greenhouse (ridge vent and gutters)

with the weather warming we've been getting some good heat gain in the greenhouse and ventilation has become important in keeping temperature and airflow in a good range for propagating the transplants for this year's spring and summer gardens.
staal rigged up an easy way to open and close the ridge vent so we can regulate the temperature, airflow, and humidity inside the greenhouse.  he put up a piece of emt near each end of the ridge vent that can be pushed up and locked into place to hold the vent open.

ridge vent open

we've been fortunate in having some spring rains this year and collecting as much of the roof runoff as possible has been a priority.  staal used garden hoses to link the rain barrels that collect the runoff from the house roof and set a sump pump in one of them to move the water into a large rectangular tank that can hold a few hundred gallons ( the 33 gallon cans under the downspouts fill up quickly and by linking them and pumping them into the larger reservoir we are able to collect much more water).  

collection hub and sump pump

 

reservoir being filled by sump pump and nearing capacity

over the weekend nick helped staal get some rain gutter up on the greenhouse in preparation for today's storm.

we're not sure yet how we will link things up to get the harvested water into the new storage tank so for now the greenhouse gutters extend a bit past the end of the building and the water they collect drops into a couple of trash cans.

we've been getting a nice, steady rain for a few hours so far today and the new gutters and barrels mean the greenhouse roof can now supply water to the plants it shelters and to the gardens.

every drop helps.