Preparing For A Frosty Fall

Repairing the shredded roof before planting the fall seeds.

     Winter is going to be a bit unusual around here this year.  This year, we're not planning to stop the growing season with the first frost, and our garden isn't entirely "put to bed" like it has been in years past.  It just may be the first winter season that I can say I harvested fresh lettuce in January, or maybe, just maybe, it will all go down in a withered frost bitten heap by Old Man Winter's cruel icy hand.  Fate is funny like that.  You never know how she's going to act.  

     This year, with a new roof (due to the old one shredding during a wind storm in the hot summer heat), the greenhouse is ready for some late-fall and winter crops.  We, like usual, packed the greenhouse.  The three tomato plants, left over from summer, are blooming as they climb their strings towards the greenhouse roof, while the four cauliflower and four broccoli transplants came from a local greenhouse.  Everything else was set in as seed in mid-September with the hopes that since the greenhouse is touching anywhere from 70s to 90s throughout the day they will germinate just fine.

Tomatoes within inches of the roof in mid-September.

     A fair number of the seeds for our greenhouse came from relatives this year who were retiring from gardening and mailed their leftover seeds to us from halfway across the country.  It was quite the blessing, and the Mr. and I would both check the mail religiously, wanting to be the one to open the packages!  (We were truly like kids on Christmas morning.)  Among the crops we planted:

     Beet, Early Blood Turnip - SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE
     Broccoli, Arcadia - LOCAL GREENHOUSE
     Carrot, Royal Chatenay - LAKE VALLEY SEEDS
     Cauliflower, Snow Dream - LOCAL GREENHOUSE
     Lettuce, Four Seasons - BURPEE (FROM RELATIVES)
     Lettuce, Iceberg - WEEKS SEED CO. (FROM RELATIVES)
     Onion, White Lisbon - LAKE VALLEY SEEDS
       Radish, Champion - ROHRER SEEDS
     Spinach - (FROM RELATIVES) 

    Yes, the green was certainly packed to say the least, but at this point, would you expect anything less from one of our gardens?

Keeping It Warm

     After some research, we decided on a plan to hopefully keep the greenhouse warm:

• The main way revolves around two 55 gallon plastic drums filled with water.  Over the drums will be black plastic leaf bags (hopefully by early next week)  to help them attract the heat during the daily hours and slowly release the heat as the temperature cools after dark.  Currently the blue barrels are keeping it warm enough.  
• Most of the windows in the greenhouse are insulated double-pane glass.  Anything that is not, will have a piece of plastic tacked over it to help keep the drafts out by the end of September.  
• Put plastic over the screen door by the end of September.  
• Two basement vents that are activated by the outside temperatures will help to vent the greenhouse should it get too warm, and close to help keep the heat in as the temperature drops.
• The pathway is concrete pavers, which should hopefully soak up some of the heat during the daylight hours.
• All the plants will be mulched within the next week.  As the mulch decomposes, heat should also be released.
• All the cracks around the base of the greenhouse (especially in the back corner, which happens to sit over a filled-in groundhog hole) will also be filled by the end of September.

Adding the water barrels.  If there's time
before the temperatures drop too much, we
hope to get some insulation in the walls too.

     If there's time, we might add some insulation before the temperatures drop too much as well, and plywood the inside walls.  All of this will then be coated in a water-seal so when we spray the hose during the warm weather, we don't rot out the greenhouse.  The outside will be coated in water-seal as well, just as soon as the last boards go onto the bottom by our basil plants.

     At a little over 85 square feet, our fingers are crossed that all of this should be enough to keep our plants alive and thriving.  As this is our experimental year with the greenhouse, we have yet to see if our plans will work; however, I hope to keep everyone posted on how this progresses throughout the season, and maybe, just maybe, my dream of harvesting lettuce in January will come true.