Blooms in Autumn - pit greenhouse

Diane Whitehead voltaire@islandnet.com
Wed, 02 Nov 2005 10:19:00 PST
Jim Shields mentioned the impossibility of maintaining an alpine 
house in central Indiana.

I remember a book, written perhaps in the 1940s or 50s, about using a 
"pit greenhouse", dug into the earth, with steps leading down to a 
central aisle in which one stood.  The "benches" were undug soil with 
the plants set on top, and a glass roof covered it all.  There were 
probably openings for ventilation, but I don't remember the details. 
The insulating effect of the soil prevented overheating in summer as 
well as retaining heat in winter. The almost-at-ground-level glass 
would have been easy to shade in summer - I think I would just grow 
cucumbers or pole beans on the sunny side.

There is a website that has a summary of solar greenhouse information 
since many of the books on the topic are out of print.

	http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/solar-gh.html

Perhaps this would not be sufficient for an area that has hot humid 
summers. I attended a talk by an Eastern North American speaker who 
had an air-conditioned alpine house.

-- 
Diane Whitehead  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8
cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
sandy soil


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