December 4, 2014

Good morning, This fall, has taught me that being complacent is not a good place to be, that is if one intends to be a gardener. I had gotten just a tad to much so this past September with fall sowing. I will have decent stocking levels for winter veggies, even though there are a number of holes in the planting grids. Not paying attention to the extended moist and cloudy conditions kinda bit me in the rear.

Not really wanting to repeat this folly with my temporary “greenhouses” I have been monitoring them pretty close. Some things that I have noticed: following the last freezing period, the greenhouse chard did not get frozen stems like the traditional covered chard. Although on a recent warm sunny day there was no wind and the green house did heat up a bit higher than I would have liked to see. I have only the fabric as a cover to prevent the plants from scalding. With all new practices there is a learning curve and this greenhouse thingy is no different.

Instead of removing the green house film all together, it has only been pulled back underneath the fabric. The next freeze. I will replace it. I am sure that it will be very beneficial during the months of December and January. I intend to get an older model of indoor / outdoor thermometers that has the sensor on the end of a wire (I can bury the probe 4 to four inches). With this I can record the difference of soil temp and air temp inside the cover. It will be some neat information. Last year the sunny days seemed to be more windy. It is wonderful to have sunny calm days but I do need to pay attention to details.

A couple of observations from last winters use of the film /fabric combo: last fall was much cooler with few days after the 3^rd week of November getting much above the mid 60's. This year we have had temps in the high 60's to almost the low 80's. Last year was more windy and this year has been very mild in that respect. I also noticed from last year, that when outside temps were in the 70's and 80's and sunny, the temperature inside the covers was pushing the century mark. I did notice some leaf scalding this year before I pealed back the film under the fabric on one of our recent warm days. It will be interesting to see what December and January hold in regards to warmth and sunshine.

I have been using fabric for many years and with “trial and error” I have learned what kind of protection to expect with different weather events. I expect to gain this kind of knowledge about the use of these greenhouses over time too. I hope that I do not have any catastrophic events with this film like I did learning the best time to plant early toms. As I have said when pushing the seasons, if you are not willing to buy the farm only to start over, then it is best not to do it. The only way to see if it can be done is to just do it. I think the odds are better than playing the lottery!

The winter fall veggies are coming along. The kohlrabi, and cauliflower are looking pretty nice. Same goes for the parsnips and the early broccoli raab. Because of some seeding issues with the cabbage and broccoli, time will tell how these do. Peas are looking real nice. Except for a couple crops all is looking pretty good.

I can be reached at markdirtfarmer @gmail.com