The January thaw (ok, the THAW then FREEEZE then THAW then FREEEZE then THAW cycle that we had over the span of a week and a half) has totally pushed my gardening buttons.
While I had clear, not snow covered, ground, I set up one of the little greenhouses I’d bought and put it in the sheltered corner between the garage and the breeze way to the house. It’ll get 8+ hours of sun a day there in short order as the days lengthen. Course, its still to cold to put anything into it……Right now its got three of the smallest strings of incandescent christmas lights in it along with a thermostat plug (to turn them off if outside temps get over 45) and a thermometer in the greenhouse to record high and low temps. One such string is capable of jacking the temperature up 30degrees in a 2cubic foot insulated cooler in the space of 10 minutes. Of course, the greenhouse is more like 15cubic feet, and not as well insulated. So its still not going to keep it warm enough to put plants into it in the near future, but it might allow me to put plants into it a bit earlier than otherwise. We’ll see. The lights were on clearance, and I have another 10 strings to use if need be.
In the mean time I’ve started my pepper seeds. I know, its early. But I have more seeds if these fail, and I have need of something green and growing in the house….
Ever considered sprouting as a stopgap measure?
you mean like wheat sprouts or the like? Not really, cause neither of us will eat them.
I thought about doing flowers of some kind, but in the end decided to just start the peppers.
What about micro-greens, it’s like sprouting, but a little further. You could do cabbage, broccoli, onions, radishes, chard, spinach, bok choy, etc. And when they get an inch or two or three tall, scissor them into a salad. Once they are sprouted (somewhere warm) most of them could handle a little coolness. Do repeat plantings frequently, according to your useage!
Hm, I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time (or if this fails lol)