I went out this morning and my potatoes and pepper (inside the hoop house) were dead. I dug them all up and planted peas.
So it appears that potatoes are an OK late season crop in the hoop houses, but the "Sandy" temperature last night was in the high twenties and we're typically 5 to 10 degrees below the posted temp in the winter, so it might have gotten down into the teens. In either case, potatoes don't do well at 38 degrees (assuming that the temp in the hoop house remained 10 degrees above the outside temp). Lettuce, carrots, beets and onions are just fine. Lettuce and spinach continue to sprout.
I put up a "high" hoop house for the cabbage and broccoli. We'll see how well that does in the first wind-storm. :)
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
Off the topic
Sorry I'm so wishy-washy on this blog. Right now other things take precedence--like a job hunt and...
My hoop-houses, since nothing herbal is growing.
I have two hoop-houses this year. Last year was our first test. With two water bottles inside the temperature never got low enough to freeze the plants. The water bottles release their heat, so they're the first things to freeze. The bottles did freeze a couple of times (when the temperature got down into the teens), but nothing else inside even got nipped. I'm guessing that another water bottle in each would bring the survivable temperature even lower. Anything that touches the plastic will freeze, and the condensation on the plastic also froze quite regularly. It's amazing to lift the cover in the morning and have ice snap off, but the green inside hasn't been affected.
The hoop-house on the east has beets, lettuce and spinach. On the west, I'm experimenting so that one has potatoes, carrots and a pepper that I'm hoping will survive the winter. We'll see. Right now it's looking pretty sad and not growing.
We harvested our first out of season potatoes today, and I dug up the dill because it was infested with aphids. So I now know that I need to pay attention to insect control...
We've been eating salad (fresh from our garden) for the last month. :)
My hoop-houses, since nothing herbal is growing.
I have two hoop-houses this year. Last year was our first test. With two water bottles inside the temperature never got low enough to freeze the plants. The water bottles release their heat, so they're the first things to freeze. The bottles did freeze a couple of times (when the temperature got down into the teens), but nothing else inside even got nipped. I'm guessing that another water bottle in each would bring the survivable temperature even lower. Anything that touches the plastic will freeze, and the condensation on the plastic also froze quite regularly. It's amazing to lift the cover in the morning and have ice snap off, but the green inside hasn't been affected.
The hoop-house on the east has beets, lettuce and spinach. On the west, I'm experimenting so that one has potatoes, carrots and a pepper that I'm hoping will survive the winter. We'll see. Right now it's looking pretty sad and not growing.
We harvested our first out of season potatoes today, and I dug up the dill because it was infested with aphids. So I now know that I need to pay attention to insect control...
We've been eating salad (fresh from our garden) for the last month. :)
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