These lettuce and chard plants are big enough for some careful trimming for salads. Behind them the radishes have mostly been pulled and eaten but more are planted in the bare spots and also in the foreground where there is about 24 square feet of space where more plants are just comming up. The tomato plants have blossoms and little bitty tomatoes! Outside, snow and freezing temps. This is fun!
That looks REALLY good! :)
Hi Mary ,
Are you using heating cable to keep the soil warm?
I do have heating cables but the one on the far end doesn't seem to be working now, and the new one in the near end of the bed trips the GFI every time I plug it in. So, no, not really although that was my intent. The lettuce varieties from left to right are deer tongue, red leaf, and bibb, with the chard on the edge where it can get bushy without shading anything. I'm really pleased with the way this raised bed is working.
Yes,I imagine the raised beds ,adds 10* to the soil temps.
Oops. ..completely edited post here!
I had originally asked what temp you kept the greenhouse at for the gorgeous lettuce, then I read the radish thread and found out. :)
So your tomatoes will grow at 50 - 60 degrees? I have to re-check my greenhouse book tomorrow. I've got our greenhouse blasting at 70 degrees and higher at all times. Maybe I'm running it too hot......
newbie........
This message was edited Feb 14, 2004 5:44 PM
Its got me digging out some seeds to start some greens.....
yours look great and now I'm drooling for a fresh salad
Showed DH your picture, and he asked how much it cost you for heat? You are running propane in your heater, aren't you?
Looking so good! You've got me drooling, for sure.
Heating cost this winter seems to be about 3 gal of propane a day but I am not sure what the cost is per gallon. We have had several days and nights below 0 with strong wind, and now several in the 10 degree range with wind. Some days we get enough heat from the sun to require venting for an hour or so but I try not to loose too much heat that I will need later. Next year we will put up better wind protection and also add biomass inside so I expect the cost to go down. There will also be more plants in it next year and I have heard that helps too. Somebody asked the other day how much it cost to heat it and my answer was I don't know but don't worry about it too much because we heat our house almost free (wood heat that we cut ourselves) so can spend a little on the greenhouse.
how cool is that mary! what a great looking garden!
Mary I ended up with so many pots and hanging baskets in mine I lost some of the free heat now I see the temp drop to within 4 or five degrees of the outside temp faster than before when the sun goes down, It was 10 degrees before but now the sun cant hit enough heat holding material to reserve it.
If I had it to do again I think I would put heat coils under the floor and pipe hot water through the concrete and heat with coils in wood stove for the real cold weather. But mine is different from yours . Ernie
Thanks, Mary. I told DH that you probably wouldn't know for sure. We wood heat our house too, only use propane for cooking.
Ernie the heat coils in the floor is just what I want to do, too. I'd like to have an outdoor woodburning furnace that heats the water, and heat GH and home with it.
I have that cellotex foam with foil on the outside on the north wall, and partway up the ceiling in my GH. It seems to help it hold the heat a little better than nothing.
MaryE, what brand of greenhouse do you have, and would you recommend it? How big is it and how long have you had it? It looks grand!
