A first tray of early lettuce, set out in the unheated greenhouse yesterday afternoon, survived the around-zero night no problem. Lettuce is quite forgiving, and I’m forgoing the usual hardening off, going straight from the grow racks to the greenhouse ground. Although the sun feels great (it just came out now), hopefully it will only appear in breaks over the next couple of days, or the lettuce will be toast. The soaker hoses running up and down were on yesterday for a few hours to get ready for transplanting (without watering, inside the greenhouse, the ground obviously gets very dry).
Spring
Hoses and rocks
The first day of fieldwork! Organizing hoses, picking up rocks. The ground is still quite wet, so we stayed on the paths, especially with the tiny tractor. (The Brothers are back volunteering, which is great!)
After winter kale
Here’s what Red Russian kale looks like after being left for the latest possible harvest, then frozen solid and buried in snow for a couple of months!
Second day of spring
It’s pretty close to all-clear in the field, with the temperature well above zero and a steady rain on this second day of spring. I can feel the next stage of weather-watching coming on. At the end of winter, it’s all about snow being gone. No sooner than that happens, the watching turns to the day and night highs and lows, amount of sun, amount of rain and the trend for the next couple of weeks. Beneath all that is wondering what type of season it’ll be overall. With freaky weather now the norm, we could have a cool, damp, sun-less summer like three years ago (no two consecutive days of sunshine all season!), a spring time drought like two years ago (no rain from April into July, with heatwaves to boot), or just extreme ups and downs for two-three weeks at a time like last year. What weather will the season bring? (One month ago…)
Vigorous Vittoria
The tray of Vittoria eggplant germinated quickly and thoroughly, with rows of seedlings all straight up and down in just a few days. This year (my fifth) is the first time I’ve deliberately gone through the seed inventory to use up anything that’s getting old, and the difference in germination rate and especially seed vigor between older and newer seed is clear. I noticed this from year two, but now, with several crops, varieties and ages all going at once, it drives the point home. There’s no more effective way to learn than seeing for yourself! I’ll be that much more attentive to seed storage and buying quantities from here on in. Waiting several extra days for a batch to fully germinate wastes lots of time and rack space, although it all evens up when regular growth (photosynthesis!) kicks in. (This is the first day of spring!)
Seedlings
Most of the seedlings are in the greenhouse now. The next couple of nights forecast for rather unseasonable 32°F (0°C) lows means going for the emergency heating measures!