I haven’t built the little heated mini-greenhouse inside the big unheated hoophouse yet, that we do in the spring for starting plants. I did get the old lettuce that was in that space cleared out so it is ready. The weather is so tantalizing – might we be able to get away without the heated mini-greenhouse this year?
The result is that I have lots of tomato plants still in the house, as well as stacks and stacks of trays with seeds in them taking advantage of the inside warmth to germinate.
You can see, starting at the bottom, trays sitting on top of the bottom row of lights for warmth, double stacked trays on a shelf (the lights are not turned on because the seeds don’t need them, but the lettuces are on top because they need some light to germinate), more trays on top of those lights, a tray of seedlings under lights, more trays of seeds on top of those lights, with clear plastic covers to keep moisture and heat in, and another row of plants under lights. Then there are more on top of that. And the tomatoes are in another plant stand like this. Ahh, farmer dining rooms. But this is much cleaner and better looking than my old setup of doors on blocks in the basement. Last year I turned off the walkin cooler and put the light stands in there, but this year we still have potatoes and carrots in there. And last year I needed cold storage when I bought seed potatoes so using the cooler was not a great solution.
Since we have the online ordering system going this spring, and since the Saranac Lake Village Farmers Market will open earlier this year (the first Saturday of June), I am planting more lettuce, Napa cabbage, salad mix, etc earlier than in the past.
The real seed starting season starts next week, so I will have to move more things out to the hoophouse after they germinate, one way or another. I have quite a few trays of onion seedlings out there already – they can take the cold.
The new salad mix plantings in the hoophouse are beautiful and ready for harvest. The spinach and chard are going great guns. I have some young head lettuces and napa cabbages in there that have doubled or tripled in size this week.
Life is good! Even if it is so blustery that I may not move the goose fence and geese as I planned. Need to do it very soon though because they are getting really serious about wanting to set on their eggs, and that means a commitment to the same place for at least a month. I need to move them to a separate area because they will steal the muscovies’ nests and ducklings.
