For the last few years Monte Azul has been tending an organic greenhouse. This greenhouse was erected about 2.5 years ago on the hill high above Cafe Blue. It was very rustic. The support posts were simply tree trunks and the roof was thick plastic. It had raised beds made out of lumber mill scraps and tree trunks with black plastic liners. It is the typical construction for a back yard greenhouse in Costa Rica.
This rustic greenhouse has served its purpose for our experiments on growing fruits and vegetables in this location. There are many micro climates and some things do really well and others just wither and die. No matter what we tried we cannot get big tomatoes to grow. The cherry tomatoes do extremely well but their larger beefy cousins do nothing.
Lettuce, herbs, peppers, beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers are some of the other things that have done very well. So well in fact that we are in a race to harvest the vegetables before the armadillos, pizotes, squirrels and rabbits get to it. Many guests at Cafe Blue have enjoyed the organic bounty that has come from his ramshackle structure.
Like most things in Costa Rica, this greenhouse has taken a beating from the weather. The rain and sun have slowly eaten away at the wooden structure. A large tree fell and destroyed a corner of the structure. Then the planting beds starting collapsing one by one. It was time to do something drastic.
Now that it the dry season, we are removing the old greenhouse and building a new permanent greenhouse made from PVC pipe, metal and a special greenhouse fabric. This new greenhouse will be built to last. It will have planting beds that are on the ground, an earthworm composting area and a coffee drying area. We are very excited. I will post an update with photos when it the structure has been completed and when we expect to serve these fresh organic vegetables at Cafe Blue..
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