Geodesic dome greenhouse DIY build

Geodesic dome greenhouse

Cacti, Succulents and Citrus in the dome

It was one of those days......looking at the garden and seeing the giant metal frame I put up last year....a frame I never covered......
So all in all it was pretty much useless...actually...pretty much useless is a bad description as it was also downright ugly....so it was more..... downright ugly useless........

Anyway...for years I had been looking at geodesic domes, so I decided the time to build one was here!

Having run a model aircraft kit manufacturing and wood processing company at one time, I find processing wood into strange and complex shapes easy and I have any tool needed to cut the angles on the various sides of each piece of wood.

Off to the shops.....

Wood....not as easy as it sounded as all wood in diy stores here was the wrong size....and not very good!

Wood screws.....no problem

Glue.....well I make glue so , not a problem

Polyethylene sheet......easy to find here, UV stable no problem, but should have bought a heavier gauge plastic as was to be held on with staple gun.

I spent a few hours digging out plans I had worked out a few years before when I planned making one....then changed the plans a bit, then changed back to the earlier version....and then decided just to start building!

A 1 frequency Geodesic dome is a strange thing as it looks so strange due to large sides and not that many of them, 15 sides including the roof,
I needed a 1 frequency dome as it was easier to create a very high space for a smaller diameter, I needed about 4.5 meters high and 5.5 meters wide....to hold large size lemon tree in the center and small ones around, while leaving space to walk round the center tree.

After 2 days finding wood, then a day cutting the wood to the correct size I had loads of strip wood with angled sides to allow the curve of the dome

Next step was to cut the angles on the ends of the bars to the correct angle and the correct length all identical.

Next, on a flat surface, to form the equilateral triangles, 15 of them, again all identical....I glued the joints using 15 minute set StarLoc Adhesives epoxy ( obviously my own brand!....I make it! ) epoxy in the centre of each joint and a drip cyanoacrylate glue to tack them in place while it set as it was a job to clamp them all
After the glue had set, I drilled through the joints to add a 3 inch countersunk head wood screw to toughen up the joint some more.
so....

Ready to screw together

After some time making the 15 triangles it was time to screw them all together......



Not as easy as it sounded....Enough to drive you crazy!

Add a bit...another bit falls off...needed more hands

And I got this.....

Bare frame

Half covered

Then I used the staple gun to cover it and got this

Empty dome greenhouse

Some plants in the dome

It now needs shrinking with heat gun to get a better finish and when tighter it will not be caught by the wind....although this does not seem a problem , this one now needs recovering as I needed to use heavier polyethylene things keep putting holes in it....dog...plants...birds.... etc......

Seeds germinating in the dome

Mini citrus trees in the dome

Home cooked crisps....from blue potatoes, blue crisps!

Blue potato crisps

Frankie the dog I rescued....he likes potatoes....digging them up that is! , he brings them to us one every now and then!

On the hunt....for potatoes

The potato hound.....( it wasnt me! )

So today I had 2 potatoes delivered by Frankie...... a Sarpo Mira blight resistant potato, about 3 months before it should be eaten...and a Salad Blue potato, again about 2 months early,

Both quite large for the age...but not big enough to do anything with.

POTATO CRISPS....

Blue and white potato crisps

Very blue / purple potatoes, retain colour after cooking

Quick wash (to remove the dog spit.....) and then I cut them into thin slices with potato peeler.....

Into hot fat in the frying pan, I used sunflower oil in a ceramic frying pan

Watch for the edges getting brown....when 1/3 of the crisps are brown, take out and let drain on kitchen roll

Sprinkle with seasoning if needed, I used paprika and salt, anything will work.....smoked paprika would probably taste like smoky bacon....

Much better than shop crisps!

Just have to work out how to get Marmite flavour crisps now........

.........Maybe I can do this by soaking them in diluted Marmite before cooking!

DIY bacon....home cure bacon in Bulgaria, Rapid bacon!

It is the one thing I miss, bacon!

You can buy strange meat labelled as Bacon...( бекоh ) , but what it is....what they do to it....Hmmmm it is not bacon!, in any form as I know it.....

So after a few experiments over the last few years I can make it quite easily,

but I still have no meat slicer, so.....bacon chops for me....

This is wet cure, as its done quickly, dry cure, works almost the same, but mix the ingredients and coat pork before putting in box with more mix

I buy slices of belly pork, streaky bacon style, about 10mm thick

Put them in a box with a lid that fits well....to stop stinky raw meat bacteria, curing juice getting everywhere!

