Michael S. New

Thank you Jane, I admire your courage learning a language so different from your own!

Not to hijack the post, as all the suggestions are worthy. The first things I bought for the process included a backhoe with a loader bucket. God knows it is also my diesel powered wheelbarrow. But why have you chosen Bulgaria? I am sure the lower costs factor in, any other reasons that might interest others looking abroad?

I know this is an old, very old post. But I recently stumbled on it while seeking a solution to the invasion of hundreds of ash gray beetles, that stripped my garden to stems in a week. Based on something I read here, I put about 1/4th-1/2 cup 7th generation liquid dish soap in a 1 gallon pump sprayer of water and began my war. Within 3 days I have virtually zero. This has beaten the bastard beetles back, with no harm to the host plants and no residual pesticide. The larvae live on grasshopper eggs, so if you have a high grasshopper year, ( as I did in 2021) get ready for  and explosion next year.

If you have the muscle for it, find a clayish deposit and bring it to the garden. Excavate the sand about 1/2 meter and put down a layer of clay. Replace the sand and add all the organic matter you can find. Then mulch. Just because you cannot see wet sand under the mulch, does not mean precipitation has been wasted. Indeed if it is absorbent the mulch itself will retain water.
Send all gray water to the garden in mulch basins.

So I'm building a garden...
First, we are in high ( 7500 ft) dry ( 17" in a good year)  New Mexico in a drought. Our native rocky soil is so hard my small backhoe has serious trouble digging, forget about shovels.
The garden area was a 40x60 pit I dug out to level greenhouse and house, average 3' deep, which was then completely filled with wood. ( crushed brush, shredding debris from a 9 acre fire safety thinning, rotting pine, etc. It is in a shallow ravine so it catches runoff and all our graywater, (where we are now building a vermiculture bin to process the outflows, 5000 wigglers go in today)  I am bringing up earth from what will be our 2nd catchment pond and covering, grading the hügelkultur bed, have 8-10" soil on it now,planning on a foot or so before terrace building. Since it has about 3' fall top to bottom, will use more logs to terrace. ( Pinyons keep dying, sad.)
So My plan is to install soil/manure mix behind the terraces, cover this with composted 3/4 shred wood from nearby recycler and let it all age for a more months possibly a year while I double fence it all for deer.
I have on hand about 8 yards of aged horse manure from a certified stable, Just picked up 6-7 yards of 5 year aged cow manure (grass fed also) And I can get far more from the same source. Then 7 yards of wood shreds mentioned above. That's pricy, but will use as top dress only.

So how deep can I layer the manure? Is 6" too much? Should I lasagna that with my clay soils?    

Jeremy if you have multiple strings, just test at your combiner. To get accurate readings I have pulled the + and - from the combiner panel and tested in the open, (carefully) If you have only the one string, I mean if that is the entire array, test at any point in the balance of system, like the DC breaker before the CC. But that would not isolate any losses in the PV path for you.
Yeah I would be tilting those panels a bit. Truly horizontal is not going to provide maximum yields, or much yield at all I think, during much of the year. An old rule of thumb which I followed, was latitude plus 15. But newer calculations have shown that to be too steep for best year round yield. I have one array at close to that, 45 degrees@ true south, (32 latitude) and another just below it at a lower pitch, more like 35 degrees. The lower one consistently produces more amps even in winter.

Annie Hope wrote:Just received them a few days ago, and not sure what to do from here to test them for efficiency.

