Monday, March 5, 2012

Greenhouse Effect

I headed out to the farm today, and it was sunny and 35F.  Nice and pleasant to work outside.  Then I opened up the hoophouse.  Whoa!  90 degrees!  Maybe I'll grow bananas this year.
But, by the end of the day it was down to 40 inside again.  Not bad, just needs to stay a touch above freezing to keep the seedlings happy.

I pulled up some brush on the ground, exposing the soil and the chickens came out to investigate.


Ruthie at her usual post, surveying the field.

But why does she have that backpack on?  Well, this past weekend we got a pretty good bit of snow, and I could not really drive down the road to the farm.  Generally not a big deal, but I'm hauling water for the chickens from home every day.  5 gallons x 8lbs/gallon = 40 pounds of water to carry.  Or sled!

So, I've put the dog to work the past few days pulling the sled.  We do a bit of skijouring with her when the snow is good, so she's pretty keen to pull things.  She also understands the stop and go commands.  Not so much on the "left" or "right" though...




The loaded trip in...

Faster and more motivated on the way out...


Back home on the light table, the chives, kale and onions are coming up!  I'll see if I can get these out to the hoop house soon.  I don't think I'll trust these on the dog sled though...

White onions sown now = summer tacos!
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2 comments:

  1. Green Spark FarmMarch 13, 2012 at 4:23 PM

    Forgot to mention - if you feel like seedlings are leggy - long stems, and very tall, the grow light really should be as close to them as possible, like right on the flats =about a half inch to an inch above when they germinate, and then moved up on strings as they grow taller. Makes for more durable seedlings. Also, continue to use row cover over new seedlings, as we found the transition from grow lights to greenhouse sunlight can be harsh to seedlings and cause burned leaves and occasional seedling death(!). So row cover provides a buffer -- 2 to 3 days under rowcover or on overcast greenhouse days and lettuce and tomatoes and starts of all kinds can take the sun. Hope this might keep you from making the mistakes we have already made! (no need to make those again!)

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  2. Green Spark FarmMarch 13, 2012 at 4:25 PM

    PS running your hand over the tops of your growlight seedlings or putting a little house fan to create a "wind" will also help your seedlings develop strong stems to withstand coming weather as they get planted outside in natural conditions. Way to go with so many veggies already!

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