So....the non scientific part!.....the right way would be to find a recipe to use correct amounts....measure.....

I fill a 600ml takeaway box half way up with cold water (should be boiled water) , I add a good dollop of salt, a about 50% o that volume of white sugar and a tiny pinch of pink Prague powder ( curing salt )

( I don't often add the curing salt....but it stops the bacon turning grey....grey bacon doesn't taste as good.....as it looks strange! ) ,

The correct way would be to mix that into boiled water, and let it cool to cold, but I do bacon overnight so don't store it , rapid cure so no bacteria will have time to grow!

To the box I squeeze in 4 of the 1/2 inch thick pork slices, put the lid on the box and shake well....holding lid on!

I put it in the fridge.....leave for 12 hours.....and its done!

I eat it like this...but of you think you may have used too much salt....you can wash it.....and most people do!

Take out, open box, it should have no real smell, like it was when it went in, the liquid should be clear brown-ish

pour the liquid away, wash bacon, leave water in box for 10 minutes, tip out then leave in fridge in box with no water for an hour....

Then....COOK IT!

Cooking the bacon chops in in the ceramic pan!

cooked DIY bacon chops

Summer 2015.......what happened to spring!, Woooooah that was a long gap in posts!

Wow....time flies! , it was December 2014.....and now its July 2015......

Packing the van....

Quick version.....( longer version will be filled in over a few days at the bottom of this post! )

I returned here near the end of February , snow, ice, cold.........but nothing major, cold but no problems travelling in any way.

Driving over it was cold.....drove through the Dunkirk, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, E74....over Vidin Bridge into Bulgaria, took 3 days due to stopping in hotels to get warm!

When we arrived we had been broken into, not much taken.....strimmer, chainsaw, Petchka, gas cooker, gas bottles and regulators etc, the window to room with citrus trees in was open and 50% had frozen to death covered with thick ice

We gradually tidied up, fitted some heating, fixed the doors and the upstairs window

Power from the solar was very low, obviously due to low sun hours, it was fine while the sun was out, I added another couple of solar panels to give more amps and then all was fine.

Quick work on the downstairs, surrounded by ice....-18C outside, heater on inside running from generator and I tiled the floors downstairs, never having done it before it took a little practiced to get them straight....but now they are straighter than the ones I took up fitted by a builder.....

I tiled the downstairs rooms and painted them as well, Gas cooker fitted, running from bottled gas after changing the jets to the ones supplied in the bag with the manual , all fine again, still have bathroom to tile and paint.....but it all works.....

Outside it was alternating between very cold in the night -15C to -35C and quite warm 15C to 20C some days, most days about 10C in the day, snowdrops out, bluebells growing, daffodils growing....even some tulips starting to grow, broccoli was growing great

Sprouting broccoli

I rotorvated the garden , dug out the weed roots, and started planting all the bare root fruit bushes, raspberries etc, pruning fruit trees, and vines, spraying the vines and trees, removing any old fruit still on the trees.

I planted many of the plants I brought with me.....50 new assorted raspberry canes, 3 gooseberry bushes, 3 Black current bushes, a Williams pear tree, a Peasgood Nonsuch apple tree

Trips to Baumax ( Homemax) and Praktis got me 3 peach trees, 3 apricot trees, 12 rose bushes, 2 rose standards

All planted by mid March











By Late March early April it was quite hot

So I bought 20 tomato plants and 4 cucumber plants from the Kazanlak market, the tomatoes were fine, but the cucumbers died within days ( in the house ) from mosaic virus

Petrol power back pack sprayer

Daffodils

Bluebells

Purple sprouting broccoli

Peach tree in flower

Rhubarb starting to grow again

Seed potatoes

More seed potatoes, dahlias, gladioli etc

I planted 750 seed potatoes, including Charlotte, Swift, Pentland Javelin, Pink Fir Apple, Anya, Salad Blue, Desere, Shetland Black, Highland Burgundy, Sarpo Axona, Sarpo Mira, KIng Edward, Maris Piper.....and many more....4 varieties of blue ones but cant remember them all I think 20 to 30 varieties, plus supermarket ones such as Bluebell

More things to plant

Roses, grape vines and more from Praktis this time

By this point I decided to remove the frame I fitted to use as a poly tunnel....and build a geodesic dome....it had to be a strange one with very few sides, only 15....as that way it was high enough for the citrus trees, it is about 4.5 meters high and 5.5 meters wide

Dome frame going up

Starting to cover the dome

I was just finishing the dome, deciding it was too hot, I needed to work on the water supply, quick think while drilling my finger while drilling the dome......

