February 2020 – Cross Road Gardens

All-weather gardening

February 27, 2020May 7, 2020 CatherineLeave a comment

Snow was predicted earlier, but the forecast changed. And indeed we are getting rain, rain, and more rain and strong winds. A real snow melter.

I thought it would be pleasant enough sheltered in the hoophouse but the temperature was somewhere in the 30’s and my hands became numb almost immediately.

Nevertheless I planted some arugula, Salanova lettuce, and tatsoi in some of the empty rows in the hoophouse. Sam watered them in with the hose. Now we are warming up inside.

Chickens have started laying again, sporadically.

Chipping

February 18, 2020February 18, 2020 CatherineLeave a comment

A good activity for a winter day with snow in the forecast. We use a lot of wood chips for paths, mulching, and burying chicken wire for rabbit protection. Wood chips are good at the base of orchard trees and as a top dressing for raspberry beds. Can never have too much!

It begins! 2020

February 17, 2020February 18, 2020 CatherineLeave a comment

Twelve weeks (estimated) until last frost date for my zone (5b). I’m using May 8 as that date.

So we started seeds today. I’m trying to get more organized with my garden planning. I used a planting schedule from Johnny’s Seeds to plan out the indoor seed starting schedule week by week. First up, alliums:

Conservor shallots
Borrettana Cippollini onions
Bleu de Solaize leeks

We used our soil blocking tool and a potting mix composed with the following recipe:

5 parts ProMix Growing Medium
3 parts compost (Vee, left over from last year)
1/2 part sand
1/4 part azomite
5 parts water

I sprinkled the seeds over the top of the blocks, then sprinkled more ProMix over the top and misted. The flat is on the kitchen floor for now, where the radiant floor heat can keep them warm.

Next week, I’ll start some celeriac and leaf celery. Maybe parsley. And I need to fill out my planting schedule with set-out dates and direct-seed dates.

Temperature tracking

February 10, 2020May 7, 2020 CatherineLeave a comment

Sam is interested in the temperature management inside the hoophouse where we are overwintering greens. Four seasons farming!

The hoophouse’s plastic cover does part of the job. Then there is an internal low hoop of heavy duty row cover over the raised beds. He has also hung silver-backed bubble wrap from the internal hoophouse frame to reflect light down onto the plants on sunny days.

To give an indication of the difference it makes on a cold day, I recorded some temperatures on February 9, 2020:

Time	Conditions	Thermometer Location	Temperature
6:30 am	Sunrise	Outside	1 ℉
		In hoophouse	?
	Row cover down	At soil level	19 ℉
9 am	Sun	Outside	8 ℉
		In hoophouse	37 ℉
	Row cover down	At soil level	28 ℉
9:30 am	Sun	Outside	9.3 ℉
		In hoophouse	51 ℉
	Row cover raised	At soil level	50 ℉
11:00 am	Sun	Outside	12 ℉
		In hoophouse	72 ℉
	Row cover raised	At soil level	71 ℉
7:30 pm	Dark	Outside	19 ℉
		In hoophouse	20 ℉
	Row cover down	At soil level	30 ℉

Conclusions:

The hoophouse and the row covers definitely both help. On a 1 degree night, the temperature at soil level was 19 degrees.
A manual effort is required to lift off the row covers when the sun is shining. This shows in the difference at soil level between 9 and 9:30 am. With the row cover down at 9 am, the row cover was keeping in the night’s cold even though the temp in the hoophouse was rising quickly. With the row cover raised shortly after 9 am, the temps in the hoophouse and soil level equalized.
After the sun went down, it was 19 outside, 20 in the hoophouse, and 30 at soil level, showing the row covers really retain some of the day’s heat.

Sam wants to automate the lifting of the row covers (and other aspects of this process when we get a greenhouse). But for now, it’s been an interesting science project and we are still eating a small amount of greens.