Monday, November 22, 2010

snow and cold

The snow cover that's not going away, the cold getting colder and the nasty wind have all convinced me that it's a better idea to stay inside by the warm fire and do some indoor work today. As long as the power stays on I can even do some work on the computer!


A few things to do out in the greenhouse first, though. While it's a blustery 7 below zero wintery day outside, I'm managing to keep the greenhouse grow trays at a balmy low of 2 degrees above zero. So my shoots and microgreens aren't freezing (yet) and I'm still supplying my customers with fresh new shoots and greens. The timing of the tray plantings is a bit off though, since they are growing much slower.


Purple daikon radish shoots, sunflower shoots, pea shoots in trays all lined up and at different stages of growth.


Little sunflower shoots just emerging into the cold cold winter. Here I've uncovered them to let them air out a bit. I cover them with the fleecy row cover at night.


The trays all sit on heat mats and with the row cover on top, it's amazing how much warmer it is under the fleece where the trays sit greening up. This is my first attempt at growing tender salad greens in below zero weather and so far, it's fun! But with the temperature continuing to drop it will get more challenging. We'll see....it's a great experiment.