ground.

We use small trees right off the from the excavation which we piled behind the north wall. say 6x6s, he might be able to tape two levels to the post and the dormant winter season - a nine-month growing season farmers for their fence posts, and they only stopped when the second person standing back and sighting down a plumb growing bed at all. roots in her family's root cellar. Not prime stuff to be sure, +40 units. The nortb wall of the heat sink was 3'x8' for a taller and that you H sides then resting the buildings and above-ground greenhouses also. Being adding heat. Since there is only one unit losing heat, it is a 25 place by the roots of the grass surrounding the pit. It sounded cover long rows of plants, for the sake of illustration let's cre24 The grow-hole concept growing space for and what we are using on our structures plant, say a tomato start, under protection. Let's say he inserts edges which may rip the polyethylene. We have previously Let's go back to our beat unit method to calculate the Setting these posts is pretty much a two-person operawas supposedly related in one of the Foxflfe books, but to the trench where it is warmed by the earth behind the walls. ground greenhouses, and [ saw this used in a greenhouse at a why weren't any of the other plants shaking? Earthquake? insulate it, cover the insulation with polyethylene and the as described in The $50 & Up Underground House Book. moderates somewhat the effect of excessive heat trapped on sunny days. of surface area on the two sides and top, or a 2/60 ratio. Ln our The Eanh-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book 39 One supposed old-time method we were told about inHere 27 ...,.", . with boards and earth, but cold air was seeping through noneIt would be nice after that big build-up for grow-boles to tions. When the concrete set, we removed the 4. Similarly, a grow hole traps, utilizes and stores much the way around because we usually tamp with shovel handles Where these are not available, a guy could camping at first), and a grow-hole made a lot of sense as a way of the heat from the sun 's rays. earth are dumped at once, it will not tamp solid all the way stove pipe for the next pouring. The concrete was Polyethylene is the stuff your plastic garbage bags are add another negative unit to that method, making it -6/+ 1. efficiency of tbis earth-sheltered, solar greenhouse and com+ 164 and -76 heat units. That's 88 heat units to the plus.

hole traps, utilizes and stores the heat generated by the mile-per-hour wind is rare and might only happen once in a where the earth has lost a lot less heat than tbat on the surface could be up to l4 times more effective in sheltering plants than Note: The earth-sheltered, cold-sink greenhouse calcupay to solve some of the other problems at the same time? roots probably reached the manure. I think those were some of we used on the hillside greenhouse. Above ground Earth-sheltered beautifully. Otbers were having success keeping beets, parsCOLD-SINK GREENHOUSE: +116 HEAT UNlTS the advantages of Subtract a +40 for the heat arising from tbe earthen floor, and we ground over which they stretch polyethylene. This system is grating from the ultraviolet rays. Within a half hour 1 had a when wrapped with clear polyethylene glazing. Let's say that tal square feet. That's 40 square feet of horizontal surface earth behind the wall pushes in hard enough to hole as a dumping But again there are two more considerations that must be +40 from their tunnels. I where there is a need to temporarily shelter long rows of crops. ;~ increased till the entire plant disappeared into the earth! I was began (a) immediately crumbling into the grow area and (b) ll last most all winter." nique that had been used by farmers in cold country for more and not always feasible, so we continued to search for other poured concrete footings. volved soaking or otherwise impregnating stovepipe creosote traditional planted seedlings were spindly, and that the plants I left in to 36 The first cold sink greenhouse ground. This is another old-time farmer than a century. A grow-hole consists of a pit two to three feet -202 units +1 16 units first killer cold, then finding that I was only extending tbe developed when we built my original $50 underground house, piling tbe dirt from the polyethylene. We use five bags as a rule, but put them on one later read that if the degree is great enough from perpendicufactored in. The first is that the earth in our eartb-sheltered The first cold-sink greenhouse me on to beef and venison jerky, and gave me home dried ap/.:r-getting tired of seeing my hard work go up in frost. Several In the case of the grow hole the ratio is reversed. The CHAPTERS 2. There is little glazing on it. This -42

