Snow Day!

December 9, 2009

One has to love snow days!  You get to stay home and do nothing.  Or catch up on all the stuff you have been putting off.  I have not gotten to sit down in the office during the week for months, but today was the day I got to.  No one was able to make it into work today, so I manned the phones by myself and answered some questions tackfully, and attempted to clean off my desk and file away some papers, and schedule events and ....stuff like that.

My day did start out with me bundling up in my winter gear and racing down to the cold frame, as the wind had blown the door open.  It was 22 degrees.  Which is not bad considering it was 22 degrees the past two days and there wasn't the snow or wind.  We are still attempting to grow in there.  We had peas blossoming the other day, but... this colder weather is really beating them up.  The zucchini is finally done.  This lasted until a few weeks ago.  Lettuce and beets were harvested on Tuesday, as we wanted to get a head of the snow storm.  There are still heads of broccoli to harvest.  The cabbage and kohlrabi is taking a very long time to mature.   The carrots have greens on them that measure about 6 inches or better and am hoping that we have some in a month or two.
There has always been plastic over all of the rows, but I recently had placed floating row covers 16" off of the ground over the rows.  Each layer is supposed to add 10 degrees.  I do not know what the ground temperature is, as at one time I was on the hunt for a ground thermometer, but then became side tracked and have not had the chance to go looking for them again.  It would be interesting to know though.  Think Santa Claus will bring me one?

The greenhouse that we have planted vegetables in pots with no heat is not looking good.  It actually is better to plant the vegetables in the ground.  It may grow slower, with the cold, but they are a stronger plant with a better root system.  Those grown in pots have a very shallow roots and the vegetable plant itself seems to have a very tender cell membranes that do not last.  In other words, the vegetable deteriorates quicker.  The pots also have to watered more frequently.  The cold frame has its own eco-system going as condensation gathers on the inside of the plastic and it then drips down on the plants throughout the day.  We have not had to water since October. 

Stay warm and enjoy your snow day, as I know I did!  :-)