Wow, this picture looks kinda spooky. No these aren't garden specters. You're looking at floating row covers on our remaining tomatoes and the new beds of greens and root veggies.
I've read about growers installing a solid wall about three feet around the perimeter to prevent heat loss and add to the thermal mass that can absorb solar heat. But as Bill explained to me, we're not set up for that as we don't have the rocks or concrete to store thermal heat.
I also read about someone else who insulated down four feet and loved the results. Bill agrees that deeper would have been better, but the Extension doesn't have access to a backhoe to make that reasonable.
Still he says, "When it comes to insulation I guess you could always do more."
Can you read that? It says 129.9 degrees. That was the temperature in the high tunnel on Friday afternoon. The south door was totally open and the window on the north door was up, but that's still not enough ventilation. Good thing the kit to roll up the sides is arriving soon. Too steamy in here.
At first I thought this funny looking container might be a paper towel dispenser or light box. I even entertained notions of some fancy bat house (yes, I know; that would make no sense.) Turns out, it's holding a high-tech digital thermometer. There's an identical unit outside in the gardens.
I was a little concerned about the heat under the plastic row covers on Saturday afternoon, but since we were expecting snow again on Sunday, I wasn't sure I should remove it. Maybe if I had been dedicated enough to drive back that evening to put it back on, things would have been okay. As it was, the plants got roasted.
Bill arrived on Sunday afternoon and took some temperature readings. Here's a recap:
Most of the plants under the plastic are suffering from sun scald. So we're done with the plastic now until fall. We’ll see if the plants pull through. We now know that the plastic will need to be replaced with floating row cover in March.
Bill has been monitoring temperatures inside the high tunnel and even pulled the row covers back for a while last week when we were slated for mild temperatures. Well I guess that was about the equivalent of packing away your hat and mittens, as far as Fate was concerned. She was tempted.
It's St. Patty's Day and to celebrate, all my little greens decided to make an appearance. We're seeing mizuna, chard, pak choy, arugula, and radishes--everything from the first planting except the peas.
Temps hit 8 degrees last night, but it was still quite comfortable inside the high tunnel when I stopped by this morning. The plastic row covers help stabilize the temperature over the plants, keeping them warm enough during our cold nights. It was 71.3 under the plastic mid-morning today. Bill said temps hit 103 under the covers on Monday--astounding after 6+ inches of snow and wind we got the day before. Needless to say, he is monitoring and pulling them back when necessary.
It's planting time!!! I got the first seeds in the ground on Friday, March 6. Such a Zen-like morning--working with my hands in the dirt, planning which seeds would go where, hauling water... I can't tell you how much I enjoyed being outside and being productive.