tunnel with no care whatsoever about where it went, because it ":...-----And we have forgotten that the horse manure is adding beat to house over the loss ofa still-air night. Ne'er-do-wells, oil comWhen I described this phenomenon later to my friends -32 five -I units. That is probably quite low. Seems to me a 20More problems: We still have the shade factor caused wild winter cress. And you can count on wild dandelion mile-per-hour wind for any length of time on a 25-degree night the two. The soutb wall, the cold- sink wall, was 5' x8' for a Those were problems due to lack of materials and structure in an excavation and, before backfilling, you protect penta and diesel oil solution. When we came to our senses had pulled up months before and hung upside down by its pare it to that of a typical above-ground greenhouse of simipitcb tbe roof, we would get 202' of exposed surface for a -202. use three 2x6's nailed or screwed together What we came up with in the end, "Gophers," they said. None of the others were quaking . I stood and pondered this prove the pitch this way. Vague memory recalls that tbe secthose early years (all right, I didn't have a place at all - I was The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book 19 fore the next course is scraped or shoveled in. On a post sunk was pretty new to gardening; that I was too busy working to this first experiment, but these will be close enough: the square foot example only to stun you into realization of how ceiving too much shade from the walls. The latter had many A grow hole looks like this: 42 a three-foot hole withtheless. H protecting tbe posts where they are in contact with the earth. on? I watched with alarmed fascination as the rate of descent call "wind scrubsun when it was low in the sky and in the morning and eveCHAPTER 3 Chapter 2 tamped around the post must go in small increments, of perthemselves. One was that the depth of the walls shaded the This greenhouse had the additional benefit of the earth the loose earth wouldn ' t of its own stand in vertical walls, it 43 hole drilled in the post bottom. This is the method The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book 37 would be, in fact, a greenhouse. ends into heat sinks and give a + 16 instead of a -16 for a use it on both the walls and roof of our houses. For one of the sun was shining and the air reeked of the polyethylene disintehave to work lying down or sitting bent forward. But if you

fair and objective here, and to try to head off protests by advogreens fresh from the garden nine or ten or even twelve to see if the plumb is off. If a person is using milled lumber, No, they weren't eatgrowing surface adding heat is joined by the four walls also - say if you wanted to leave some of the seedlings in the pit the lumber siding (shoring) from the damp of the earth with a lar you can lose up to 95% of the rays. (This is not a prob-91 units. The fmal math then reads like this: each heat-adding a plus one unit, we see we have a -5/+ I unit be able to report my roaring success, but, alas, that is not the not sink the posts into tbe earth at all, but to set garden. Instead, they " moist sand. Radishes, too, I discovered, would keep in moist FINAL SCORE ing soil, and the top foot is growing space for plants. It is We have progressed througb a number of methods for A grow-hole allows you to plant garden plants a month above-ground walls each had 8 sq. ft of glazing for a -16. to grow after transplanting. Or if you were late in transplantlosing growing space against both of those walls. model. It would be a super deluxe grow-bole. And if a guy warm and it is important to understand why, for it illustrates mature did not produce and, in fact, did not survive. The forSun low in the sky presented another problem: since for tamping of course - as long as they do not have sharp would also give more our disappointment we were never able to minus 2 for a vent. That would be 38, then. The east and decomposition of the fresh horse manure. than four hundred dollars I was able to permanently triple my guy migbt speculate reasonably that the sunken grow-hole plants. That way I would have headroom. And with a grow 21 wind. bing. "hinging". This is when the pressure from the season a month or more. Before electricity and central heat glazed by simply laying a window down on the ground spancan 't remember all the details, but I do recall that my transmethod, we did some experimenting. One was to the other which is on the surface. A reasonable guess is tbat it CHAPTER 4 now, is what could be called the "Chari was lucky and the snow melts, he can sometimes find in his .. area. Clearly, I was going to have to shore everything up. heat which has been absorbed near the surface during the day. The grow-hole concept grow bed was 3'x8' for 24 sq. ft. The floor of the cold-sink ~

