March 3, 2016

Good morning, First I would like to say WE have eggs. The girls have finally kicked into gear. We have both regular eggs and bantam eggs. Regular are $5.00 per dozen and the bantam are $3.00 per dozen or $5.00 for a dozen and a half.

Yes spring planting is progressing. This is much earlier than what I have started in years past. Normally I only have toms planted by the middle of February. This year there are summer squash and beans too. I must say we had a chilly morning this past week (21 degrees). Anxious, yes! but observing the temperature under 2 layers of agribon 19, I felt relieved. It had gotten down to 30 degrees for only a very brief time at sunrise. The tom, beans and squash beds are covered with 2 layers of 19 along with two layers of 70. Yess!

The soil is warming and the fabric is doing just as it was designed to do.

Looking forward with the weather forecasts there are 70 and 80 degree days ahead.

Yes, one of the nice things of saving seed, you can push the seasons and not have an expense other than your time. I have been using fabric many years now and have consistently tried to find its limitations. The stuff is strictly an insulator for cold or heat. It will maintain what ever condition is under the fabric. This was very evident with all the snow and ice last winter.

I had planted some seed potatoes the first of November and figured they would sprout when they were ready. Normally by the middle of November the soil is chilling down but this didn't happen until Christmas. Welllll these puppies sprouted on me. In an effort to get them through the winter and into spring I covered them with 2 layers of 70. When we started getting snow and ice, there soon was no soil warmth down to depth that the ice water had penetrated. So leaving the fabric on prevented the soil from warming. A reverse in purpose. Later I thought that maybe if I had put down some greenhouse film over the potatoes and the fabric over the film, the chill penetration from the melting ice and snow may not have happened. Maybe next time.

To the untrained eye my early planting might look like I am taking some real big risks.

Since moving to Alpine from central Oregon (where they really do have winter), I have noticed (for the most part) winters are mild but are interrupted with periodic short term cold spells. The cold spells last 2 to 3 days and then it is mild again. The rest of the time is partly sunny to sunny. Soil warmth at 6 inches normally does not go below 45 degrees. This I have found to be true for the dead of winter time. This is from December through February 15. Some years this winter time frame is a little “fuzzy” on either end of these months. Once the middle of February has a arrived, the warmer periods are more frequent and have a longer duration. The cold spells become less frequent but can still have a duration of 2 to 3 days. These are the days you need to watch for. It is the fabric that protects against these cold snaps. The fabric harvests this soil warmth from the warm days and protects the plants during these ever briefer cold spells.

I have found that there is no problem with leaving the heavy fabric on for the duration of any freezing event since it is usually only 2 to 3 days. I can remember leaving things covered when I worked for the Texas Forest Service. I would cover the evening before a cold front and leave it on for the duration. The plants were not worse for wear when the covers were removed.

It was working around this “away from home” time that helped me develop this whole scheme. I will say that I have had my share of black tomato seedlings before this was all worked out.

My catastrophic disasters seem to be a thing of the past. That is as long as I do not get too brazen and do something real stupid. This could all change if Mother Nature were to throw a curve ball that is not predicted. Now that I no longer work “ away” anymore, I can use on sight observations along with weather forecasts to do this “jump start” of the gardening season. What joy it is to see someones facial expression when you tell them in the middle of February that “I planted tomatoes this week”. The looks are priceless and I know I am not taking that big of a risk, that is as long as I do not do something stupid. And yes I have accepted that all of my early planting can very easily be cleared back to square one, but I am OK with this.

Innovation is achieved by learning from failures.