In the Hoop House... baby spinach

Thought that I'd give you a hoop house update....

It got up to 82.0 degrees F in the hoop house this bright sunny morning... with the plastic covering on.  So, I opened up the hoop house to the fresh air & sunshine...

Back in the early winter I sprinkled some spinach seeds in the soil within the hoop house.  Since it's been getting warmer in there... they sprouted and have their baby leaves!

The arugula is getting gangly and going to seed, but the swiss chard looks good enough to eat!!!  The spinach plant is dying back... I don't know... maybe it's gotten too hot?

So... in the hoop house I have:
arugula
swiss chard
beet greens
broccoli greens
spinach

I think that it's time to plant some lettuce!!!

While the hoop house is opened up, I'm going to give it a good watering!

Overall I'm very pleased with my hoop house experiment!  It has survived subzero temperatures and Wyoming winds.  My goal is to keep my greens alive... and grow some too!  So far... so good!

I've really enjoyed having something green to look at all winter!  And when I open up the house that wonderful earthy smell... is just a little piece of heaven!

A Peek inside the Hoop House 1/8/11

It's a beautiful sun-filled day here in northern Wyoming with temps heading into the low 30s!

I'm just back in from opening up "The Little Hoop House that Could."  As I lifted the plastic I got a blast of warm air and smelled the rich aroma of dirt and growing things!  I gave the plants a good watering.

The plastic covering will remain pulled up over the pvc support piping this afternoon while the weather is warm and sunny.

Want to peek inside?

Happy New Year... -9 degrees F

Hello Gardening Friends!  Happy New Year!!!

It's cold cold cold here in northern Wyoming... -9 degrees F right now at 7:20am....  It was supposed to get to double digits below zero last night... thankfully it didn't!  The expected high for today... wait... grab your warmest hats & mitties... 11 degrees!

Hey, we're staying home and eating more of that awesome clam chowder that hubby made last night... and making some more egg rolls... and maybe some sushi too!  Read more over on my other blog... here...

Hoop House report...
Goal: keep hardy greens ALIVE (and maybe growing...) throughout the bone-chilling Wyoming winter
Temperature report:

outside: -9.0 degrees F

inside hh: 32.0 degrees F

I had meant to add an additional covering directly over my plants yesterday but got caught up in the New Year's eve festivities...

But the warming light is adding a significant amount of warmth inside the hoop house because even though it's -9 degrees outside.. inside my little hoop house it's 32.0 degrees F!

oh so cold...

We're heading back into a deep freeze here in northern Wyoming.  Single digits will be the HIGH today.  Can you say, BURRRR????

And tonight is supposed to get really cold... double digits below zero!  Yikes!!!

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
338 AM MST THU DEC 30 2010

.A STRONG PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE LIGHT TO
MODERATE SNOWFALL ACROSS THE REGION TODAY. WHILE THE HEAVIEST SNOW
HAS ALREADY FALLEN ACROSS THE AREA...ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF
2 TO 5 INCHES ARE EXPECTED TODAY INTO TONIGHT ALONG WITH SOME
AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. WITH TEMPERATURES MAINLY IN
THE SINGLE DIGITS FOR HIGHS TODAY EXPECT EVEN A MODEST WIND TO
PRODUCE WIND CHILL VALUES WELL BELOW ZERO.

My little hoop house experiment continues despite the cold! 

HOOP HOUSE Temperature this morning just before 7AM... 39.7 degrees F.
OUTSIDE Temperature... 7 degrees!

I have beautiful living, thriving greens including beet greens, arugula, spinach, swiss chard... and the broccoli seeds that I sprinkled in the soil months ago have sprouted!

I swapped out the shop light for a warming lamp in my hoop house the other day and even though it's a blustery 7 degrees F outside... inside my hoop house is a cozy 39.7!





Tonight it will be really frigid with double digits below freezing... so I'll add an extra layer of covering on the inside of the hoop house over my plants taking extra care to cover the plants on the outer edges.

It's 26.6 degrees in the hoop house this morning....

Good morning...

We had hoar frost on Monday.  Everything was covered in glimmering crystals!

It's 6am here in the wilds of Wyoming.  Still dark outside.

The outside temperature is 15 degrees.  But, inside the hoop house it's 26.6 but my temperature display says that it got down to 24.0 during the night.

During the day with bright sun it gets up to the 70s in my little hoop house even though it'll be only in the 30s.

My work light that I have dangling from the hoops burned out a while ago.  Today I'll put a new bulb in it.  It helps to raise the temperature about 5 degrees or so.

Watered the plants in the hoop house

Took a break from mudding walls to do a little work in my hoop house on the beautiful sunny warmish (maybe 30?) afternoon.

a peek into the hoop house

Here's what I did today:
-pulled the large arugula plant that died in the chilly teens last week
-planted some spinach and radish seeds
-watered

Hoop House improvements:
-put a large piece of styrofoam on the north side
-put a smaller piece of styrofoam on the west side
-added 2 hot water filled containers to the north side

Hopefully these improvements should help shelter the plants a little better.

sad little swiss chard in the north west corner... can't you just see it shivering?

spinach

swiss chard

swiss chard