So we are at it yet again, and even bigger! Thanks to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS - https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/national/home/) we qualified for a grant to build a high tunnel! Our local NRCS office in St. Helens, Oregon has been amazing. Only a select number of individuals can qualify for the grant each year, so apply early if you're interested. Anyway, we were approved and thus the process of building another high tunnel has started. The kit we purchased came from Oregon Valley Greenhouse and boy their yard crew is amazing! It took about an hour to load, but they know what they're doing and strapped everything on to ensure it wasn't going anywhere. Hard to believe that this pile will make a 30' x 72' high tunnel. The only thing not in the picture is the poly for the end walls and the top.
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Time to build the soil mixing station! The bottom table is at the right height for a wheel barrow to bring in compost and mix it together with our coconut coir, perlite, and soil amendments (rock dust, greensand, azomite, blood and/or bone meal, and rock phosphate). The upper table is used to add water to make our "oatmeal" like substance for the soil blockers. It's open on one side to allow easy access but contain the soil on the table.
This year we wanted to move out of the basement to start our plants, so germination tables are underway. Our greenhouse is able to hold three germination tables making planting successions that much easier. We used foam board to provide an insulated base in each box but first we needed to cut them to fit. The foam boards help insulate the table and provide a good base for the sand and heating cables to rest on. We decided it would be much easier to use cattle panels to zip tie the heating cable to since the cable cannot touch. Ah, the first seeds on the warming table. Lovely!
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