Frost tolerance

So, was looking up more specific information for the purple broccoli I am growing. As opposed to standard broccoli. Seems this variety likes cold much more than standard varieties. Several sources state it grows best if overwintered. (Though may die off below 20 degrees F.) Flowers in springtime. Very frost tolerant. 

What this all comes down to is that the current temperatures are probably perfect for this variety of broccoli to be set out in the solarium. Though, the plants being so young, I will prevent them from freezing. So, all of the seedlings are now out in the solarium. That gives them filtered sunlight for most of the day. Can transplant them out once they form some true leaves.

One really good thing bout being able to put them out is that it frees up room inside to start more seeds for warm weather. 

First Beefsteak tomato seeds are sprouting now! Yay! I was starting to worry a little about viability. 

No pepper sprouts yet. Hopefully soon. 

Grower's market

Talked to the people from the South Valley Grower's Market today. The lady I spoke with was really nice, friendly and polite. I really enjoyed talking with her. (Little note: She's from South Carolina.) 

Any way, everything sounds quite reasonable. They only charge $60 per selling season for a spot at the market. So, if things grow as I am hoping, I will be selling produce there every Sat morning this summer. 

One thing I was worried about was if I would have to have some state license or permit. Turns out it's not required. The sellers at the grower's markets are much like myself. Not people with large farms, just large gardens. Not enough to be commercial. Most grow organically or at least, like myself, with no pesticides. 

Sounds like it could be fun!

At this point, I have 157 broccoli seeds planted inside, half of which have sprouted already. Around 90 tomato seeds and 52 pepper seeds started. Have to hold off a bit on any more because I'm out of space for starting seeds. 

Outside, the first half of the garden is planted with around 800 spinach seeds, 200 lettuce and around 1000 carrot seeds. 

Had to put up a fence to keep the dogs out because they were scattering and digging the garden. Not to mention "marking" the entire perimeter of the yard. I cleaned up a huge amount yesterday. Today, they seemed determined to invert their intestines in an attempt to mark the entire yard again. Had to sacrifice some wood I was hoping to save for other projects. They kept getting under the fence and gate. Chased them out at least 5 times today alone. They broke one side of the small gate. Used the wood as a baseboard and stapled the poultry netting to it. Fixed the gate, of course. If that doesn't work, I'll have to electrify the fence for a few days, until they learn a lesson. 

Container shortage

Got lots of seeds started inside now. Biggest problem now is a shortage of containers to start more with. Have at least 90 purple broccoli seeds and 60 tomato seeds, plus peppers. I was happy to find there were many more pepper seeds in the packs than described!

Temps are coming up. Got out today and planted spinach. No exact count but guessing I planted around 500 seeds. Going to plant carrots tomorrow. Don't have as many carrot seeds as I thought left from last year. May go ahead an plant lettuce. If it's too cold, they just won't germinate until it is warm enough. 

Really, really happy to say the soil is the best it has been for planting any year so far. Even with tilling, this is the first year I have not wound up with sore fingers when planting. To be sure, I have a lot of dense clay areas left but it is breaking down and becoming looser. The most active part of the garden has soil that is quite dark and healthy. When tilling, I get a fraction of the dust I once got, no matter how dry the soil is. You can smell the difference and know much of it is healthy soil. 

I am digging out all the remaining plants which I hoped would go dormant and come back this year. Potting them, so I can till and treat those areas with acid. The immediate surrounding areas had lots of grass and weeds. Those are tomatoes and strawberries. 

I'm still trying some less conventional produce. Giant varieties of some things, different colors of others. Some of these have a high failure rate, historically. However, many have a better than average nutritional value and can call for a higher asking price. Even more so if grown with no pesticides. So I am hoping to make some money from the garden this year.

Cold morning

Cold morning but warming up. Temp overnight in my immediate area was 1 degree. I'm waiting for the temperature to be above freezing before getting busy with stuff outside.

Checked the low solarium temperature for last night and it was 12 degrees, so it is keeping the temps higher than outside temp by about 10 degrees. It'll do better after I close up some loose flaps. Need to make a door on each end. As it is, I can start placing cooler weather crops out in the solarium once night temps stay above freezing. Don't think that should be long. For the rare night frost, I can place a blanket or tarp over the seeding racks.

Pepper seeds came today. Rather impressive, since they were sent from VA on Monday by first class mail. If it had been UPS or FedEx, it would have cost around $10 to arrive that quickly. As it is, this company offered free shipping on a $3 order! Nice! It was Hinterland Trading through Amazon.  

I'll get the seeds started tonight. 

Moving ahead

Temperature was 24 degrees this afternoon. Still, I went out and tilled a good section of the garden. Ground was dry, so I didn't have to deal with ice in the ground. 

