Due to our greenhouse being overbooked we had to re-accommodate some of our transplants to our unheated cold frame. But before we go into the details, lets have a few announcements!
We are still taking orders for 2017 VeggieShares. Keep spreading the word! Referrals are always the best form of advertising and many of you have helped us out — $25 credit to your account for each referral. We appreciate your support!
We are still taking orders for many of our other shares, like fruit, cheese, meat, salmon, eggs, ice cream, coffee, flowers, and winter share. Please order as soon as you can so we can plan accordingly.
If you haven’t paid for your veggie shares and have not signed up for a payment plan, please send in a check at your earliest convenience.
Now back to our story.
This past weekend we were unable to get enough volunteers to vacate their spots, so we had to physically remove some of our transplants from our heated greenhouse to our unheated cold frame. Unlike other recent newsworthy re-accommodations, ours went ahead without bloodshed, violence, screaming or virtual videos. That’s just the way we operate here at Fresh Earth Farms!
So why are we re-accommodating transplants? Actually what we are doing is acclimating the transplants. When we start the plants in the greenhouse they are in a “plant incubator”. It is warm and cozy. They get filtered sunlight and plenty of water. When we transplant them out into the field the temperatures vary wildly. This time of year it can be below freezing at night and above 90 degrees at soil level during a warm, very sunny, windless day. Plus the sunlight is intense and direct. Taking plants from an ideal growing space like the greenhouse to the harsh elements of the great outdoors is a sharp transition.
So to prevent the plants from keeling over with this sudden change in lifestyle we give them a bit of time to acclimate. The greenhouse has two layers of poly protecting the interior space. The two layers help keep in the heat. The poly layers block about 17% of the sunlight from reaching the plants. Actually with the film being many years old the amount of sunlight blocked is probably closer to 25%. Nonetheless, the sunlight is less intense in the greenhouse than out in the field. So by re-accommodating the plants from a two layer structure to a one layer structure we acclimate them to the more intense sunlight. Without this transition stage the plants would likely sunburn and get set back a few days or weeks or maybe even perish.
The re-accommodation also allows the plants to adjust to the more drastic swing in temperatures. Inside the greenhouse the temp varies from 70 to 85 degrees (unless the outside temperature is above 85 since we use outside air to cool the inside). The hoop house has no climate control so the temps go almost as low as they are outside and higher than they are outside since it is still trapping some of the warmth. This helps the plants acclimate to their future location.
After a few days in the cold frame we re-accommodate them out to benches near the greenhouse to acclimate even further. They stay outside in their trays for another two to five days depending on the weather. If the temperature drops too low during this transition time we will re-accommodate them back into the greenhouse or cold frame overnight then re-accommodate them back outside to continue their acclimation. Eventually they are re-accommodated out to their final resting place to grow into the beautiful veggies we look forward to each summer. That’s a lot of re-accommodation without any bloodshed!
As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, comments, jokes, re-accommodation requests or anything else you think we’d want to know.