For a few years now, husband and I have planed and plotted and dreamed of building a Walipini (link is a pdf.) aka a pit greenhouse.
Average temperature the ground stays is 50F, that means you only need to get another 30 degrees to reach perfect growing temperatures for the majority of plants. A Walipini means no weeds, no bad weather, it has it's own water collecting system, as well as a ventilation system that can be opened and closed to allow bees access. Bannies can be placed in there to help control insect problems and fertilize. A family of 7 needs about 900 sq feet to feed themselves all year round in one of these. We have some plans on improving the space inside of it.
oh I can't wait.
The picture above is a whole lot of windows and sliding glass doors. A friend of ours installs them, and we get all the ones he pulls out.
What we will be doing, is digging a 4foot + deep hole, reserving the top soil for later, and using the other dirt to berm it to 8ft. The glass will be the pitched roof set at a certain angle to utilize the winter solstice and decrease the summer's. Bridge planks will be used (you know those old wooden bridges?) to create the walls, almost like they do in mines. We plan on using tiers for the cool weather items, and creating adobe type pots that can be placed high on the walls to allow vine plants, like cucumbers, to crawl down the walls. The floor will be set at a slight angle, allowing moisture to drain into a french drain.
We will be creating a miniature one here at the homestead. And hopefully convince my mother and step-father to allow us to create a full size one at the farmstead. NO WEEDING MOTHER!!!
