Chris Nelson
Delta Sierra@chrisnelsonsdog legitimately curious, what is this contraption? Miniature sunken greenhouse?
@notthatdelta pretty much. A little bit of extra warmth from being partially underground, plus brick mass for heat retention, an extra month on either end of the growing season.
@chrisnelsonsdog neat! Does it work well? And what do you grow in there, if you don't mind my asking?
@notthatdelta I'm getting an almost 40° temperature rise today. I need to do a little testing, but it should keep plants from freezing as long as it's above 20°. Anything can be grown in it, I have really been missing fresh lettuce, so that'll be first. It's basically a regular greenhouse, with partial geothermal heat.
@chrisnelsonsdog Very cool, I may borrow this project idea. I even have an old glass shower door that would work perfectly!
@notthatdelta please share pictures if you do, I'd love to see what you build. There's a lot of debate on the proper angle for the top, but I don't think it matters that much. Low side faces south if you are in the northern hemisphere. Big stone/brick/concrete mass on north wall holds heat collected during the day.
@chrisnelsonsdog Yeah, I'd definitely want a south-facing top, but the problem would be finding a spot that gets full sunlight all day and *isn't* the driveway.
I've even got some concrete block (like the solid landscaping block) I could use!
@notthatdelta of you are using landscape blocks, just stack them in n the driveway, add a lid, then move them when it gets warmer out. You could have lettuce in April and driveway back by June
@notthatdelta of you want to beat your head against the numbers, there's a ton of reference material at build it solar dot com
@chrisnelsonsdog sadly any interruption of our driveway will cause dissention amongst the housemates, so I think I'll have to deal with partial shade.
I'll check the website out though, thank you!
@notthatdelta fair warning, it's not a rabbit hole, it's a prairie dog colony