It's getting close to that time of the year, time to prepare for sowing seeds. I haven't used my GH since last spring, rarely even went inside it. I learned that we do not have enough sun from mid-December to mid-February to grow plants and cannot afford to heat and illuminate it. But about a week ago I started a bunch of Super Sugar Snap peas as well as chard and spinach, just to see how they will grow in a 200-cell tray (so far, very good). As I hate to just add the plants to a compost pile, I figured I might as well plant some of them in the GH, in a space I won't need until April.
The first thing I noticed was the inner layer of GH plastic was obstructing a lot of sun. I live less than 1/4 from a major interstate plus a 4-lane, limited access highway. Trains run on both sides of our street so there is plenty of pollution. Somehow, it managed to make its way into the GH, between the two layers of plastic. So, I removed it.
There was a small hole in the top, I patched that and covered a couple of places that I had opened up this spring to allow some heat to escape. My door blew off last spring (we had wind gusts of 50+ mph for several hours the day before Mother's Day last year). I had planned to replace it with a screen door that I can cover with plastic until the temps warm but didn't have all the materials so didn't get a round tuit today. Instead, I covered the doorway with an old blanket.
But I did have lots of 7-gallon containers filled with a mix of dirt, compost and horse manure that have been sitting in the garden all winter. Of course, they were soaked and frozen and weighed like lead. I had dug a trench in the ground before I grew tomatoes last year, it kept the containers from drying out - I had to water only about once every two weeks. So I carried the containers, about 20 of them, into the GH and dumped the contents into the trench. Once it thaws, I'll spread everything out.
It was 31 degrees outside and 38 inside before I patched the holes and covered the door. Thirty minutes later, it was still 31 outside, but 74 inside. And that was at a foot off the ground.
I figure I'll have room for about 80 peas, all 10 of my chard plants and a few of the spinach. My light meter measured about 25,000 lux. If I remove the plastic from the front, I should get another 5,000 or so, more than enough for these plants.
Our normal temps are 40/23 but will rise to 45/30 by the end of the month. These plants should survive the normal lows (no frost inside) but if abnormally cold weather is predicted I have both a 450-watt electrical heater and a 30,000 BTU kerosene one I can use.
On another note, got some 128-cell nursery trays. Need to sow some tomatoes so I can see how they will grow in these things.
Mike
The first thing I noticed was the inner layer of GH plastic was obstructing a lot of sun. I live less than 1/4 from a major interstate plus a 4-lane, limited access highway. Trains run on both sides of our street so there is plenty of pollution. Somehow, it managed to make its way into the GH, between the two layers of plastic. So, I removed it.
There was a small hole in the top, I patched that and covered a couple of places that I had opened up this spring to allow some heat to escape. My door blew off last spring (we had wind gusts of 50+ mph for several hours the day before Mother's Day last year). I had planned to replace it with a screen door that I can cover with plastic until the temps warm but didn't have all the materials so didn't get a round tuit today. Instead, I covered the doorway with an old blanket.
But I did have lots of 7-gallon containers filled with a mix of dirt, compost and horse manure that have been sitting in the garden all winter. Of course, they were soaked and frozen and weighed like lead. I had dug a trench in the ground before I grew tomatoes last year, it kept the containers from drying out - I had to water only about once every two weeks. So I carried the containers, about 20 of them, into the GH and dumped the contents into the trench. Once it thaws, I'll spread everything out.
It was 31 degrees outside and 38 inside before I patched the holes and covered the door. Thirty minutes later, it was still 31 outside, but 74 inside. And that was at a foot off the ground.
I figure I'll have room for about 80 peas, all 10 of my chard plants and a few of the spinach. My light meter measured about 25,000 lux. If I remove the plastic from the front, I should get another 5,000 or so, more than enough for these plants.
Our normal temps are 40/23 but will rise to 45/30 by the end of the month. These plants should survive the normal lows (no frost inside) but if abnormally cold weather is predicted I have both a 450-watt electrical heater and a 30,000 BTU kerosene one I can use.
On another note, got some 128-cell nursery trays. Need to sow some tomatoes so I can see how they will grow in these things.
Mike