10 mil. thick - excepting when we use multiple garbage bags for reason of comparison factors we have to add +41 more the roots and the trapped air in the space above.A grow ies and successes one by one. And I'll tell you how you (and by the low pitch of the sun blocked by depth of the south wall. ground for tbe earth winter - but once is enough. The plants need only freeze once warmed by the sun all day and radiated the heat back into the When the sun goes down, the five surfaces rearing above anyway, thereby squashing the hysteria of critics. We add anter-inch of charcoal over all the area that is ground surface area on each end proportionate to the 60 sq. ft clude that a grow-hole is up to eight times more effective than ditional -20% is probably quite small, we are going to use it incomplete combustion of wood. Not many critters, miGophers and my poor results aside, there were a couple of about five surfaces - add another two plus units. And, finally, Let's compare for a minute grow holes with the hoop Then we wrap the cooled, charred ends in plastic garthrough the course of a night or cold spell, and we're talking begin to shake when none others were. Was it the wind? Then is 318 heat units to the better compared to a similar abovethick. In our construction we generally use material that is 6 to doing the reading is satisfied with the plumb, he begins the and no longer were willing to use that poison stunned. The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book 41 pened, of course. Their leaves were coated with dust and mud not all of these are root cellar material. the months when it would be most beneficial. 22 The grow-hole concept ,I poured in greased 6-inch or 8-inch stove pipe sec46 P(SfP construction But where were the fresb winter greens? A pretty 32 ning. Score one for the hoop and plastic method. I' ll take you through my thought process, fumbles, di scoverfor a greenhouse catastrophe. Now despite the fact that the adfor the above-ground greenhouse. Our earth-sheltered greenearth is pressed against it during backfill. Then we dig holes bedded longer, perhaps for the season. So that was my first ..:i!.t stumbled into the earth-sheltered greenhouse and cold-sink seedlings and sometimes mature plants. This is when gardenastounded me by making coleslaw from garden cabbage she shaded area against the south wall - the logical place - you a two-step process. The first step is to char l"![ Post and beam itself is simple. You set posts that have this has you confused, skip over it. We're merely trying to be plants which were

Prolog to a happy discovery raI se your young. boxes or bins up off the ground and the carrots in pails of of the sun and the warmth of the earth. How I pondered and My second improvement came wben it became obvious when backfilling. A number of other implements may be used situation. achieved without any energy other than my labor, the warmth tle perhaps, but a descriptive one for a sysstring beans, corn, pickled beets, peppers and, of course, the 5. By storing heat in the surrounding earth, a grow-hole -242 units -91 units The pier method bas a built-in flaw whicb Then there was the problem of what would happen if position himself to work on the plants. If you utilized the The long rows do cut down proportionately on some of the they no longer had to shove the earth uphill and out on the surThe rest of the minus units? Well, there was the south strong in natural vitamin C tbat autbor Ewell Gibbons was miserably folks have failed to appreciate earth sheltering . I. It is down out the factors, but think also the #%@&! gophers finally found dles. Coleman has had good effect using them inside his above good in theory. But the end result was the gophers discovered angles to each other so that they form four sides and a top of what underthat J would need to shore up a grow-bole if I was going to imAnd there was a -2 for that vent we mentioned. All together, and mentors they smi led ruefully and shook their heads. poly with several inches of earth. That could tum those holes must be large enough to accommodate shovel handles all hole, doing much of the gopher's work for them. ;1----',- , My quest to extend the growing season began when If we call each heat-losing square foot a minus one unit and greenhouse by night. bage bags, usually the full-sized black ones, though for greenwould be soon in my themselves. Polyethylene comes in rolls of various sizes. We the This was back in the early ' 70s, now, and memory dims, but COLD-SINK GREENHOUSE ing problem, too. But it would no longer be the economy campfire till they have an eighth to a quarthe ground. I stood there, mouth agape. I began to question and it is warmed passively by the heat of the earth . This pany executives and other rascals may protest that a lengthy 20rate times during the post-setting process. If large amounts of the glass was horizontal to the ground, much of the sun's (l0'x I2 ') $50 Underground House - we soaked the posts in a the end of the post that is to go into the

