Hey!
I have heard of using black containers of water to buffer the drastic changes in temperature. Has anyone out these used this method personally? we are thinking about using it in the community garden this fall and are hoping to get some background knowledge! Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Envi Sci and Fishy Plants

Short of sinking insulation around the perimeter, you're likely to have some freezing around the perimeter. Some growers deal with this by making the area nearest the walls serve as access paths, and having the beds run perpendicular to the longer sides of the house, with much narrower paths between the beds. The alternative is to plant hardier crops in the outside beds and more sensitive ones toward the middle of the house. Thermal mass solutions like the buckets of water will help maintain ambient temperatures, but won't do much against the infiltration from outside in the soil.

I have strawberries and asparagus in my outer beds. And yes, I had fresh strawberries in December. (Not many, but still...)

The asparagus does stop growing in November. Will be interesting to see when it rears its head this year given the mild weather todate.

The hoop house has roll-up sides, so both plants do just fine in the summer. The ends have lettuce in them, mulched with straw of course.

I went ahead and sunk 16" of 1" foam down into the ground around my high tunnel, and I put a layer of old roofing metal around the outside of that. I haven't gotten it tight all the way around. The east side is still undone, and I get rodents in there, but not through the insulation. The ground does not freeze. I have hopes that when I finally get around to getting that last side done, I'll have it rat-proof.

Huisjen,

Even with the roofing metal, you might have a few rodents that make their way in. I have a LARGE hoophouse, and even with aluminum flashing sunk all the way around, I still get a few rodents. But DOZENS fewer than the year before, when we didn't have the flashing. I get field mice and shrews, but never rats.

I use T-Rex style snap traps to kill off whatever rodents happen to make their way in. I haven't gotten voles yet, thank goodness--I understand that they are more difficult to tempt into traps.