Restaurant Greenhouse

[gfron1]

I'm at the stage of my restaurant when I feel its time to grow my own veg. Foraging accounts for up to 40% of my product, and I buy another 30-40% from local farmers, but I want more diversity in what I have to offer. So I got a loan, cleared a few trees and as of this morning finished building these guys:

The little guy is an 8x12 that I'll use for microgreens and a few raised beds, and the larger 20x30 will be for beets, beans, tomatoes, peppers and such.

I have so much to learn about greenhouse growing starting with temperature control and soil quality. But, here I go on a new journey.

[KennethT]

Can't wait to see how it goes!!!! What is the typical weather like in NM? I assume it is desert-like in that you should be getting lots of sun, but what are the temperatures (Day vs night)? Does it change seasonally?

I've done lots of research into greenhouses (I keep toying with building one on the roof of my work building to grow produce to sell to restaurants), so I'm really curious as to how yours goes....

[gfron1]

I'm way south in the state (almost Mexico) but up in the mountains (6,000') so we're never too hot nor cold. But, its a bit cold for growing outside of a greenhouse for most of the year. We were getting into the 40s as late as last week at night and swinging way up to 85º during the day last week. This week 55-85º all week. I'll say that for a smaller set up I bought THIS and can't sing its praises highly enough. I wrote a helluva review that hasn't posted as of now, but really, amazing engineering.

[Okanagancook]

I have a similar smaller greenhouse and yes I am so glad I got it.  Microgreens are grown in the spring and fall; seedlings are grown up ready to plant outside and then tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and peppers stay in there all summer.  It has a vent that opens when it gets hot but it is so hot here in the summer the temperature often reaches 38C plus inside during the day.  Lots of watering.  It was package that we had to put together.  

[dcarch]

In NM weather, looks like you will need electric fans to ventilate and cool them in a very hot sunny day.

 

In a high elevation and dry air location, swamp coolers can be a consideration.

 

 

dcarch

Edited June 11, 2015 by dcarch (log)

[KennethT]

that was my thought as well - swamp coolers would be very effective in a hot and dry environment. But, I don't know if they're made for a small greenhouse, and the fans required for them use a lot of power. If it's not available or feasible, I would look into an atomized misting setup. These are pretty cheap to install, and will significantly lower the temperature in the greenhouse - they are especially effective in dry areas like NM. Just make sure that the droplet size is significantly small enough so that you have full evaporation before you reach the plant level, otherwise you could run into mold/mildew problems. The problem with them is that if you have hard water, they can clog. But they don't require a large fan for them to be effective like a swamp cooler would.

Very hot conditions (35C and higher) in the greenhouse will definitely reduce both quality and yield, and increase the water requirements considerably. If you get lots of sunshine, another thing to look into would be a CO2 generator. With enough light and nutrients, you can run the greenhouse CO2 up to 1200PPM and the plants will grow like crazy since in sunny, warm environments, CO2 is the limiting factor wrt growth. This would be good in combination with a mister since constantly bringing in fresh air to cool the greenhouse (like with natural ventilation or a swamp cooler) will also get rid of any extra CO2 you add. Using with a mister will make it so you don't have to bring in fresh air as often which is desirable.

[KennethT]

Also, this is a good company that sells greenhouse equipment: www.growerssupply.com

[dcarch]

I would keep these in mind:

 

Locate the greenhouse and the condenser side of your freezer compressors in a way that you can have free hot air to warm your greenhouses in the winter time.

 

A big compost heap. you will have plenty of stuff from your kitchen to feed your compost heap. You will have the best soil in no time. 

 

Save your coffee ground also.

 

Locate your greenhouses in a way that your customers can see them. Great for marketing. 

 

You will need electric light inside the greenhouses. Sometimes you need to work inside in the night time.

 

dcarch

Edited June 11, 2015 by dcarch (log)

[gfron1]

Growers Supply is who we bought the big one ... same as Farmtek, right? And the greenhouses are already located so that's too late. We're already on the compost and coffee grounds, and located next to our parking lot. I'm going to do an open house and put some signage too. I need to really brush up though on optimal temp, how often to water, pest control...

[Deryn]

Oh dear. I love that smaller greenhouse. And the price seems very reasonable! Looks as though it would be transportable too (before it is set up). What size and how many boxes did it arrive in, gfron?

 

I hope you have a lot of fun and profit from this latest undertaking. Good for you. I love to visit restaurants that 'grow their own' (or forage). One knows for sure that the food is going to be fresh!

[gfron1]

Oh dear. I love that smaller greenhouse. And the price seems very reasonable! Looks as though it would be transportable too (before it is set up). What size and how many boxes did it arrive in, gfron?

 

I hope you have a lot of fun and profit from this latest undertaking. Good for you. I love to visit restaurants that 'grow their own' (or forage). One knows for sure that the food is going to be fresh!

It came UPS in 2 boxes (3'x8'x8"), and the panels are polycarb so it wasn't that heavy. Free shipping from Wayfair. The first box was the main kit and the 2nd was my extension from 8x8 to 8x12

Edited June 11, 2015 by gfron1 (log)

[gfron1]

HERE's my review of the snap-and-grow greenhouse. I really, really love it.

[dcarch]

Harborfreight* has good prices.

 

10" x 12" $699.

 

 

dcarch

 

*I am not the owner of HF. :-)

[gfron1]

It seemed like all I have been doing is pulling weeds since my last post. New Mexico dirt isn't used to water so when you give it water daily all sorts of things pop up that you didn't know were there. But I feel like I'm turning a corner. I recognize my weeds and pull them daily. I'm in the habit of dumping my coffee grounds and beer brew grains and working them into the soil. And as of a few days ago things were really starting to look like food plants! Here's my Oaxacan Green Corn.

[Shelby]

NICE! 

 

Yep, the best way is to go out early in the morning while it's cooler and pull the damn weeds.  Don't skip even one day.  The bastards take over.

[gfweb]

Why not mulch with plastic sheeting or fabric and forget about the weed pulling?

[gfron1]

Why not mulch with plastic sheeting or fabric and forget about the weed pulling?

Is that what I'm supposed to be doing? Wish I would have known that a few weeks ago

[heidih]

Well not if you are trying to create a biodynamic growing situation. Much talk lately about it smothering the good "bugs" as well Although plastic barriers suppress weeds and diseases, they are costly, require effort first to lay and then to remove, divert water out of garden beds, and end up in the trash at the end of the season. They warm the soil, which can mean earlier harvests, but they can also kill the good bugs and bacteria that support a healthy organic garden. And plastic mulch is petroleum-based, energy-intensive to create, and unrecyclable. (Rodale website)

[gfweb]

Perhaps there are tradeoffs., but I'm sure that the right experiment would show that weeds themselves are beneficial to a garden.

 

Landscape fabric is non-chemical, reusable and practical.

 

On a large scale farm the choice is fabric vs Round-up.

[Shelby]

I use bales of hay (wheat) on most of mine.  There are pics on the garden thread if interested.

[gfron1]

I am definitely doing this organic and as I advance, biodynamic (doing some bio practices already). Next up for me is maximizing space. It does no good to drop $4-5K on greenhouses if I can't get big production out of them for the restaurant.

[Martin Fisher]

Organic mulch is definitely the way to go, IMHO.

An organic mulch not only suppresses weeds, it reduces erosion and compaction, enhances water infiltration and retention, moderates soil temperatures, improves soil structure, provides nutrients, benefits beneficial microbes & insects and it's usually cheap or free.

Drip irrigation is another good idea that works great coupled with real mulch.

 

Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich