MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN. LOWS IN THE 30S. HIGHS 45 TO 55.

The weather has been cold, just like in last year's blog, the cold winds blow right out of the glacier's across Kachemak Bay. Every now and then the sun shines and reminds us that spring is hear, but it has been cold. We actually has snow in the air Friday morning.

Inside, the starts are enjoying the little bit of sunshine and heat from the wood stove. The tomatoes are producing fruit and the flowers are ready for the hanging baskets outside on the porch



Yesterday we rented a rototiller breaking new ground for a new potato field (16' x 30') and another field (50' by 50') in the old horse pasture.

We ordered some oats and were given barely by a local gardener to plant in this field as an experiment.

The green house looks great with spring greens and seedlings. We have been munching on greens for a couple of weeks. Carrots are up in the raised beds in the greenhouse, cilantro is doing great, as are the rest of the herbs.



Outside in the raised bed under the solar pod we have more greens, overwintered-leeks, and snow peas planted. The bed has been above 50 degrees for two weeks now.

This fall I hope to try overwinter carrots, a specific variety of course, under the solar pod. We have now had onions and leeks, so why not try carrots. Due to the success of the solar pod and after listening to Dr. Jeff Shmeenk from UAF speak about heating soils in cold climates, we have decided to build more solar pods. Since this will be the second time building a solar pod I am going to make some changes from the pods built in Solar Gardening by the Poissons. Too often I have had the snow collapse the structure when a sudden snow in the fall broke the solid plastic. Instead, I will use visqueen and reemay, as I use now. It is cheap, easy, and it works. More to come.

The hoop house is doing great. I planted beets, broccoli, garlic, day-neutral onions planted, many variety of greens, celeriac root, fennel, and radishes to kick the season off. In a few weeks, the zucchini will be planted in the remaining holes.


In the hog garden, the garlic has come up and I planted beets, scorzonera, and parsnips. The last two are poking up. I checked the temperature today and it was 55 degrees F. I hope to broad fork the hog garden this week and plant some broccoli and cabbage. I did amend this year with alfalfa pellets. So far the hog garden has been producing a bountiful amount of nettles that we have been eating them steamed and as nesto.

As the buds start showing on the berry shrubs it is evident that the snow shoe hares were not able to get all of the branches. We have lost several local birch and the snow shoe hares are still running around, but they are not eating any of our berry shrubs anymore.

May Day 2011

We still have snow on the ground and snow was flying in the air May 1st. However, the rhubarb and chives are pushing their heads up through the frozen ground. Looking around the garden the snow shoe hares wrecked havoc on our currants, goose berries, and mock orange. The only surviving limbs and buds are those low to the ground that were protected by the snow cover. No pruning this year. I pulled the mulch of the garlic, so the sun will start heating the soil.
It was below freezing last night, hopefully the bulbs will be okay.

The seeds in the cold frame and solar pod have sprouted. In the greenhouse, all the greens are growing in the 80 degree temperatures and it is time to grow some more starts.

I finally replaced the old visqueen on the hoop house with some 6 mil UV protection greenhouse film. The film cost $200 for a 24" x 50' roll. This film is definitely a marked improvement over the old stuff, it feels more supple and stretches, and has a smooth finish. I am going to try attaching it differently to the hip board. This time I am going to have the hip board on the outside, with lathe holding down with fill with screws. I got this idea from the high tunnel.org site.

I put a center pole instead of the shoulder board. The last change made is adding diagonal supports using stainless steel wire. I used the diagonal wire supports two years ago for shear support, but did not use it last year. I don't think I needed it, plus the steel wire rusts and discolors the hoop house film. Because I am adding another four feet to the hoop house, I figure it will not hurt to have the stainless wire. Upon completion the hoop house feels very stable. Now the heat is warming the soil.