Risking an overnight . .

. I think I may be getting a little anxious by about . .

. 5am.

Steve
with 17 flats and a 800 watt heater

I left them out there with the 800w heater and a fan . . .

I'm so tired . . . Oh, I only went out once after 10pm . . .

It didn't fall into the 20's outdoors as was predicted and has been 32o like, forever! The new hoop house is 44. Gosh, that's good enuf for snapdragons and things . . . zzzzzzzz

S'

WAY good enough for snaps, Digit! I was a little surprised you were at all concerned about them. If they're hardened off they can take just about anything! My "all over the place" seedling snaps outside went from 72 one day to 8 degrees less than 24 hours later, and they're truckin' along and just fine! My German iris foliage, tulip and daf foliage, rhubarb, LOTS of other things, daffodil FLOWERS that were under pots, and my bleeding heart that was under a HEAVY pot!, all bought it! Snaps are fine!

It's snowing!

Sleep on,
Skybird

P.S. Coulda done without the COLD, but the precip we've been getting is GREAT!

I know Skybird. But, they are tiny, still. Probably none are over 3" tall, many - just with 2nd leaves. There are also some other things. Parsley . . . okay, sure.

I will say that I often push the statice out in too much cold in the garden. They only look like they are especially hardy with the flat-against-the-ground stance. After they turn purple, we know that they are tender things.

Continuing forecasts in the 20's. The afternoon highs were only 47o the last 2 days but this day had some nice sunshine.

Steve

They are talking of 18 tonight for at least 10 hours and tomorrow night . Suppose to warm up Friday. Hope it went around you.

Only 28o this morning, Margaret.

My little ol' electric heater isn't really up to the job and the plants would have been frozen at 18o! Instead, they are at 39o . . . and, holding.

I hadn't really intended to go with this small heater. I had thought it was bigger but it has been out in the garage since I moved into this house in '95.

Steve

It was 13 last night here. Suppose to warm up to the 20s now at night. Will wait and see if the fruit trees are gone for this year. None were open yet but not that far away from opening. The lilacs are close to opening also.

I've observed ~ zzzzz ~ this little hoop house thru 4 mornings. It is absolutely consistent at keeping the temperature 11o to 12o above the outdoors!

I can determine the outdoor temperature by looking at the the hoop house thermometer.

Let's see, at 13o it would be . . . . . . !!

Steve

the rosemary has all been moved out to the deck and about half of its space is now taken up with flats and that has really freed up space in the greenhouse, which is about 16' beyond that door.

11úF here this morning.......

We were 12ú but with the snow cover I am hopeful that the rhubarb and lovage won't have to start over AGAIN.

On top of the cold we had high winds yesterday and it tore the plastic on the high hoop house. I had hoped for another season. Tried to get online last night but they had computers down. Couldn't find any locally this time. This morning I thought I got through and then my computer went down. I called and now it looks like I will have plastic middle of next week or so. We taped the torn parts together with gorilla tape and it only had lettuce, spinach and greens in there so far so if it doesn't hold I won't have to worry too much. Was just about ready to call the year quits! Ordered from Tek supply that I have bought some things from in the past.

Yikes!

I have ordered most of my "greenhouse stuff" from FarmTek. It has worked out well. They are fairly prompt.

I am not very happy about using construction-grade film for the new hoop house this year. I put that stuff (deserves a different word) on the temporary hoop house every year & use it on the lawn hoopies but I put a fair amount of work into that new little hoop house!

My neighbor seemed to really hesitate when I told him my greenhouse-in-a-box wasn't going to fit in his garden so I had to build something . . . I decided to defuse any objection by saying, "Oh, I can use the stuff that I take off every summer so that all that will be here by July is the shed."

Phooey (deserves a different word)! I just hope that the experience of looking at all that plastic film is not a terrible one for him and he will be receptive to me making it a little more permanent. He smiles every time we run into each other in his backyard so maybe I'm providing him with some entertainment rather than pain . . .

The UV-resistant stuff (deserves a better word) lasted me 4 years - might have been 5. It hadn't blown apart, just broken where it really shouldn't have so I decided that it was only going to get worse. Yeah, I used to put the construction stuff (I'll stop) on the greenhouse for several years. I musta been NUTZ! It is dang near as expensive as the UV-resistant and can't be trusted to last more than a few months!

Steve

I checked my onions and leeks - after three days of wind, two nights down in the low teens.

Um, lets hope something survives below the soil surface. Because there isn't much above.

That's a bummer David. I'm still waiting to plant onions. This has been a cold, wet and windy April. They seem happy enough still in the flat outside in a coldframe. Maybe after this next cold front passes by they go in the ground.

Greg

I'm getting carrot germination and the garlic might recover. I have some Crinum bulbispermum that might not make it, and some daffies that won't spread this year. And I have some plants that would like to go out under WOWs. But here the wind has been a little subdued and the moisture good. The cold snap was bad, but minor. Overall some setbacks, but could be worse.

Not too much weather interfering with things here - by comparison, certainly!

The 1/4" of rain that fell sure didn't dampen things much in this dry spring. Sub-normal temperatures are suppressing growth.

We have had one 70oF afternoon in 2013. Four March days, the thermometer reached 60o and four days in April, the thermometer has achieved the same "accomplishment." Yesterday it was 60o but wind gusts of 35mph didn't make for a pleasant afternoon. Still, I got some garden things done.

The only way it is possible for me to "get away" to the gardens is to be able to "get away" from these sheltered plants here at home. The gardens all require me to climb in the pickup and drive somewhere.

I really need to enter the 21st century with a little more technology but now I've got 3 protective-growing shelters! Usually, my problem is during the day with cold outside air, strong sunlight but big, billowy clouds!

I sit here in the dark every morning watching the remote thermometers drop slowly. The Asian greens in the temporary hoop house, take their chances. The furnace in the greenhouse/sunshed covers the bases in there. With only that little electric heater in the new hoop house and all sorts of peppers & tomatoes in there - I swear, I've considered running out there with the toaster oven some mornings!

Instead, I crank up the little heater another notch. I'm not even so sure about the old outlet in the carport. If I set fire to things - it won't just be the new shed!

Forecast for tomorrow morning was for 25o. I don't want those plants down in the mid-30's and dang-sure don't want to carry them back out of there! I'd better locate a 1500watt heater today and be prepared to exchange it for the 800watt tomorrow morning. By tomorrow at 4am, I can stand at the kitchen window and watch the shed, hoop house, carport, garage, fence, & the neighbor's garage burn. It would be a shame to be asleep in bed and miss it.

Steve
if it wasn't for anxiety, i'd have no motivation at all

It is snowing here this evening and suppose to have a couple more cold nights. Then maybe it will warm up again! It is springtime in the Rockies!

As of this morning, all of the earliest-sown tomatoes & peppers are in the hoop house. The cool-season plant starts that were in there a week ago, have taken up residence in unheated situations. The rosemary is out in the open during the day but under the deck roof at night.

The snapdragons have moved to a hoopie on the lawn - the link below takes you to what I was up to last year. I've got 2 layers of plastic over the snaps. The asters and calendulas are in the unheated temporary hoop house. It's 8' wide and they are in the middle, between the beds so they should be fine with the frost outdoors this morning.

The shed-attached hoop house has the appearance of being full but I am using Skybird's suggestion of checker-boarding the tomatoes & peppers. They've got more space around them so, hopefully, won't continue just growing up&up!!

More tomatoes are being moved out of 4-packs and into pots almost, as we speak! As they need greater space - things will just have to keep rotating as we near that moment when the outdoors is a little more welcoming.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: hoopies on the lawn

They look great.