered, with the edge of the 10ft long 2x6 laying dead center over the post, if that makes sense. I cut another piece of 2x6 to serve as a foot to go on the bottom end of the post where it will stand on the gravel. With the post set up at that 2ft mark on the first board (10ft) I then cut another 2x6 that would span the distance from the first board to the wall frame opposite this point. I laid the 2nd 2x6 board on top of the exposed portion of the short 2x6 on top of the post and the middle section of wall frame. I secured the post end of the 2x6 with wood screws. With that I have two whole shelves in place. For the next section of shelving, the one that will be right in front of the gate to the greenhouse, I made another post setup like I did with the first, using a porch post and short piece of 2x6 for the top and bottom of the post. The top board was secured with wood screws. From there I measured to a point a little more than 2ft from the gate and cut another 2x6. Next I cut another couple of short pieces of 2x6 for another foot and top then cut another post. After securing one piece of 2x6 to the end of the post that will be the top, I then attached the post assembly to one side of the end of the long 2x6, allowing for that half way overhang underneath. Reason being is I had to cut another length of 2x6 that would attach to this point and extend out to the wall frame to complete the third section of shelving. Lastly I had to do this same procedure for the fourth section of shelving that went along the wall panel holding the gate. Making two more post assemblies and attaching them in the same way as before, I cut the necessary 2x6's to make the final section of shelving, which falls short of the gate by a couple of feet, so as to keep the area open when entering the gate. You would have to walk diagonally to the right to clear the shelf right in front of the gate as well as the end of the shelf just to the right of the gate. With that all four walls of the greenhouse have shelving set up, allowing for a decent amount of open space in the middle for working on the plants, especially when they grow in the way some plants do. Plants like tomatoes and cucumbers will need some space to spread, even with trellises or posts, the size of the plants will facilitate having plenty of space in the middle to move around when working the gardens. The only thing I'll have to do is drill some holes in the ends of the boards going through the metal tubing of the wall frames so I can secure the ends of the boards with more screws to completely secure the whole assembly to the greenhouse frame. With that I can start adding the extra wood that will be needed to hold the buckets for the raised beds as well as the hydroponic assemblies.
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