Melting Fast

The snow was rotten by late Sunday. I got one good run with the dogs Saturday morning. It was a blue bird day and the snow was hard packed go anywhere snow. By Wednesday we lost close to a foot. In the greenhouse, the seedlings are doing well. Some cold weather and high humidity took out the toi choi and crippled some spinach and kale, but over all there are many more survivors. By the way I unplugged the heat mat last week and the temperatures in the greenhouse have been in the 50's - 60's, while outside the temps are in teh 30's and 40's. I have class to 100 gallons of water and lot of soil in pots in the 8' x 12' greenhouse, which is double walled with visqueen inside and wiggle board (fiberglass) on the outside. The radishes I planted over the last three weeks are up and the ovation greens from Johnney's Seeds are rocking. Arugula and more greens were planted on Sunday and are starting to pop up. The story of the spring has been the leeks, they do not mind the cold weather since the beginning of April then have been slowly growing in size. Today dug out a trail to the greenhouse, snow is rotten and the extra-tuffs are not tall enough. I noticed the tall cold frame on the east side of the garden is exposed. This cold frame has been a great early spring success and I am looking forward to planting some greens in it soon.



The real story is the Flex Hoop House on my school blog site, I have more pictures on my Facebook site. The hoop house grand erection took place on Monday. The temperature in the soil for the 4' x 4' raised beds in the hoop house are in the upper 50's. We planted all of our onions, root vegetables, and some seeds of greens yesterday. Tomorrow we will plant our starts of kale, Swiss chard, toi choi, and various frost resistant greens.

Cold Temps and Blowing Snow

Earlier this week saw the green house low to be 21 degrees, with a high of 80 degrees. Later in the week the temperatures warmed above freezing with the highs in the 50's. The seedlings on the heat mat sprouted, especially the mixed greens, claytonia, and bok choi. I pulled all these seedlings off the heat mat. I left the mache on the mat and placed the kale and spinach on the heat mat. They did not sprout last week, hopefully the heat will offer some encouragement. Meanwhile, the snow is still three to four feet deep. At school we are starting many seeds and I will post a link to the work we are doing there soon.

Inside, I have many seedlings going in the mudroom, under full spectrum lights and over the radiator. I am pleased by the growth so far, not too leggy and no aphids.

Easter Week

I planted cold tolerant greens (mache, claytonia, radichio, kale, and baby choi) in the greenhouse today. These seeds are growing on a heat mat set at 70 degrees F. I also planted spinache and kale without a heat mat. I keep notes on everything I plant and weather conditions on a write-in-the-rain journal. Inside the house marjoram, thyme, and rosemary are growing. Tomatoes were started over the last two weeks at school. I also started some basil and cilantro. Last but not least, we planted a lot of leeks, which I transplanted the starts in four packs and in the green house about 16 in a big pot.

Our day time temperatures have been in the upper 30's and the lows in the upper 20's, meanwhile the green house is around the upper 50's in the daytime with a low in the lower 30's. We are gaining more energy from the sun with a gain of close to 6 minutes of daylight. Even though we have snow and cool temperatures, I am sure we will round a corner in a matter of weeks.