The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book tending the growing season . haps 6 to 8 inch depth then compacted to perhaps half that bemilled trees, the easiest way we ' ve found to check plumb is by but still edible and organically grown. I learned that if a guy all right as far as it goes, but, trouble is, it does not go very far. EPDM, the artificial rubber swimming pool and containment backfilling and tamping, but stopping to check every so often thought to be salting with ascorbic acid the samples be 40 The first cold sink greenhouse storm window used as glazing. I patched as best as I could was 5' high x8' wide, giving us an additional +40 heat units, my sanity. I was just a couple of years up from my California west walls of the growing bed were each 2 ' x3 ' or a + 12 for own creosote, for creosote, we are told, is the product of the grow-hole. as in the illustration. To avoid this, the post must j phenomenon till I saw that the plant was beginning to sink into ing. Wouldn't that bum the plants? The Eanh-Shellcred Solar Greenhouse Book 29 But wouldn't it be nice to have home-grown, organic of most of the begins the backfilling. Because of the irregular surface of unTRADITIONAL ABOVE GROUND layer of polyethylene. less than that. I did not repeat the experiment a second year. began using the growhouse, raising its score to + 148 and the comparison final No doubt many of the old-time farmers used storm windows branch of Scotland's famed Findhom community in the early not a million-dollar researcb study, but it would seem to me a Compare the two systems in their relationship to the air $&1 gophers were happy. are the plants. That may have been the year that I saw one of my version - had just dug could easily double the heat loss from an above-ground green the strings and will just barely touch them. The holes, then, find it. we had one that was 5'x8 ' with 6' walls witb a one-foot rise to to guesstimate. During the discussion before of the grow-hole would move the glazing a foot or two away from the grow out siding it off with anything - figuring that the lower portion whicb extended four inches out the top. We 17 utility on factory farms, where tractors do the cultivating and of the cold-sink was a door and was a -10. the principle upon which this book is based. 'L_--;,: ground builders

cates of the above-ground systems. We gave you that one been protected from the earth in some way into the ground, they were no longer heating with wood. This information the danger of frost has passed. [t can thus extend the growing them lip on concrete piers that we had previously greenhouses four-season successes. The cold-sink concept is A grow-hole is far more efficient at keeping the seedlings in humans and animals on cold, windy days. It is what us of the outside boundary. That is, our posts will be set inside +40 units +207 units causes, I think: the fact that I don 't have a green thumb; that I 44 P/S!P construction into wood. We were told it was a common practice among land for the posts and peel them first. Now I'm not a mathematician or a scientist, and this is ate a situation in which a grower might want to put a single Sboring would solve the #@%$&! gopher earth dumpThe concept is simple: you construct a post and beam at a time, pulling the surplus to the sides, then wrapping it +24, while its west wall was 2'x5' for a + 10. The east wall tem that has worked well for us so far. It's gan a personal quest to find a passive, low-cost way of exwas going to invest such time and resources, then wouldn't it bing". Wind scrubbing is what causes the "chill factor" you'd have to work the plants from inside the structure. wonders of cucumbers turned into diU pickles. Friends tuned 18 growing season. I was also able to harvest some greens in tious gardening work deserved more reward than that. [bederstood part of post setting. The earth to be backfilled and .\ total plus of 32 more units to the earth-sheltered greenimprove upon it? That with a twelve-month fresh harvest. Simultaneously I was reinforced with chicken wire and Y. inch rebar 20 filled with fresh horse manure, the middle is a layer of growthe roots of the plants reached the fresh horse manure below will add 25 per cent more heat per square foot than the other. So around the post. We tape them in several places and take care .,' What I finally decided was to dig a trencb along the down. Poorly-set fence posts to start a garden early. So of course I made one. I) can have even more grati fying successes in the future. garbage bag system" - not an intriguing tiThe Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book 23 methods of post preservation. the protected growing surface beneath is also one square foot. I discovered the winter pleasure of borne canned peas, GREENHOUSE: - 202 HEAT UNlTS was going to be filled up with horse manure and growing soil

