The cold night fog that envelops the Mae Mut valley during the winter does not suit the apparently delicate tomatoes we are attempting to grow, last year we made a plastic roof, which can be seen in the background of the first picture, out of materials we had laying around, this year we are trying to go one better to help the tomato plants in the winter and have a sheltered area in the rainy season where we can grow stuff that does not like constant rain.
The idea behind the movable greenhouse is to devise an effective crop rotation system in the newly established garden beds, which would include mountain rice in the rainy season at least every other year and incorporates all the different vegetables we would like to grow, as well as green manures. This is the first stage in our attempts, if everything works as intended we plan to build one more in time for next year’s rainy season. The ultimate aim is to find a way to grow rice for home consumption within a no-dig gardening system.
The structure was made by one of our friends in the village, the total cost including steel, plastic and labour came to around 200USD for approximately 55sqm of covered area. The posts rest on concrete feet that are partially buried, enough to provide a level of stability, we plan to remove the plastic and roof structure around March until the hot season storms are over.
During this winter we are growing peanuts, onions, garlic, okra, some indian purple eggplants, a few beans for drying and eating all year round, two kinds of sweet potato and a few different tomatoes, to hopefully find a good tomato for making sauce with, as well as all the usual Thai veggies.
maemutgarden.wordpress.com 