Not Enough for Frosty but Still a Pain

This morning we woke up to a few inches of wet heavy snow. It melted around noon but it is still very cold. Occasional breaks in the clouds brought some much needed warmth.  The sun boosts my spirits as I long for warm summer days.

 This gnarly piece of wood was given to me by Grandma and Grandpa.

 This gives you an idea of the cold we experienced this morning.  I think we should get some warmer weather this next week. After Lynne and I returned from shopping Jim and Richie were up in the Orchard working on their pumpkin hills.  

 In the video we are setting up the little mini greenhouses to warm the soil before planting the pumpkins.  It was suggested by the Utah Pumpkin Club to warm your soil for about a week before planting. 

 Richie came up with the lid idea.  He took an old garden hose and used some ties to attach the plastic.  I thought it was a great idea.  I have seen some use wood or PVC pipe. 

 Here is our finished product.  We put a piece of wood on top but will find a rock to place on it in hopes to keep the lid on during wind storms.  There is also a stake driven into the ground on the back side that is attached to the hoop.  I think we will add one more stake for support.  This week we plan on planting our pumpkins and starting the long gourd seeds. 

When Will It Stop

Lately the weather has been a monster.  The wind has opened its jaws wide on my hoop house and delivered multiple smack downs.  Despite its brutal attacks inside the hoop house its warm and humid plants are growing and I have been pollinating tomatoes. So far we have been blessed with hoop house protection.

Garden Update ...Greenhouse

Spring cannot come soon enough for our family.  Snow and cold is just not our cup of tea.  Rich has been growing many different tomatoes and other vegetables I cannot even pronounce. 

  This year Rich wanted to grow some Heirloom varieties.  After a few months of growing baby tomatoes in our front room, he now has some ready to plant in his new hoop house. 

Here is his beloved beet.  As you know, he is the proclaimed President of the Utah Beet Growers Association or commonly called Beet Nation.

Rich has wanted to have a green house for many years now.  We have researched many different options and sizes and decided that we should build what is called a hoop house so he could start planting some of his tomatoes.

As we were working on pruning the fruit trees, Rich looked over and said that we needed to move the boat, and then he just stared at the covering that had been protecting the boat. We decided to use the blue tarp for the boat and use the portable garage for the greenhouse.  He asked me if I thought we could convert that into a green house, then we could cover a good portion of the garden area.  

It will be brilliant, if the wind does not blow it over or rip the plastic.  Only time will tell.



 We went to work with this design, and with a lot of heavy clear plastic, removal of a few of the posts in the frame, roto tilling the ground, and some muscle.  Now we have one huge green house in our back yard! Nice thing is we can take it down in June and turn it back into a shade tent.

Richie brings his little babies into the greenhouse.

 Rich and Richie have spent an amazing amount of time out in their little creation.  We now have approximately 35 tomatoes in the ground and some beets that have leaves bigger than the end of the growing season.


One at a time their Heirloom tomatoes get special treatment.  

 They still have more to plant but this is a good start.

We also have planted onions, peas, radishes, Brussel sprouts, and more beets in the ground.  The new plant of our garden this year is called kohlrabi. It is a weird shaped, cabbage like thing that Rich just thinks look so cool, we have to grow some!

Rich has put a heater inside to keep it warm enough during to cold nights.  This has worked really well thus far.  Last night we had another huge storm with wind gusts that made us think it might just fly away or rip apart!  We woke up to it still in one piece but covered in 6 inches of snow!  This is a lot of work, causes much stress and anxiety, but if this all works out, Rich will have tomatoes, beets....able to eat two months earlier than any other year!

Good job guys! you have worked really hard for this!

Lynne