I did not repeat my grow hole experiment the next year. -11+5 unit situation. and plastic system, a common method today of protecting the four sides and top each have an area of one square foot and to go two to two-and-a-half feet into the keeps it from stacking back up and covering the plants again. for this. They' d be taking them off the house in the spring required either longer and wider glazing or smaller grow space , adding heat or +40 energy units. The back, or north, wall face. They could instead just shove it horizontally out their there is the fact that since the grow-hole is sunken it is down neighbors, to cover tbe tomato plants at nigbt in dread of the can make a day with a thirty-degree temperature seem staked out the site with batter boards, and run string to inform then notch girders into them for floor joists and rafters. after the charring. We char them over a Tbis is not to knock the hoop system. There are a few organic greens for pennies, and need not reinvent the wheel, deep in which the bottom six to twelve inches has been backgone through the looking glass with Alice? What was going other additional -40 units to the -202 for a total of -242 then greenhouse, being below ground level, is going to be appreciably Here's the story of what I fmally achieved near the Cacause in a 20' hoop row there is only one square foot of aboveWe call it mer was doubtless the result of being buried often and also reHow would a conventional 40 sq. ft greenhouse score? If That means that this simple, earth-sheltered greenhouse worked against the north wall where there was head room, plants. This shocked the seedlings on cold days. No way to friends told me about the grow-hole concept. This is a techcovering my seedlings and throwing the earth out of the growond year I actually got a new bole dug and the earth piled to slipped the post down over the rebar via a 'I.-inch might wish to keep hippy days. Cold this be an acid flashback? Had I suddenly with either posthole diggers or shovels and set the posts. The The coldest air is removed from the plants passively, pea plants, waist high in a row of similar plants in my garden, able to drastically cut down loss from predators. This was all replaced after ten or twelve years. In the $500 Underground The Ean h-Shcltercd Solnr Greenhouse Book 45 bob string visually aligned with the edge of the post. We do greens in the spring before you can even think of working ing the plants as tbey was not going to faU back in. The result was [ was daily un30 The grow.ho]e in practice A person would not be far off, probably, were he to conWINS BY 318 HEAT UNITS hold it with one hand while scraping in the earth with a shovel headache and requested another assignment.) And there is

be the first of decades of struggle with those #@%$&! demons. this, and it is this simple: The coldest air, which would sink cases we think the better move is to berm earth out there, you'd be taking up prime growing space. That way you'd be ring hardens the wood. [t also creates its we anticipated from the start. And there is the wind scrubbing factor. This is a toughie advantages which we will mention soon that the hoop metbod wall, but now it became a heat sink in its own right. [t was bas over the grow-hole. The hoops have tbeir place. Elliott pond liner. bad built the economy The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book 31 Correct tamping is an acquired skill and the most misunNot only did it eliminate any wind scrubbing against that Tne Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book 35 young Seventb Day Adventist cook in my favorite restaurant lated here has glazing on the east and west walls, totaling , kind of a trapped bubble that could pop the poly when the since, for the glazing to have a reasonable pitcb, it would have ing significant growth rays because of the pitch, then why not house projects the smaller, white garbage pail liners might suf" I had met the enemy and he was #%$&! gophers. 38 The fi rst co ld sink greenhouse P/S/P construction two hoops into the ground a little more than a foot high at right ers and farmers straddle the plants with hoops stuck in the or so early for subsequent transplanting into the garden when 26 nips turnips, onions, garlic, squash, and pumpkins, tbougb The fi rst cold sink greenhouse to rest on tbe highest part of the mound to the north. That Though tbis problem would lessen as the sun elevated in the to the otherwise lowest spot, the growing bed, now spills into stumbled upon the "cold-sink" concept which was to make my (x2) things about the concept that looked like they could be imto keep squeezing the air out of the bags so not to have any nadian border in a North Idaho mountain valley. For less brought in for testing - till the lab technicians went out and improvement. ous about such glazing in northern climates. In many the north and slanted on the east and west sides and that, since the earth. It radiates up, warming both the soil around case: It was only moderately successful at best, maybe even sand. Apples, if they are "keeper apples", will over-winter donnant January garden a volunteer crop of green and edible concept is a tale in itself. So that you may have year ' round years in a row I'd scurried along, same as my gardening vs. hoop and plastic method we gave a -I unit for the five sur-

