Diggin' in the Garden!

Even though the temperature was only 14 degrees when I got up yesterday morning, the garden is looking great!  Here is a pictures of the spinach that is growing in my cold frame.



spinach


We set the cold frame in the garden last fall.  The spinach grew back from a late fall planting last year, but today I planted more.  It was great fun!  I threw on my overalls, grabbed my garden tools, crawled inside my cold frame, and tilled up the dirt.  It must have been 80 degress in there.  It really felt like summer, as long as I didn't look around at all the snow surrounding the outside of the frame.

Our cold frame consists of 6 glass patio doors.  They are screwed together, except for one end, and that end is held shut with a bungie cord.  When I need to get inside the cold frame for watering, I just slide the one door out of my way, or if the weather is really warm, I will slide it open a bit, so I don't over-heat my plants.

Try to find someone who is either remodeling or working in construction and get yourself some used glass patio doors or windows.  It's a very simple way to extend your growing season.


cold frame


Here are some pictures of our plants growing under lights.

lettuce mix



tomatoes

 This year we decided to try starting seeds in our own garden dirt.  Who knows what is in those potting mix bags....I don't even trust the organic ones.  So last fall we put some dirt in 5 gallon buckets and stored it in our root cellar.  Notice how green my plants are?  We didn't bake the dirt, like some do, so there are a few weeds here and there, but overall we are hoping to have healthier seedlings to plant this spring.
Mindy