Hoop House

Yesterday, I swapped out some two year old soil in the hoop house planting beds and added some new dark, healthy compost. The temperature in here reached 86°F. One bed of arugula has been planted… This is the earliest I’ve ever planted anything.

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Cleaned out all the tomato vines from last year to make way for some mid-winter leafy greens. I just picked up some arugula and spinach seeds and hope to get them in the ground in the next few days. Fresh salads in March!

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It’s another cold, rainy, depressing day here at the vineyard but I was happy to see the hoop house temp climb up to 70º, even though the outside temps didn’t leave the 50s and there was no sun whatsoever. I entered the hoop house this morning to uncover all the plants from their evening fabric layers and was shocked… Something ate my cucurbits! It was most likely a mouse, maybe several mice; I’m not sure… but well over half of the 375 potted cucurbits were dug into and the beautiful, plump, just-sprouting seeds were methodically pulled from their casings. I brought a few of the less damaged trays inside tonight just to be safe and I left a nice, big, electronic mouse zapper, loaded with dog food and peanut butter, right in the middle of the rest of the trays. Maybe I can rent a barn cat for a few weeks while the seeds all germinate.

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I spent the better part of the day potting up eggplants, peppers, marjoram, cilantro, lavender, and rosemary. I went through 9 bags of potting soil and used up every single spare 4″ pot I could find. Last year, when I bought the box of -405- 4″ pots, I figured I’d be set for life. Well, it looks like I could use another box. The hoop house is also starting to feel nice and full. We’re about 2 weeks away from the major outdoor planting rush, but a lot of the stuff I potted up today was a bit scrawny. I’m hoping a couple weeks in a hot hoop house will give it all a nice boost before going outside. Good news: the tomatoes in the trenches are looking lush and I can see the first flowers forming. I’m already pulling suckers off the stems!

Also, the tomato plants that I potted up a week and a half ago are finally taking off. I think I did some damage to the tomato roots when I was pulling them out of the trays and putting them in larger pots. For the past two years, I used soil blocks for tomatoes; and while the seeding process was messier and more time consuming, the potting up process was effortless. This year, I used Pro-Trays and the results were reversed. The seeding process was simple, fast and clean, but potting up was a huge pain because a lot of the plants stuck to the inside of the trays and a lot of roots were torn. I need find a solution for next year. There has to be a trick for removing plants from the pro trays. The other thing I noticed was that the plants seemed a bit healthier and sturdier with the soil blocks. I’m learning all this as I go. Luckily, a lot of veggies are pretty forgiving.

Hey, this evening we’re getting a much needed soaking rain!

Also, Happy Anniversary to us! May 18, 2007 is the day we closed on the house. So this marks the end of 3 years here. In some ways, it seems like a lot longer than 3 years (with the amount of work we’ve done.) But on the other hand, year one was really focused on moving and the wedding. So we’ve really only been planting and growing things for two years… which really feels strange. So much done, so much to do!

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The forecast is for 27ºF tonight. Everything in the hoop house is under a double layer of Agribon fabric.  I’m hoping the tight hoop house plus the fabric will be enough insulation to protect the plants. Losing all those seedlings after almost 2 months of tending to them would really suck. The good news is that last night, the hoop house temp hit 30.9ºF and this morning, everything looked OK. I hope a few more degrees will not be too much to handle. Also, the grapes are in various states of budding, leafing out and flowering, so that’s worrisome, but for some reason, I’m not as worried about the grapes. Fingers are crossed tonight.

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The hoop house is finally coming to life. I got ten more tomatoes into the ground this morning. In just two days, the other ten tomatoes are already starting to show brand new growth, despite two nights with temps dipping below 40º. I’ve been covering them with two layers of Agribon fabric at night for a little more protection and so far everything seems just fine.

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