I started heirloom tomatoes and a few other vegetables in our greenhouse this afternoon. I mixed up the soil/compost/starter and neighbor Meg did the actual planting. We’ve been carefully co-social distancing with Meg and her husband, Den.
The greenhouse was build 5 or 6 years ago and has an insulated solid wall on the North side and a concrete foundation that has nearly 200′ of 6″ ADS polyethlene strategically buried in the soil under the garden beds down to 4′ below the ground. It is geothermally heated and cooled with a fan that blows warm moist air out of the greenhouse space and through the tubing below in the daytime when the temperature is above 70 degrees F and then blows cold air out of the greenhouse and through the tubes any time the greenhouse temperature is below 50 degrees F. The result is the greenhouse never freezes. I found the idea on-line. The “phase change” with the air in the greenhouse being high humidity into the earth’s mass underground supposedly helps efficiency. Some people call them climate battery greenhouses because they store and reuses the heat. The concept has been used in China for hundreds of years and improvements like electricity to power the fan and thermostats along with improved glazing and other insulated materials have helped it become more efficient. It’ll be overflowing with plants soon (We started brassicas, eggplant, and peppers a couple weeks ago) when these starter plants will be transferred to larger individual pots to help provide root space and nutrition to prepare them to be transplanted out in the field garden. We’ve enjoyed fresh lettuce, bok choy, and other cool season veggies from the greenhouse all winter, especially as day-length increases. I’d need to add supplemental heat and specific lighting to be able to grow tomatoes and warm season crops all year long.
There are few chores more welcoming on a bitter cold or wet day than to hang out in the 10′ x 20′ greenhouse. Today was one of those days. There is something therapeutic about getting the seedlings started, watering, and watching them grow. Sometimes it seems like getting the vegetables are just a bonus. I say that now; but after a couple months of weeding in the hot sun with bugs bothering and crops lost to pests and the weather, harvesting those tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc. will still give me a good feeling, but by that time I’ll wish I’d planted half as many…
Tomorrow, for those that have been waiting, I’m aiming for the update to be about horses!
First photo: Salad wall and herbs on right below the newly seeded veggies on the heating pad and grow light shelves.
Second photo: Taken from opposite end. Salad wall on left, lettuce and bok choy on right.
