35 degrees below zero

12 years ago

That's how cold it got here on March 1st, and it hasn't really warmed up much. During the day, it gets up to about 0*F. Still haven't been able to hook up gas to the greenhouse, so no heat, I resorted to using heat mats, old blankets and several layers of heavy row cover to get my seeds started. During the day, the trays pick up enough warmth from the sun through the covers that I can turn the mats off. At night, I turn the mats on and they hold at about 70 degrees all night.

Still a lot of work to be done as you can see from the pic - ground needs to be leveled and covered with weed barrier.

So far, I've started 44 flats for transplanting into hoophouses in 4 weeks - mostly beets and chard, plus some kale and claytonia.

How's everyone else's spring crops progressing?

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Comments (5)

jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
12 years ago
I start all my seeds in the basement, under lights, but it has been very cold, not your cold, but -6 on Monday morning. We will be in the 50's and 60's this weekend. That will be the warmest in weeks.

I took a mini vacation, with wife and friends at the end of February, so I didn't want to leave behind too many plants to care for, so I am slow to get started this year. I am seeding flats as fast as I can now to catch up. I am still a little "gun shy" about getting too many plants going, but it is time. Last year I got burned hard and had lots of problems getting things planted on time. It just was too cold and I had lots of plants ready to go and no where to go with them.

Jay
Slimy_Okra
Original Author
12 years ago
Yes, last year was terrible up here as well. The ground didn't thaw until early May. I shoved all my cool season seedlings into the basement to slow them down a bit and it worked fairly well. Other things were a total bust - direct-seeded spinach bolted before it was even ready to pick.
In the summer I moved permanently to a different place - smaller house with no place to start seeds but I have the unheated greenhouse and hoophouses to play with!

I'm planning to direct seed some Hakurei turnips in the hoophouse in early April when we can expect outside highs in the mid to upper 40s - is it similar to when you plant these turnips?
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Prairie_Sima
12 years ago
I started some of my slow crops in the house mid January, fired up our greenhouse 2 weeks ago... It has been so cold here this year! Heating at night cost us arm and a leg. 5-6 hours of bright daylight are not bad, sun takes care of heating. But anyway, I already have transplanted some seed geraniums, impatiens and few other flowers to larger pots. Just other day Habanero and some container peppers started germinating. Today I seen some very tiny petunias coming up - they will be for baskets. It takes a while for them to bush out.
tomatoesandthings
12 years ago
Seems like the plants are taking there time. The tomatoes in the picture are for the high tunnel. I wanted to get them planted next week but I think they are still way to small.
tomatoesandthings
12 years ago
Also started some cucumbers and squash for the high tunnel.