Cold Frames......observations

The cold frames are doing very well maintaining a good temperature. The lowest temperature that has been recorded is 27 F at night when the temperatures outside were in the single digits at night and only in the teens during the day for a few days..that's pretty good! The cold frames face south and do not have many elements creating much shade on them. On a bright sunny day when the temperature outside only reaches the 20's, I have to open them up to let in some cool air. I really have to pay attention when the sun is shining or they will climb to 70 F or higher in no time at all. I really don't want the temperatures to fluctuate too much and stress the plants.

Cold Frame Lettuce

When the cold frames are covered with snow, they usually stay around 37 F all day and all night. I think that this makes for happy plants. The temperatures over the next week are supposed to climb in to the mid 50's!! The higher temperatures in conjunction with the extended day light hours will hopefully get those veggies growing!! This year I will definitely get my winter vegetables planted on time and not in November!!





A radish showing a little red and some Arugala

 

I am not sure how much heat the rope lights are adding to the overall temperature inside the cold frames. I did however check the soil temperature on Saturday and it was about 45-47 F. The remainder of the garden beds are still covered with a significant amount of snow....so, you know the ground is quite cold.

A little more lettuce

Another observation that I have made is that a few plants in the cold frame on the left had some insect damage and there was little damage in the other cold frame. I had added some diatomaceous earth a while back and the munching has seemed to stop.

The Pak Choi that the insects must like as much as we do! The picture on the left is from the one cold frame and the picture on the right is from the other cold frame.

Happy Valentine's Day..............Update

I have to say that "The Italian" always surprises me when it comes to gifts. He always puts a lot of thought in to the gifts that he gets me. Sometimes the gifts are extravagant and sometimes they are simple...but, they are always with a lot of thought and lots & lots of love.

We've have been on an M & M kick lately....Aren't they pretty??

Bring up the tea: I bring him tea in bed when he reads in the early morning
Farmer Robin: You can figure that one out!
N.O. Our Town: New Orleans is our favorite place and we visit there a couple times a year
Love T.: "The Italian's" real name starts with a T

Although I ordered his present over a week ago, it was just shipped today!! This is what he is getting

Guess who is going to be doing the freezing this season???

He will just love it....he is a kitchen gadget junky!!

Guess What I just got???

A Big Bouquet of These!!!

2011 Tomato Varieties and planning update

Well, my tomato plans have changed a bit since I did this post. I had originally planned to sow 30 tomato plants consisting of 17 varieties. We are now going to sow 41 plants consisting of 20 varieties. First, 30 plants would not be enough for our family's needs. Second, Emily sent me seed for a wonderful sounding tomato called Purple Calabash. It's her favorite....so how can I resist???

Third, I also found a local Heirloom Seed Project at Landis Valley Museum where I purchased two additional varieties, Reigart Plum & Belgian Beauty. "The Italian" and I were watching PBS a few weeks ago and saw a program on Landis Valley Museum. We have never been there and truthfully didn't know of it's existance. It is about 60 miles from where we live. The museum is dedicated to Preserving Pennsylvania German Culture. I really wish that I had known about their seed project earlier. They have a lot of Pennsylvania Heirloom seeds available to purchase. I was as good as I could be and only purchased a few things that I absolutely "Needed"!!........well, basically "Wanted".

This week I will be germinating the ten plants that will be sown here at the house. These plants will be sown in the ground early, probably in early April as I did last year. Four of them will be sown in the bed where we will place the greenhouse over and the other six will be in Kozy Koats.

The "Kozy Koats" worked out very well last year and I was able to sow the tomato plants in the ground about 5 weeks earlier then normal.

The balance of the plants for us and others will be germinated in mid-March. I do not want to go through what I did last year. Last year I had started all of the tomatoes in February and they go so big it was a real pain to tend to them.

Pre-Sprouting Containers...a special thank-you to EG

I pre-sprout many of my seeds before I plant them. In the past I would put them on a damp paper towel, roll it up, place them in a plastic bag (left open) and put them on top of my radiator covers. This year, EG over at Our Engineered Garden sent me some great little containers for sprouting seeds. I have to say that they are working out great! I no longer have to open the bags and un-roll the paper towel to check on the seeds!! All I have to do now is open the containers!

In another day or two I will sow these and put them downstairs on the germinating table under the lights.

Thanks EG!!

A Good Day in the Kitchen

We had two warm days in a row and now the weather has turned cold again until the weekend. I have just been dying for a good pot roast with carrots and potatoes. Something else that I have been craving is Peanut Butter Cookies and another loaf of that wonderful bread I made last week. I know, all of these goodies are not going to help with the winter fat issue at hand.

Well, I found myself a good local chuck roast. Salt & peppered both sides, seared it on all sides and browned some onions and garlic, de-glazed the pot with some red wine and then let it cook for hours until it fell apart. Then I added some potatoes, carrots & celery, let them cook and made a wonderful gravy.

While the roast was cooking, I thought I would try to find a new Peanut Butter Cookie recipe. I found the most outrageous recipe here at Smitten Kitchen. I have to admit that although I have her site in my reader, this is the first recipe of hers that I have made. The only change that I made to the recipe is that I used organic peanut butter.

They are absolutely to die for!!! After they are gone....NO more baking for a while...since I can barely fit in to my jeans!!!