03 Dec Wed 2008
Greens in the Winter
Wow, I can't believe it! It's December 4th and we still have wonderful looking Brocoli Raab, lettuce, and winter mesclan growing beautifully. Two hearty little tomato plants are hanging on by the skin of there teeth with row covers and plastic. This will be our first attempt at trying to grow in the winter months. The greenhouse does not seem to stay any warmer then outside. Temps outside and inside are roughly the same. I have tried solar water barrels to know avail and right now everything is row covered. It's suppose to be really cold tonight so we shall see what happens. Lettuce should be fine even at freezing, we are just testing to see how long we can grow.
Chickens have slowed down in there egg laying and the babies we have inside. I wanted to place them in a pen in the greenhouse but it does not seem to be getting that warm. I am thinking a heat lamp in the chicken coop might work better. They have already got there feathers coming in so a couple more weeks and I might show them outside.
Today I got up some of the grow lights and they are on a timer just to see if I can keep growing lettuce towards late December. I will try and finish the rest of the lighting tomorrow.