Greenhouse setup in the Southeast Zone 8B

**jharpe** · 04-24-2013, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by Davidlastink

interesting... a bit gross and seems like some work getting in under there but interesting.

I just gave em an area, filled it with bedding when ever the older stuff seemed too cluttered.

The oldest bedding was well minced and shredded I'm sure if I had years of deep bedding I'd be able to dig out the under layer every year and find a nice rich soil. Great thing about it that the chickens work as com posters and egg layers in a proper setup, one which I never achieved. Properly done those chickens really put out a lot of profitable stuff for an extremely small initial outlay and very little maintenance. My latest gardening adventure is costing me more than the chickens did even with buying a few months feed. Nevermind labor lol. Plus the Kids love them... hard for a kid to get attached to a head of lettuce lol.

Actually not much work at all, the coop is 4 x 8 for the 20 hens, will be adding on soon. So a good seed shovel to mix it up and let it compost a bit before spreading it around the garden. From the group now we get a few hundred pounds of good fertilizer each year. May have to start throwing some sawdust and paper under there for added mulching.

We have also started cycling dirt from the chicken pen into the garden and bring dirt from the garden as fill back into the chicken yard. Keeps stuff moving and airy and the plants and chickens love the dirt change.

The only fertilizer machines better than Chickens are Rabbits, but the furry ones don't lay eggs.

Still want to start a worm bed for vermicomposting, may have a good spot in the greenhouse for it!

**hunter63** · 04-24-2013, 11:19 AM

Like to see some pic's...when you get'er up and running.

I would have to look it up.... but an early Doomsday Preppers, featured a guy that converted his swimming pool in to a Micro climate.....sounds like what you want to do.

PS
http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...-mcclung-47863

or
http://gardenpool.org/author/admin

**jharpe** · 04-26-2013, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by hunter63

Like to see some pic's...when you get'er up and running.

I would have to look it up.... but an early Doomsday Preppers, featured a guy that converted his swimming pool in to a Micro climate.....sounds like what you want to do.

PS
http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...-mcclung-47863

or
http://gardenpool.org/author/admin

That was one of my favorite setups! One swimming pool, deep end had Talapia, shallow end was a square foot garden. Chickens in cages above the fish pond section.

My greenhouse will not be so self contained, but there will be aspects of self sufficiency in it on the farm setup we have. Greenhouse will be solar powered with 12v pumps and lights, a 500 gallon reservoir capturing runoff from the greenhouse used to irrigate and cool, fertilizer from the chickens and fish cleaning leavings, and bees involved somehow when I get that part figured out and geothermal involvement with greenhouse 2 feet down and dirt mounds at the North and West sides.

I think it is sound. If I tear it all down and put a goldfish pond there in the Fall, you will know it had issues.

**Davidlastink** · 04-26-2013, 11:51 PM

Try worm towers or a worm condo. I think I will give it another go this year, got some interesting left overs from my last attempt.

**jharpe** · 04-29-2013, 05:47 PM

Coop image. Coop floor is welded wire and chain link fencing. So far that has kept the varmints from dining on the flock.
Fertilizer falls through the fence fairly well and sits there waiting on us to scoop it up for use.

Coop.jpg

**Davidlastink** · 04-30-2013, 07:47 PM

I that a mountain lion in the back ground!? lol

I just ordered in a pound of reds from uncle Jim will post up some info once I get my bins started up this week end.