Winter Garden Planted In House Trailer
A fire-damaged house trailer is keeping Richard Thompson and his wife Joyce well fed this winter. Next spring it should put them ahead of the pack producing peppers for the local farmers market. Creating a winter garden in the 16 by 80-ft. trailer was easy, according to Thompson.
“We parked it east/west and installed salvaged windows across the south face,” he says. “We took out the top 4 ft. of each interior north/south partitions to open the rooms up to the light and stripped out anything we couldn’t use.” Leaving most of the partitions in place maintains the trailer’s structural strength.
Thompson doesn’t use any of the plumbing or electric lines in the trailer. He placed two, 265-gal. fuel tanks in the trailer and filled them with water.
“They provide enough room temperature water for the plants throughout the winter,” says Thompson. “If I run short, I’ll just run a hose out and refill them.”
To heat the trailer, he made an outdoor wood furnace boiler. The water jacket is another salvaged 265-gal. fuel tank. It is heated by a firebox made from a 5-ft. long, 24-in. dia. air compressor tank. A chimney runs out the rear of the compressor tank and back forward to the front of the tank where it exits, allowing the water to capture more of the heat. The water from the furnace is circulated to one of the big water tanks in the trailer. So far, the system has been more than enough to keep the insulated trailer warm.
“I put a few sticks of wood in each morning and each evening,” says Thompson. “That is plenty to keep the trailer interior at 55 to 60 degrees at night. During the day it heats to 75 to 80 degrees from the sun.”
Richard and Joyce have filled the trailer with 5-gal. pails of rotted cow manure planted to a wide variety of herbs, leeks, garlic, celery, Swiss chard and cherry tomatoes. They also have 150 pails planted to multiple varieties of peppers, from sweet to hot.
“Pepper plants are perennials,” notes Thompson. “Spring-planted peppers just get started producing by fall. Even if these don’t produce any peppers this winter, they will be ready to go in the spring. One mature pepper in the spring should produce as much next year as ten spring-planted peppers.”
Thompson expects to be the first grower with peppers at the farmers market, giving him a price advantage. In the meantime, he and his wife are enjoying produce from their winter garden.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Thompson Farms, RR 2, Box 80, Isle, Minn. 56342 (ph 320 676-3752).
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Winter Garden Planted In House Trailer BUILDINGS Miscellaneous A fire-damaged house trailer is keeping Richard Thompson and his wife Joyce well fed this winter Next spring it should put them ahead of the pack producing peppers for the local farmers market Creating a winter garden in the 16 by 80-ft trailer was easy according to Thompson “We parked it east/west and installed salvaged windows across the south face ” he says “We took out the top 4 ft of each interior north/south partitions to open the rooms up to the light and stripped out anything we couldn’t use ” Leaving most of the partitions in place maintains the trailer’s structural strength Thompson doesn’t use any of the plumbing or electric lines in the trailer He placed two 265-gal fuel tanks in the trailer and filled them with water “They provide enough room temperature water for the plants throughout the winter ” says Thompson “If I run short I’ll just run a hose out and refill them ” To heat the trailer he made an outdoor wood furnace boiler The water jacket is another salvaged 265-gal fuel tank It is heated by a firebox made from a 5-ft long 24-in dia air compressor tank A chimney runs out the rear of the compressor tank and back forward to the front of the tank where it exits allowing the water to capture more of the heat The water from the furnace is circulated to one of the big water tanks in the trailer So far the system has been more than enough to keep the insulated trailer warm “I put a few sticks of wood in each morning and each evening ” says Thompson “That is plenty to keep the trailer interior at 55 to 60 degrees at night During the day it heats to 75 to 80 degrees from the sun ” Richard and Joyce have filled the trailer with 5-gal pails of rotted cow manure planted to a wide variety of herbs leeks garlic celery Swiss chard and cherry tomatoes They also have 150 pails planted to multiple varieties of peppers from sweet to hot “Pepper plants are perennials ” notes Thompson “Spring-planted peppers just get started producing by fall Even if these don’t produce any peppers this winter they will be ready to go in the spring One mature pepper in the spring should produce as much next year as ten spring-planted peppers ” Thompson expects to be the first grower with peppers at the farmers market giving him a price advantage In the meantime he and his wife are enjoying produce from their winter garden Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Thompson Farms RR 2 Box 80 Isle Minn 56342 ph 320 676-3752
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