Did Freezing Temps Wreak Havoc on the Greens?!

Last week from November 23 through the 27th, the temperature took a nosedive into freezing weather... brrrr! With the lows being 30 degrees Farenheit down to 21 degrees Farenheit. Anticipating this, due to the forecast, we buttoned up the hoop house for the duration. The other point I've learned is that it's not really the freezing temperatures that do in the vegetables, but the wind that dries out the plant and desiccates them. The winds on some days went up to 30 mph with gusts up to 37 mph. Fortunately, the hoop house visqueen stayed tucked in place. Once I did have to go out and tuck in one of the end pieces, but other than that, it worked very well.

Today, we decided to put a thermometer inside the hoop house to see how warm it actually was in there around noon time. With outside temperature at about 41 degrees, I was happy to see that inside the hoop house it was 60 degrees! I haven't read the thermometer when the outside temperature was below freezing to see what the difference would be then, but I'll have to do that sometime soon and let you know.

Anyway... today's pictures were fun to take because we had the five days of freezing weather and the plants hadn't been watered since last Tuesday. I noticed yesterday that condensation was still dripping down the sides of the visqueen so I knew they had plenty of moisture to keep them strong.

Take a peek at the veggies...

60 degrees by the spinach leaves...

Here's a long shot of the whole bed... (Notice the micro green that's bolted into a flower.)

The arugula really needs to be picked! There's so much of it. I might have start giving it away or preserving it in bags in the freezer after blanching it.

The broccoli raab, by the way, is forming the little broccoli heads. I ate one at lunch today! yum!

Doesn't that spinach look sumptuous?

And here are the beet greens and the kale...

Hope  your turkey day was grand...

I'm thinking I'll make some vegetarian lasagna soon with all these greens. Doesn't that sound delectable?!

Bon appetit!

A cold spell is going to bring information to our garden experiment

Last night it got down to about 25 or so.  The hoophouse was left open to allow the freeze to get to the plants and it looks like they did get hit.

We talked to a nurseryman the other day and he concurred with the thinking that it isn't the cold in the winter it is the wind-desiccation, or the drying out of the water in the plant.  He had several plants that had overwintered in some extreme cold temps but were fine because of the shelter from the wind.


The next project is to water the garden in and try to get thru the next week of rapidly cooling temperatures.

We'll see how this works.

be well; peace...
dan

Leave it to Beaver, the lost episode

Leave it to Beaver, the Lost Episode.

I just saw a documentary about this 'lost' episode, never broadcast owing to the censors in the '60s.

Ward Cleaver comes home from a visit to the doctor for a checkup. The doctor has given him a new medicine to try, Viagra.

1st night, Ward takes the pill and is after June like a sailor at sea for years.

2nd night, more of the same, even teenagers aren't as active. 3rd night, again, banging away all night long. The next morning at breakfast, after June had fresh squeezed the orange juice to go with Ward's bacon and eggs, June looked at Ward and asked the fateful question, "Ward, do you think you are being too hard on the beaver  ?"

I guess I should have warned all you...But I thought about the range of notes I have gotten over the years and thought, "I might be the least sexual, dirty minded one here!" hahahahahahahaha

Sometimes I hurt myself laughing at the jokes. Lots going on in my head but then isn't it always that way.   The blog is continuing to crank on green stuff, try it at http://blog.learnyourtruth.com  and the site http://learnyourtruth.biz.   If you haven't been there lately give em a try...
I love ya all and of course
be well; peace...
dan

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