A second problem quickly manifested itself: the sides in the other, inverting it and tamping with the handle. lar floor space. I can ' t remember the exact measurements of bed just three foot across, soutb to north, I could work all the pared to our own one square foot example above. This is bebe braced from the inside of the structure. This is a hassle ground will be losing heat while the growing surface below effect of wind scrubbing on the hoop unit so we can probably dried strawbeny leaves. These brew into a beverage so negative units on the hoop method, incidentally, when comunits, making it now +207 minus -76. face, wbich was a glazed 8'x6' for a -48 . The east and west Almost immediately I had gopher problems. This was to anyway. garden soil. There were other tricks like making tea from like ten degrees. What that wind does to you it does to excavation to tbe north season a couple of weeks at best. Many hours of consciensouth wall in the shaded area to stand in while working on the ning across the bole and packing loose dirt around the edges. faces combined, or an additional minus 20% for each of the Like how about the problem of chilling the plants when should be as simple as House - whicb was an addition whicb tripled the original tiny And there was thc problem of just where a guy was to the above-ground system. this from two directions, say the north and east. When the guy could, and neitber the plants nor I were happy. Only the #@% cious time blowing and shaking and washing off as mucb as I fice. We have taken care before charring to make sure to cut anyway, and the top foot of earthen walls would be held in then, this first earth-sheltered greenhouse had a score of the grow-hole so we can add another plus unit there. Then picked their own leaves to test. So that's what I built. 1 didn' t realize at the time that I'd make my land payments to weed and water properly; that the r did and it worked. I put the potatoes in sacks or in -6/+ 1. two house roof layers, however, we are now beginning to use crobes included, want to eat creosote-laced charcoal. would be considerably larger. It would be a "structure". It sbould add a final two plusses, bringing the score to -1 /+ I0 vs. months of tbe year instead of one to three months? I was plants by just reaching. I would never have to get up in the Finally, you had to open the grow-hole to work on the made indoor starts practical, it was a real boon to the gardener. one square foot example above the ratio was 2/3 or 40/60. If - blocking at least half of the sun - and I was spending pretion. One holds the post while the other sees ifit is plumb and ing the sun's warmtb at any given moment of sunsbine, we Post/ShoringfPolyetbylene, or P/SfP, is the method we time. Other problems, design problems, began presenting

off any sharp edges or protruding limb stubs that could tear the did begin to crumble and they began leaving gaps around the proved upon. One was the pitch of tbe glazing. If you are losground greenhouse. 1980's. (In fact [ was put to work in that greenhouse when the opening the hole to work on them? If you were to avoid that, come up with -162 heat units. method of fence post preservation. Charscore to a win of + 350. I didn't have either electricity or a place with central heat Which means it would no longer be a grow-hole now but In the original $50 Underground House we hadn't protected 3. A grow-bole utilizes the heat stored in the depths of The grow-hole was not a success for me that year. I and on a slant on the must stretch beyond the string to acco=odate the shovel hansky towards summer, there would still be no sun there during and the earth. Though the hoop system is generally used to push both the post and pier into the structure a bit, The seedlings were taking a beating each time this hapsince there is five times more surface area receiving and storminus 16 units. We'll see in Chapter 16 that we are dubiwould find yourself cramped by the low glazing there. You'd out of most of the wind avoids most of the wind scrubthe posts at all and tbey, of course, rotted out and had to be house gets an additional -15 wind scrubbing units for a total of the hoop and plastic method. But wait. We have forgotten the lem with the hoop method - score another.) The grow-hole in practice here is what I recall: 34 ple slices. warmer throughout the night and during cold days than is that of was 2'x8' or an additional 16 sq. ft for a total of 40 horizon2' to)' in the ground, earth might be added six to twelve sepamade of, only garbage bags are usually just 1.2 millimeter rays tended to glance off like a rock skipping over water. I will be radiating heat from the earth's depths plus the suo's correct it, or at least 33 Among several other advantages, this eliminates the need for 28 The grow.hole in practice