Hi all,

I am very glad to have the opportunity to grow more skills this year in planning, planting, and growing food at Barefoot Gardens! I hope to post pictures and notes here along the way so you can see the progress and learn about things too. With this note are two pictures showing some seedlings in our “greenhouse”. As you may know, John uses the “soil block” method, which Elliot Coleman advocates. It is a pretty ingenious way of using the wonderful properties of soil (sand, peat, compost, garden soil, and some fertility amendments) to make “plugs” without the plastic. It also benefits the seedlings by “air pruning”… i.e. when a root hits the “air wall” it stops growing and more root branching occurs. This creates a very healthy transplant so that the plants grow well, once transplanted, with less “shock” and delay. I am experimenting with some plug trays as well, that also try to prevent transplants from becoming “root bound” by having “grooves” or air strips down the sides of the plugs and open-holed bottoms. It seems very appropriate to at least give the “Groove Tubes” a try….being a Gruver. 

So… in the pictures you’ll see some onions, broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce. We have straw bales in the greenhouse because this greenhouse was actually intended for retail… not production. Thus, the bales help keep things warmer at night. We also made a heating tray with plywood, sand, and a heating cable. This enables us to keep at least some transplants at ~60+ degrees. Plant growth is impacted more by soil temperature than air temperature. Some plants are particularly sensitive to cold soils… like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers.

Stay tuned..

Lisa