Today, I am a somewhat frustrated gardener. We are experiencing a second straight day of ice/sleet/rain. Any of these will result in a soggy garden for the next couple of weeks. We probably have a half inch of covering on the beds. So, I have to do what I have to do to scratch my gardening itch. So, I went downstairs to begin the process of seeding in my grow containers with Spring crops. As mentioned in my post yesterday, this is due to a mistake on my part.
First, I cleaned all the containers involved to insure that there were no transferrable funguses or blights to worry about. I then washed the garden growlab that holds the seedling containers. This unit has water resevoirs and adjustable lights. After completing all these tasks, I allowed them to dry. Once dried, I began by filling the flat seedling cube with seed starting mix as seen below.
I will complete the process this afternoon by seeding in various lettuce, spinach, onions, cabbage and broccoli varieties. When I get the flat container fully seeded in, I will then proceed to start seeding in the other container. If I fill in both units, I will have 72 cells of seedlings. And no, I won't use the heat mats once I see the plants poking up through the soils.
Hopefully, I will have better luck this go around. I prefer to start my own plants. I have some favorite varieties I have identified that have a better taste than what you find at the various greenhouse/growers. Nothing like a Brandywine tomato in the middle of the summer.
So, I will endeavor to post what I complete this afternoon. I will update on what I have seeded in this afternoon. Until next time, Happy Gardening Everyone!
The forecasters are 0-2 in my area. We were supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow but instead were treated to sleet and plenty of it. One of our local TV weather people said that they had no idea this was going to happen. She said that none of their models saw this happening. Well, I would tell her it's time to get some new models. This was very far off the mark. Here is picture of our morning scene below.
But, I digress! During one of the more intense sleeting periods, I decided to check my greenhouse as I knew it would be covered in ice. And, I was correct. When I turned the corner to view my greenhouse, here is what I was confronted with.
I went inside and noticed that the roof panels were bowing from the weight of the icc/sleet. Not a good situation with yet more sleet being forecasted. So, I went back to my house and related the predictament to my wife. I began thinking I would put an electric heater in the unit to raise the temp in the greenhouse which was sitting at 28 degrees. My wife came back and told me about a thing she had seen called a terracotta clay pot heater. Intrigued, I listened to her explain it. When all was said and done, it entailed putting a candle on top of a base and then placing the pot over it - making sure there was allowance for air to get into the area under the pot. One twist was to use a sterno candle instead of a regular candle. This boosts the amount of heat it produces. After gathering all the items I needed, I went out and constructed my first terra cotta heater. Here is the finsihed product.
I used 4 cement path pavers for the base. I made one alteration. Since I had space on each of the 4 pavers, I decided to use 4 small pots I had and put teacup candles under them. So I lit the sterno candle and the 4 teacup candles. When I finished, I closed the greenhouse and began shoveling our walks and steps. After about an hours time, I went back to the greenhouse. I found that the temp had risen to 43 degrees in that hour - a 15 degree increase. I was surprised given the outside temp was 26 degrees. I could hear the ice crackling and melting on the roof of the unit. So, I took an old broom and proceeded to brush the ice off each panel on both sides. It didn't take much effort to get the ice to slide off them. Here is a picture of it after my brushing.
Almost all the ice came off and the panels seemed to be back to normal inside. And, I learned a new technique to use if winter decides to visit us again which we all know it will. These terra cotta heaters can be used in an emergency to heat boats, campers and even rooms in a house in a crunch. One person said they used it to heat an unheated area where there were water pipes during a really cold snap.
Both my wife and I were a little surprised this worked so well. It's always a good thing to have an emergency contingency to fall back on. The other "surprise" was that we had these supplies and never realized they could be used in such a way. You learn something all the time. I am very grateful to have a wife that is so resourceful and full of useful information.
Well, that's all I have today. I am currently seeding in a new set of crops for the early spring. I had a failure of sorts with my last attempt. Seems I may have used my heating pads a little too long. I did have seedlings but they were very leggy which most likely was a result of too warm of soil. Spring crops prefer cooler soils. Lesson learned. Seems gardening always has a lesson to learn regardless of your "expertise".
So, please check back as I start anew with my seedling production. I am hoping that winter will go away and I can get into the garden. I have much to do there and time is ticking. Until next time, Happy Gardening Everyone!
