This past Saturday, I decided to clear out some bed space in the hoop house and transplant some Spring greens. While temperatures only got up into the high 30's by noontime, the hoop house was a balmy 80 degrees. It felt nice to soak up some sun and do a bit of gardening.
From left - Shanghai bok choy, tatsoi, mizuna and mini Napa cabbage. I reserved a bit of space on the right for a couple heads of lettuce. Something told me it was still a bit too early for them.
My instincts were proven right as it got all the way down to 25 degrees that night. The bok choy and mizuna were virtually unaffected but the tatsoi and Napa cabbage suffered some frost damage to the outer leaves. Hopefully they will bounce back as the weather warms up. Otherwise, I'll have to sow some more seeds.
I also transplanted out some spinach - yet another invincible green this time of year.
The night after I put my lettuce and spinach transplants out, with no protection whatsoever, the temperature plunged to an unexpected (and record breaking) 23 degrees! I just knew it killed everything, but nothing was hurt at all! Thing is, I had just bought some row covers. But the weatherman lied to me, so I didn't use them!
ReplyDeleteI've never been able to grow spinach transplants, how you get them to sprout?
ReplyDeleteYou hoop house bed looks about the size of mine in my greenhouse- I sowed spinach, radish, lettuce, mache, and carrot in Jan. and have a double cover on this little bed. we've been eating these, except for the carrot, for a while. I've sown some more radish since and a second round of mache and other things. The lowest temp in the greenhouse was -5, but under that lid everything survived fine. I'm in zone 5 so double cover is needed for sure here! My hope is to have a big hoop house so I can harvest more all winter :)
ReplyDeleteHappy harvesting!
Mac - starting spinach indoors can be spotty for me too. I pre-sprout my seeds in a wet paper towel. It's the only sure fire way to get them to germinate consistently.
ReplyDeleteYour greens look good!! Looks like you and I had the same idea planting out now. We have identical plots. =0)
ReplyDeleteI envy you, Thomas, for growing such veggies!! Admire you too :)
ReplyDeleteI planted my spinach about 4 weeks ago seeded directly in the beds and had just about given up, but they came up and have their second set of leaves and look to be off and running now! The seedlings look great, I can't wait until fresh salads start appearing on my plate!
ReplyDeleteThomas--it looks lovely!! I can't wait to have our own. I actually left 2 rows of lettuce under a row cover, throughout our exceedingly cold winter here (the wind was just unreal) and they have done great! I was able to harvest some for us and the chickens and there's plenty left. Anna in MD.
ReplyDeleteIt has been really cold recently. I want another warm spell. I think I am going to plant my peas this weak one way or another though. We don't have any really really cold nights predicted in the long range forecast.
ReplyDeleteYour little seedlings look great. I can't grow spinach at all! I've tried about 5 times!
ReplyDelete80 degrees huh? I will be buy with some cocktails and island music okay?
ReplyDeleteThe hoop house is a great growing environment - I would be hanging out in it too! Those plants look great.
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