Mostly, what we are doing now is waiting. Waiting for warmer weather, waiting for our seed starts to germinate, waiting for the results of our soils test.
It is still freezing at night. The cold frame was scientifically designed with a particular angle on the glass, specific to our latitude, which maximizes the energy from the sun's rays. It works, we think. We sometimes supplement at night with a blanket and/or an ordinary household heating pad. We usually have to prop it open during the day to keep our little starts from burning. Fortunately, there are four of us in on this venture - we cannot leave these little darlings alone, even for one night (without more automation, which we decided to save for next year). Open it up during the day, close it at night. Watch the thermometer!
Maybe we should start some inside the house, too. You know those plastic containers that you can buy spinach and lettuce in, at the grocery store? Those make excellent covers for seed starts; you can create a little terrarium-like atmosphere. Put them in a warm spot, which in our house is hard to find. Maybe on top of the refrigerator or water heater.
"Damping off" is often a problem, they say, once the seeds germinate. The cute little starts that finally got going suddenly wilt and die. This is usually caused by a fungus. In class, they told us that chamomile tea or cinnamon sprinkled on top of the dirt will prevent this problem. Sounds simple enough....but first we need our starts to start. We wait.
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