I had treated with a strong acid solution a few days ago. That should have killed a lot of the surface grass and weeds. Tilling should kill off a lot of the roots and expose some of the deeper seeds to freezing. Though I am going to treat with more acid. 

Some of the soil still has a lot of clay content and was hard to till. I still need to add more gypsum, leaves and compost. While the organic material I've tilled in from the surface helps, it's not enough. 

Going to till the rest of the garden in the next couple of weeks, starting tomorrow. 

Started purple broccoli seeds tonight. Only 45 so far. If weather cooperates, I can move them out to the solarium next week. Then plant them out by late Feb or early March. 

Once I get the first section of the garden treated with acid and tilled again, I'm going to go ahead and plant spinach seeds. Even if it's still too cold yet, it should germinate once the temperature is sufficient. 

Going to wait and see but things look like I may be able to plant carrots and lettuce within a month. 

Seed starting 2013

Well, the temperature is way too cold to be starting any seeds in the solarium at this point. So, I'm starting seeds inside for now. Of course, that means smaller scale for the moment. 

However, I am ramping up for the growing season this year. Going to try and make a profit from the garden this year. That means expanding the garden, narrowing the number of crops and growing crops which offer a decent income. 

I ordered beefsteak tomato seeds. 600 of them. Of course, not expecting all of them to germinate, survive and produce. I have learned enough to expect as many as 400 of them to reach that point, though. If too many, can always sell the plants, also.

Also ordered Ghost Pepper seeds, 10 red and 10 yellow. Scorpion Pepper seeds, 10 of them. Scorpion Peppers have actually displaced Ghost Peppers as the hottest peppers on earth but Ghost Peppers are better known at this point. I'm also going to grow jalapenos and Tabasco peppers, mostly for my own sauces. I'll harvest seeds from all the peppers to expand their numbers over time. 

Temperature readings

Since extending the solarium across most of the west side of the house, started taking some temp readings. These readings were taken at my head height, about 5'7" above ground. 

The first day it was up, the max temp was 78 degrees, while ambient temp was 48. The second day, max temp was 89 degrees, while the ambient temp was again 48. The thermometer I am using records the lowest and highest temps in any 24 hour period. The lowest temp reached was 22 degrees. 

So, my next step is going to be to place several containers of potting soil out in the solarium and check the temperature of the soil for a few consecutive days. If the soil can maintain a temperature above 50, I can start some seeds. If not, I'll start them inside and move them out later. 

I think the successive increasing temps is because the gains are cumulative. While ambient air temp may get cold, the walls of the house retain heat better day after day with no convection to rob them of heat. 

It may be a good idea to add some thermal mass to the solarium, such as some cinder blocks to use as plant racks. However, just some buckets of water or compost may do the trick. I'll try each and see what the results are. 

Solarium 2013

Started getting the solarium up this weekend. Had to go with plastic sheeting for now. Glass was too heavy and my tools aren't accurate enough, so I'll have to buy moulding at some future point. 

I'm also going with a temporary design for now. Quite solid and strong. However, a temporary design does not require permits or inspections. 

The first section went up late Sat afternoon. Too late to see any heat gain. Then I extended it further yesterday but it was cloudy, so no heat gain again. However, it has already shown definite benefits in reducing heat loss. Today is sunny and I am going to finish extending as far as materials allow. Then take some temperature measurements. 

The whole thing is on the west side of the house because the construction and placement only allows for either the east (front yard) or west (back yard) placement. So, I only see heat gain for part of the day. 

Before I was finished getting the first section up, daughter was asking if she could use it as a playroom. I said yes and she quickly furnished it with a chair, blanket and folding TV table. 

When temperatures can consistently remain above freezing in the solarium, I can start using it for early seed starting. That should be a big advantage. I want to see how large, how early and how productive I can get the tomatoes this year!

Water testing

Had to go to Home Depot this morning for a couple of things. However, turns out I won't be able to use some of it for a while. Got some finishing stucco mix. However, temps are still below freezing, so can't stucco anything for now. 

Near the register, I noted a rack with a sign. "Free Water Testing". Had a bunch of mailing envelopes with small vials inside. I picked up two of them. One for the house and one for the well. I know it will result in advertising for a water purification system but that's okay. Could result in some valuable information. 

Finished collecting leaves from the dance studio parking lot the other day. Wound up being 400-500 lbs of leaves. Have them all piled up in the yard. Need to transfer them into the compost bin, add a little ammonia and some water. 

For multiple reasons, going to get started on one or two small sections of the solarium today. Since I lost my job, can't build out as I wanted to but I can build a couple of smaller sections which will provide some heat to the house part of the day and additional insulation at night. I'll just build these sections so they can be partially dismantled and moved elsewhere later, when I get more of the permanent structure built.