Pvc Pipe Hoop Greenhouse Invaded and taken over by a invasive spreading species!
Now you are more than likely wondering what the heck I’m talking about. Well, if you have been following my last few posts you’ll know that I’ve unfortunately been laid up first with a terrible broncial virus that was brought on by dust, droppings and spores in the air while we were helping our son renovate a beautiful old house he purchased at the lake.
Needless to say that after about a year of being bed ridden, I’m slowly starting to recuperate from that incident, but to make matters even worse a few months ago I had an accident and broke my leg in two places so I’m now confined to a wheelchair, walker, and crutches until my leg heals.
I’m pretty active and not being able to get out and around was driving me stir crazy so now that I’m finally able to get around with a mobility scooter I have a little freedom at last.
I’ve been itching to get my hands dirty and start doing a little gardening and with the scooter I was actually able to visit my terribly neglected Pvc Pipe Hoop Greenhouse that we made (pretty cheaply) about 3 to 4 years ago. It has been moved three times and went through three winters and it held up really well.
Invasion of Our Pvc Pipe Hoop Greenhouse!
However, this past two years since I’ve been sick I wasn’t able to even get to it so that I could at least try and plant something. Well, last week I took the scooter out and thought I would see if I could get the grandkids to bring some potting soil and pots up to the back deck so that I could plant some seeds.
WOW! I couldn’t believe what I saw! I should of called my Pvc Pipe Hoop Greenhouse ” tangled” because it was literally impossible to enter the greenhouse.
I was expecting maybe all the plastic had ripped off or maybe some wild animals took shelter during the winter but I never once thought about blackberries.
What To do Now?
Pretty disappointing! I took this picture with iphone from on my scooter in front of my PVC hoop greenhouse door. You would never believe that this is from about year and half of greenhouse neglect. My husband has been busy with work and helping our son build his house so he didn’t even think of looking in the greenhouse.
The greenhouse is sort of my department when it comes to gardening, my husband loves working on our yard and outside gardens but the greenhouse is mine.
Now what? Basically, in my condition I won’t be able to get in there and clean it out until next spring. You’d never believe that a year or so ago this greenhouse was filled with tomato plants.
You wouldn’t believe that under all those vines are loads of growing pots, shelves and maybe 10 to 15 large bags of potting soil. Looks as if it’s going to stay this way until my husband has some free time to either dismantle the hoop greenhouse or get in their with some really good gloves and pruning shears.
The way I see it he is going to opt for dismantling and rebuilding the greenhouse in the spring.
New plastic maybe make it a little bigger and definately he will be clearly all the area and ridding it of the Blackberry plants. But who knows he just might change his mind, so I’ll keep you posted.
If we do decide to build a new PVC pipe hoop Greenhouse I’ll do a video and a complete step by step tutorial on how to build a PVC pipe hoop Greenhouse.
I do have the old pictures I took of when they first built this greenhouse but they are on one of my external hard drives and at the moment I have no idea which one.
My Tomato Plants Need to be Transplanted – What to Do
Looks like I’ll be transplanting my tomato plants into 5 gallon pails or basically anything I can find and growing them on our back deck.
We live in a rain forest and an abundance of rain and tomato plants do not mix. For us it is crucial to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse.
Since my greenhouse is out of the picture for this year I’ll have to think about a way to cover them on the deck when rains start.
Wondering why I would go to all this trouble with a broken leg and still growing tomatoes.
It just happens to be that I LOVE tomatoes so does our whole family and unless I can find a organic market gardener around that will sell me loads of tomatoes at a reasonable price I’ll be devising a way to grow tomatoes on our deck and get enough of a crop to feed all of us over the summer and into the fall.
Anyways it’s be really hot here on the island the last few days and tomorrow is supposed to cloud over I’m thinking that since my grandkids are really game to do some gardening I’ll be trying enlisting their help to transplant some of these started tomato plants intolarger self watering pots.
If this all comes about in the next few days I’ll post some of our images and let you know how successful we were.
In the meantime, if you are interested I’ve written up a little information on the Himalayan Blackberries that took over my greenhouse.
Himalayan Blackberries Pretty Invasive
Yes, these wild Himalayan Blackberries found their way into the greenhouse and literally took over.
If you don’t already know I live on Vancouver Island on the West Coast of British Columbia Canada and blackberries grow wild everywhere. They are great for picking and are so delicious but beware of the thorns. They are deadly!
If you are not familiar with the Himalayan blackberry, (rubus armeniacus) it was originally brought to Vancouver Island via England from India, and it has a reputation for serious aggressive growth.
If it’s not contained it can take over your backyard and native vegetation with its thorny branches. The Himalayan blackberry is actually an invasive species of weed her on the Vancouver island.
Who Could Resist These Blackberries?
In spite of this, the Himalayan blackberry is one of the most recognizable wild berries on the island and one of the most picked. You can easily identify Blackberry bushes by their long, arching, red-brown branches (known as “canes”) with their large thorns. The leaves are large and with toothed edges, and tend to grow in groups of five.
Even thought the thorns on these canes are brutal the wild blackberry fruit is absolutely delicious sweet, juicy and make a yummy treat when added to muffins, pancakes, and desserts, or made into treats like pies, cobblers, crisps and jams.
Not only are these berries good to eat, you’ll get the awesome benefits of the berries’ natural vitamins and super antioxidants.
I hope you enjoyed my post on the invasion of our Pvc Pipe Hoop Greenhouse. Stay tuned for more of my adventures trying to garden while nursing a broken leg.
They say where there is a will there’s a way. So wish me luck and I’ll be posting more adventures in growing tomatoes.
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