I have very little faith that the forecasts for snow will pan out. Given the many forecasts that have all fizzled so far, I believe this will do the same thing. We're supposed to get two runs of snow from Wednesday night through Thursday morning and then another Friday through Saturday and may last to early Sunday morning. I remain skeptical as I sit here typing this post. I'm sure we'll get something but not near the 3-6" they are predicting. The cold weather will be another story.
It is definitely going to get colder but I believe it won't get to the point of other areas. We live close enough to the Chesapeake Bay that it has a dampening effect on our temps in winter. Sometimes, like this weekend, that can be beneficial. Only time will tell.
Earlier this morning, I went out to my greenhouse and proceeded to harvest the lettuce and spinach that was matured. It took a little less than an hour to cut the plants, wash, spin dry and store the cuttings. I decided to harvest the veggies for sure. so as to minimize the possibilty the plants would die if we get the temps that are forecasted. I'll water down the plants tonight as I have done at other times of cold temps and hope they survive. We now have some really fresh and tasty salads to look forward to in the next week or so. Here are pictures of the lettuce and spinach harvests.
The Spinach is a blend of Giant Nobel and Bloomsdale Long Standing. The lettuce is a mix of several varieties as I like to have a wide variety of tastes in my salads. To be truthful, my wife loves Spinach and really doesn't eat salads. So, I have a bunch of salads in my future.
And, for a change of pace, I was in our backroom and noticed that our Christmas cactus decided to start blooming. I thought I would share it with everyone.
Well, that's really all I have for this moment. Will have to keep an eye out on the weather as it is still quite uncertain. I certainly am grateful that I don't have to sweat getting to work anymore. I don't miss that conundrum one bit. I do have several projects which are currently in progress which I will report on in my next few posts. Until next time, Happy Gardening everyone!
For me, once the Super Bowl is over, I turn my attentions to getting the garden set up. This year, however, may be a little bit delayed. Seems that this cold system moving in from the Artic is the real thing. The last forecast I saw was for the system to hit our area next weekend when temps will drop into the teens at night and hovering in the mid 20's during the day. Sigh!
On my way to the greenhouse this morning, the ground gave no way to my weight, Solid as a rock as they say. Can't really do much with regards to the beds until that situation reverses. So, my plans will be adjusted until such time as the soil is thawed. We had a little snow yesterday which further complicated things as it rained, then snowed and then returned to rain before pushing out of our way. That saturated the soil to a point that when the temps fell below freezing last night, the ground froze pretty deep. Given our current temp is 27, I have little hope that the ground will thaw until the middle of next week if the forecasts are to be believed.
I do have crops in the greenhouse that need to be harvested which I will do today once the sun warms it up this afternoon. I may have some losses with the impending cold temps as I do not heat the unit. But, I also might just move the best plants inside. I don't see moving them as "worth it" as produce is still relatively affordable at the stores. It's going to be a game time decision for me. Here is a picture of some of the plants I will be taking cuttings from. I have many more on the shelving units in the greenhouse.
About 5 days ago, I started a set of seedlings in my basement. I seeded in Yellow onions, scallions, Parsley, Cabbage and Broccoli. They have been quite robust as you can see in the picture below. Some actually got leggy as they popped up long before I thought they would. The timing is pretty good as they should be able to be put into the greenhouse in a few weeks to get real sunshine.
I am going to be starting another tray of like vegetables this week in order to be able to thin the crops to the best plants for the garden. I will be biding my time for now by doing final planning for the garden layout and picking up a few more bags of manure. Hopefully, we'll catcha break and the temps will rebound earlier than expected.
Until next time, Happy Gardening Everyone!
Just came back from my greenhouse. All the plants seem to be in good shape with a few needing a little watering. The greenhouse was covered by about an inch or so of ice covered snow. I knocked it all off and was happy that the greenhouse withstood the storms well. I have to harvest more spinach and lettuce pretty soon so that is a big plus. That will be the third harvest in two months. A great return for an unheated greenhouse. Gives me a lot of hope going into the spring. Here's a quick ssht that I took.
Well, hope everything is well with everyone. As I said in my earlier post, so much more to do and post. Until then, Happy Gardening everyone.
