Under poly

After the early mistakes in the hoophouse things seem to be going a little better…

I’ve done a better job regulating temperature; likewise I’ve figured out how to moderate the humidity ( i.e. keeping it somewhere south of the 95% that turned the house into the petri dish and vermin paradise which subsequently wiped out the lettuce and broccoli). The mild winter helps; I can leave the door open most of the time and have a box fan on a timer to circulate air and improve ventilation when the auto-window opens.

The speedling tray over two water barrels works well; the “micro climate” there is somewhat more stable due to the heat sink / temperature moderating effect of the barrels. I have a couple types of kale and some bok choy in a tray now; they will be ready to transplant in a couple of weeks.

Gee, can anyone tell which is the Russian red kale?

The lettuce seedlings transplanted a couple weeks back have doubled or tripled in size; over the next few days they should double a couple more times and we’ll be in the spring perpetual lettuce feast (a lettuce “binge” maybe.)

The winterbor kale is exploding

And the brussel sprouts keep plumping up on schedule

This will be much more productive next year; I maintain that you really don’t start to figure things out until you kill a few plants trying.

And I certainly did this year…