still cold

7:00 am 10 degrees outside, 20 inside both cold frames.

Here are some photos of the compost bins.

1:00 pm update: 31 degrees and sunny outside, 54 inside both cold frames. Shade is just starting to hit the backyard frame, but the sq ft garden remains in full sun.

4:15 pm update: Wow - the afternoon sun makes a world of difference. Sarah tells me that it is 68 degrees in the sq. foot cold frame and 36 in the other.

still surviving

Quinn and Sarah checked the temp inside the sq foot garden frame for me today while I was at work. The outside temp never got above 20 today but it was sunny. The temps inside the frame at various times throughout the day were 32, 40, and 52. After work I bought a thick canvas painter's drop cloth and another thermometer. Quinn and I removed one of the ends of the frame and looked inside at the plants. It was fun to see some steam escape when we opened up the little greenhouse. This is the first time I have seen the seedlings since the temp dropped so drastically. They all appear to still be alive. The cabbage, onions, and spinach look just fine. The romaine lettuce is not so spry, but they still appear to be alive. They are just kind of laying down a little. Then Quinn and I spread a thin layer of leaves over the seedlings. The thought here is that they will provide a little extra frost protection and possibly soak up some heat during the day and release it at night. Then we sealed everything back up and laid the canvas drop cloth over the whole thing. The way the wind was howling - that drop cloth has to help.

Cold frame #2 looked pretty good as well. Nothing dead. We followed the same precautions here as we did in #1. Supposed to go down to 8 degrees tonight and 12 tomorrow. Not sure whether the seedlings will survive this extended cold snap. I'll keep you posted.

Inside seeds - First pepper sprout noted today. Nothing major to report - everything seems to be coming along fine - which is a huge improvement over last year. Photo: Alphalpha sprouts for those "winter salads".

random photos

Three pics: Completed sq foot garden filled with cold weather veggies and seeds. Seed starting set-up - two shelves, two lights and three windows on the east side of house. The photo with the soccer ball is my standard cold-frame.

Square foot garden

Here is a photo of my son Quinn standing next to my 4 ft by 6 ft square foot garden. I planted this on 2/28 and covered it with plastic to form a mini cold-frame. This is what I planted.

1. Early Garden Peas (soaked and innoculized) 8 squares
2. Spinach seedlings - started indoors mid Jan - one square 9 seedlings
3. Romaine seedlings - started indoors mid Jan - one square 4 seedlings
4. Red cabbage seedlings - 6 squares - 6 seedlings total
5. Onions - started from seed mid jan - two squares - 32 total
6. Carrot seeds - Early Nantes - 16 seeds
7. Buttercrunch lettuce seeds - 2 squares - 5 seeds in each - 10 total
8. Green onion seeds - one square - 16 seeds
9. Spinach seeds - one square - 9 seeds
10. Beet seeds - one square 9 seeds

I know it is way, way early to be starting stuff outside. I know all this stuff will either die or not germinate. But I just couldn't help it. I spent all winter reading books about 4 season harvests, and extending the season, and I just got a little frisky. The great thing about the sq foot garden approach is that it is very easy to turn into a nice little cold frame. Yesterday my sq foot cold frame got up to 70 degrees on a 30 degree day. At night it is getting into the high 20s. Let's see how long this stuff lives.