Spring Greens

Some of the baby lettuce coming up under the cold frame.   It's looking pretty happy about the [slightly] warmer weather. 

Me, too. 

Lettuce

This is the lettuce coming up in the hoop house.  I planted it in November.  It lived under it's blanket, inside the hoop house all winter long.  And it was COLD, baby.  [got down to at least -25 here]

Now that the days are longer, it'll grow faster.    Once it gets warm, it'll take right off.

Hoop House Goodies

Here's a pic of the hoop house and the smaller cold frame all covered up for the winter. We're trying the cold frame without the straw surrounds this year - just to see what happens.   They say that it's the soil temp that matters, not the surround.   As long as the soil is covered and gets some sun, it'll stay warm enough to grow greens and things. 

I planted lots of greens in the hoop house in October, a few days before we put the cover on.   They will grow very slowly because we're not getting a lot of light this time of year, but by Christmas we should be able to start to harvest out of the hoop house. 

Here is a baby carrot.   It'll probably be early spring when they're ready.   Just after I planted the hoop house, we had 5 inches of rain one day.   It sort of scrambled the seed.    My carrots and radishes are no longer in rows in the hoop house.   I don't think they care, as long as they have enough elbow room. 

Cold Frame Greens Update

I planted greens in the cold frame in September, then left them alone until October - except to keep the cats out.   We covered it when we started getting regular frosts and I just opened it up to check on things last week.

Look!!   Greens!!   Big enough to eat!!

That's a lovely bed of arugula in this pic.  


And our bib lettuce is looking great, too.   Both types of greens do well in cool temps under cover.   The arugula stays nice and mild and the lettuce is very crisp.   

I also planted spinach [again] but apparently it doesn't like my sandy soil.   [I use a lot of sand to amend our solid clay.]   I got two whole plants out of the 4 little rows I planted.   I'm giving up spinach for a while and focusing on what does grow. 

Early Summer Greens

These are some of the greens I planted on Valentine's Day in the hoop house.  When the weather got warm, we took the plastic off the hoop house and set up that trellis to keep shade on the lettuce.

Worked like a charm.  The lettuce has stayed sweet and been a lot slower to bolt.   We're eating a lot of salads and my goal is to eat it up before it gets bitter.

That's a renegade kale plant in the center.   I need to try making kale chips.  I hear they're delicious.

The square metal things are from old political signs that were abandoned after elections.   I put them in to hold up a row cover, but that didn't really work.  They did work brilliantly as a place to grab when I'm leaning over to weed the bed.   I'll use them that way again next year. 

Hoop House Progress

When the weather got hot, the hoop house was like a blast furnace inside.   Time to roll up the sides.  I'm keeping them rolled up as long as the nights are in the 40s.  To keep them up, I bunched the corners and wrapped a little bungee around them. So far it's working great - and it's something I can do by myself if I need to.


In the center of the hoop house are the jugs I start tomatoes and things in.   They work fabulously. 

On the far side of the jugs is a bed of mixed greens.  It went from seedling to seeding in just a couple of weeks.  I didn't harvest fast enough.   Good thing the flowers are tasty, too.

I had a row of radishes next to them - delicious! and done in time for the heat.  I won't plant radishes again until August - our summer heat is fierce and makes for very spicy and woody summer radishes.   

On the front side is a bed of bib lettuce.  Still delicious and slow to bolt.  We're thinning like crazy.

In the fall, I'll plant another bed of this stuff, plus a bed of arugula (our favorite!).  Plus a bed of carrots and another of radishes.  I'm going to need at least two hoop houses this fall.  

Hoop House Goodies

These pics were taken a couple of weeks ago, but they're proof that stuff is coming up in the hoop house.   I'll post current pics soon.

I planted a bunch of bib lettuce and it's happy.  I have baby carrots coming up and a few seedlings of fennel.   Also, radishes and a bunch of other greens.

We happened to put the hoop house over the bed that had a lot of cilantro last year.

I love cilantro and it's a good thing because it self sows like crazy.   We'll probably never have to plant it again.

I think the seedlings are cute.