Yes well, gosh. Since I have lived off grid all solar for 15 years, I have gone through trying to outsmart the systems like this so many times that my best advice is, YOU DO NOT NEED TO REINVENT THIS WHEEL.
Anyway you are not yet equipped to test " efficiency" sorry but unless you are an EE with a few hundred thousand $ of equipment at your disposal, that is a false errand.
Look on the back of the panel. learn to understand what those terms mean. here is a simple how to. https://www.altestore.com/blog/2016/04/how-do-i-read-specifications-of-my-solar-panel/#.X08dK8hKhPY
Now obtain a multimeter capable of reading DC Amps. Many cheaper meters will only read AC amps, which in this case is a meaningless number.
Test the VOC, this is the "open circuit voltage" this is NOT what you may receive under load, but it is what you need to know to compare to the back of the panel specs. that means put the red probe in the positive and the black in the negative. If you do not have an indication on the panel of which is which, you can pull the cover and look at the direction of the diodes, but you need to up your game on this stuff first. Lots of internet resources, most are confusing.
Do not kill yourself. DC can do the same damage as AC, most amateurs (like me) do not believe this until we make one mistake and if lucky we pick ourselves up, and feel sick for quite a while. A single 12 volt panel is unlikely to cause any issues. But if testing a full array, just pretend you are trying to catch a 6' rattler by the neck.
OK compare your full sun VOC readings to the spec. Remember all the " ratings" for ac and dc appliances are a range. 120 VAC can be 110-125 at any given moment. 12 VDC can be 11- 14 If in range move on to the ISC which is the dc amperage. Set the meter at DC amps in a range comparable with the spec on the panel, put the probes in the + and - and make a note. compare to the spec on the back.
All you have done, ( all you can do) is see if the panel produces what the manufacturer says it does. If you have bought a quality panel you have just wasted a bunch of time, because it will produce what it specs. If you did not, you have just wasted a bunch of money. Panels are freaking cheap now, go for the ones that offer LONG warranties and have been at it long enough you can expect them to be there 5 years on. Jeeze when I started I was paying over $700 for not much over a hundred watts. Now you can buy excellent quality for a buck or less per watt. Your real issues are the balance of system components.

About ten years ago I bought a bender from a vendor on EBay, for producing a 20' diameter hoop. Using 3 pcs of the top rail you refer to. He had worked the arc of the bender out just right. I just took a look at it and, no he has no name on it. But I think he sent a cd with it, If you need that I can try to find it. I did mine 28' long, 2' OC and covered with corrugated polycarbonate. Wound up with more leaks than I wanted due to my bad lap system, so I overlaid 7/16 OSB on the top 1/3,  installed to the tubes with self tapping screws. Then I shingled the osb. So, almost exactly what you envision. The osb bends to this gentle arc fine, if laid lengthwise and staggered. Obviously would not conform if laid the opposite way. Still cheaper than ply, and fine if you cover. If you want to go metal like corrugated, you will have to lay lengthwise also, and you will get leaks unless you can obtain sheets the full length of your building. ( it is the end over end joints that will leak) You can lap the lengthwise joints enough to prevent leaks there. You may be able to get full length sheets from a real steel supplier, not big box.
BTW the link you sent is just a fabric building, there are tons of those online, such as Clear Span etc. Most of quality are to large for you though.

Well I have a 34' dia dome greenhouse, with a 1/2 loft . While building my home adjacent, I moved in to the north 1/2, insulated that, so I have 1/2 glazing. For DHW, I put inside  3 ea  4x8 flat plate collectors, I had salvage, a 150 gal Stock tank for reservoir and a small taco pump to circulate. As long as there is nice sun, we have plenty of hot water. And as the greenhouse never freezes, ( also have close 3000 gal water storage in there in various ways,)  so that tempers the temps, I do not need heat exchangers or any such, just pure, ( hard as hell) well water.

Nice passion, rare to see someone who is both thoughtful and expressive. Indeed the internet today is full of " expert advice" As is all human life. Like they say opinions are like AH...., everyone has one. Non clumping cat litter?
Non-clumping cat litter is often made of zeolite, diatomite and sepiolite. , years ago spent a good bit of time researching zeolite, very porous, probably excellent, no where near local for most gardeners.
Liked the comment on junk systems, but like most junk houses and cars those will fade as the process matures. Nevertheless sometimes adults need a spanking.  
Did you put up some proof of system as requested by previous poster? Cant find it.