I needed some bits from Stara Zagora for the water , tanks, pumps, tubes etc....to get well water into the house from a tap.....

So.....out of the dome, elastoplast stop the blood.... 

lock the house....

Out of the gate and...........

Oh....What the F........is that!I had found a dog!......I thought it was a dog.....I thought it was dead....it smelt dead.....looked dead.....curled up on the step behind the gate, not moving at all, i gently poked it with a long stick to see if it would move at all, no movement at all but i saw a breath...., then....it opened an eye and fell off the step into the garden, and tried to get up, shaking......

and then it stood up and was alive again....just about!

No idea what to do about this......not an injury this was a zombie dog....looked like he should have been dead....with injuries like this, he has a hole that cant be fixed in his windpipe even...no skin around his neck...photos look better now the maggots removed, no flesh under the pulled back in place skin...!

After a couple of trips to the vets with help from Rachel ( from twichy noses ) who lives locally and runs an animal rescue so knew hot to find the vet.....

Back from the vets to 3 weeks cage rest....to stop his head falling off....

He started to heal a bit.....

Back in March ,Very under weight, hole in wind pipe, no skin joining head to body.... 

Was open underneath until the end of May

Starting to hold together, stitched half round, no stitches worked ever underneath

It took time, lots of time but it did heal up!

Late May 2015

Today he looks like this!, Early July 2015

Frankie July 2015

Christmas in the UK....Floods in Bulgaria!

Last week we were under water....almost! , I popped over for a few days...it was going to be longer!

http://www.novinite.com/articles/165324/Emergency+Declared+In+Several+Bulgarian+Towns

A few days after this news report a road 50 meters from my house was washed away....water approaching....., the factories and houses seem ok but things are very wet still, we are ok but I tried to drive through Stara Zagora via a village near us  Yagoda and it was impossible due to water the local river ( i think ) Tundza had flooded, the car only has 3 inch ground clearance and the water was far more than that...more like 3 foot, we returned to my other house in Vidin as we could not get into the usual house from any direction as most roads were blocked

So again, back in the UK for a couple of weeks over Christmas, next trip near the end of January probably in a 7.5 ton box van with trailer

It is a good excuse to sort things out here a bit more, time to get things ready to go in the lorry before its nearly time to drive

I have just had a few more trees delivered for my `orangery` in Bulgaria  ( when its built...., I think it will be a diy geodesic dome? but not sure! ), a Variegated pink lemon, a Kaffir lime, Ponderossa lemon , an Australian finger lime and another large size lemon tree, all quite healthy , the only ponderossa lemon I could get is just a small rooted cutting that lost its leaves in transit due to the cold, small buds are growing now its under my grow lights with the rabbits....I have grafted some small bits of each of the mini trees onto the new 6 foot lemon tree

The strange background of the pictures is the rabbits enclosure...half of the living room.....I used it to take photos of the plants, they used to have a rabbit hutch but they didn't fit in for long...after a few weeks the doors were taken off and now its somewhere to hide in and they live bouncing round the room.....

Panache fig tree

Kaffir lime

Ponderossa lemon with no leaves due to cold in shipping

Variegated Pink Eureka Lemon

Limon Rosso....red lemons!

Limon rosso top of tree, loads of flowers ready to open

Australian finger lime

 The rabbits I rescued are growing rapidly....., in bursts....taking turns being the biggest, When lying down the brown and white one is now nose to tail is about 60 cm long....... they now have half the living room of the house in Liverpool, doesn't look like a house anymore....more of a stable, 3 inch of straw, rabbit bowls and toys over most of it.
When one first did the strange bunny flop ( as its called! )  I thought it was dead!.....Honestly! , they will be standing there eating food and......Bang!....they are flat on there side feet sticking out looking like they have had died.....Apparently its normal

Bunny flop.....not dead!....unless you have had rabbits you wouldn't understand!

Demon rabbit...

Rabbit tunnels

Sulking...... waiting for shredded wheat.....

Time to go to bed, in the middle of the floor

Who would think a rabbit plays with a tennis ball...