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| I sowed some cool-weather crops (lettuce, spinach, carrots, peas, arugula) in early spring this year. Though I know from experience that they grow well in cool weather, it took them over a month to germinate and start strong growth, so I didn't gain that much by starting them early. Many varieties had very spotty (5-20%) germination. I could start indoors and transplant, but I'd rather not.
What's the best way to get the soil in a bed (mine are about 4' x 70') to 60-70 degrees for 3-5 weeks when the weather is in the 40s during the day and the 30s at night? I suppose a plastic hoop house would help some, but I'd like to keep the temperatures more uniform without burying anything in the soil. Is there a way to rig a structure with heating cables above ground to keep the temperature uniform and maybe to permit a structure with open sides? I'm thinking maybe a sheet of polycarbonate sitting on a free-standing frame of 2x8s, with heating cables suspended a couple of inches beneath it. As the weather warms, I could open 2' gaps in the frame for ventilation. Would this work? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| It sounds complicated, and a lot more work than starting indoors. You might want to run a search on "Dan Staley", he has posted quite a bit on extending growing seasons with cold frames and low hoop covers. |
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| Heat rises. Unless your cap is totally air-tight you won't benefit from the heating unit. Winter Sowing works great with cold-season veggies, you could give that a try. |
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| With the size of the bed you are using, I think you could get enough temperature rise with a floating row cover material supported with poly hoops only about four feet high. Al |
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- Posted by lunnarbelle none (My Page) on Thu, Jun 30, 11 at 10:31
| Hi, I have a greenhouse and cold frames. The greenhouse is made of polycarbon material. It gets hot in the greenhouse in early spring during the day but, it gets too cold at night to get a good germinaion rate and sometimes I loose entire plug trays because of one cold night. My cold frames are made of two by twelves and are 4' X6'. I lined each cold frame with weed mat then filled them with mulch then cow manure then topsoil. I used large old windows to cover the frames and hinged them on one side. The temperature in the frames is much warmer. The sides are tightly closed with only a small gap for ventilation. During the day the temperature goes above 120 degrees so I open the windows using a 2 x 4 to prop it open just enough to ge the temperature I want. I only open them completly when it is above 80 degrees because I grow watermelons in them and I live in a cool northern state; zone 3-4 |
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- Posted by nygardener z6 New York (My Page) on Thu, Jun 30, 11 at 12:30
| That sounds like a nice setup, lunnarbelle. What keeps the cold frames warm at night -- is it the rotting cow manure? Do you have a picture of the frames? mandolls, thanks for the references to Dan Staley (dan_staley here on GardenWeb). Looks like he's got some good setups. Some are similar to the one Al suggests. Trudi, I was hoping to sow in place, but winter sowing in vented containers might be a good bet. |
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