Grant - Home-grown tomatoes in January

She had help building it and they worked on it off and on for about a year to complete it. It’s a 20x20-foot building, constructed with mostly salvaged materials. The frame is made of new materials. She used plastic polycarbonate sheets for the ceiling and saved windows for the sides. The door is even repurposed.

The floor is made of recyclable bricks and designed in different patterns with a drain in the floor to remove excess water. Inside, she used raised beds and other plastic containers, and even blocks to raise vegetables in. She uses a natural gas heater to help control the temperature on cold days. The plastic roof and glass walls help to draw heat into the building.

When you walk inside, there are vegetable plants everywhere, with produce just ready to pick and eat. The tomatoes grow all around the sides and hang down and Rhonda uses strings to help support the vines.

She uses a water catching system to catch water run off, which is stored a black plastic drums. Rhonda has invested a lot of time and effort into this greenhouse.

She said gardening is a way for her to relax and to get away from stresses of life and also to have some fresh vegetables in the winter. She grows tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, Dragon Fruit, limes, an orange tree, various herbs, squash, lettuce, and even a banana tree. The banana tree is too small right now for bananas.

For the winter, she has to use self-pollinating plants in order for them to produce or she will have to use a very small paint brush to pollinate each plant.

Before regular summer gardening, Rhonda starts growing seedlings, starting around February to transplant in her outside garden. Rhonda said to have a good producing garden starts out with good soil, so she has her own compost pile. Rhonda discards old food and leaves to break down. To help with composting, she adds worms to help to break down the matter.

Rhonda said she wants to try hydroponics next. Hydroponics is a production method where the plants are grown in a nutrient water solution rather than in soil.

And if you were wondering, Rhonda gave me some fresh tomatoes to take home for a tomato sandwich and they were very tasty.