Thursday, March 21, 2013

Well Aren't You a Chilly Nilly!

Hey Everyone,

And the winner of the Green Meadows "Chilly Nilly" Prize is Vicki Williams in Bed 41!

Well since we had our "Garden Hottie" last week, I thought it might be fun to award something on the cooler side of things this time.  Vicki, you are just way too cool for the rest of us!

Once again, I have taken all readings between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. using a digital thermometer and then running a spot check with the compost thermometer to ensure accuracy.  Temperatures were taken last Friday, Sunday, and this past Tuesday.  Here are our results.

Vicki's "Chilly Nilly" Prize!  Enjoy choosing a
wonderful plant for your garden
at Pike's!
The ground temperatures have seen a nice rise this past weekend.  Those who are turning their beds and prepping for planting have noticed a slight cool down, however, these same beds are recovering their heat quite rapidly.  As an example, Vicki's bed lost quite a bit of heat performing her grub search and was down to 52.5 degrees on Friday.  Sunday, her bed recovered nicely and was 61.2 degrees, and Tuesday, after Monday's rain, it was 60.6 degrees.

The garden average is now at 60.1 degrees. Readings have run from our chilliest at 52.5 to our warmest at 65.6.  It is a wonderful time to start direct sowing carrots, lettuce, rat-tail radishes, and such.  Please remember to choose heat tolerant varieties for planting in the spring.

Depending on weather, I will run a check either this weekend or the first part of next week and keep us all posted.

I will drop the prize by the shed for you Vicki.  Congrats!

Happy Spring,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29

4 comments:

VickiBed41 said...

Well at least you didn't say I was fresh off the turnip truck! Grin. Hmm, a prize for being the looser....

I wonder what the temps will be Friday after 2 days of cool weather. I may need to start covering to build up heat again.

So...should I cover once I put in my little seeds? Will that make them germinate faster?

Pack-rat said...

I was really surprised at how fast your bed caught back up to at least the average in the garden. Your bed was so cold on Friday. The average that day was 59.3 and many were in the low 60's.

I am actually going to start covering again as I lost my heat with the grub search and we haven't had the nice warm days to heat me back up. I'm just glad to have that job behind me....

Covering will definitely accelerate the length of time required for germination. A little heat and humidity will get the job done much quicker.

Did you see the little tepee dome in my bed? I may try and make a little germination greenhouse for the carrots and lettuce.

VickiBed41 said...

I've been saving plastic milk jugs. I bet I could make little greenhouses out of them to warm up spots. And I've been saving plastic water bottles too.

Pack-rat said...

Milk jugs work incredibly well. I have never tried the plastic water bottles other than putting holes in the bottom and using them to start seeds in. Do you think they would get hot too quickly since they are small and clear?