We've had several nights in a row now with temperatures down almost near 0F. Since the only source of heat for the sunporch comes from the room attached to it, the temperature outside the greenhouse is dropping below 40F at night. This means that there's a temperature differential of around 30 degrees between tray 1 on the top shelf and the air just beyond the thin plastic sheet. Not that I don't trust the little electric heater that's keeping the seedlings from freezing, but I've decided to give it some help. I'm now wrapping the greenhouse structure in two layers of flannel sheets. This has two benefits. One, it should help to better insulate the greenhouse, saving me some money on my electric bill. And two, the white inner lining of the sheets should serve as a better reflector than the translucent plastic sheet, meaning more of the light stays bouncing around inside the greenhouse. During the day, I raise the sheets on the side facing the window in case it actually stops snowing at some point and we get some direct sun.
Front view:
The bright patch in the middle of the front is not some fancy design or lighting scheme, but rather a hole ripped in the inner sheet. It does demonstrate, however, how much light the sheets are actually blocking and reflecting back into the greenhouse.
Side view:
It doesn't look like much, but I think it's helping.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the garden sage and syriaca zaatar marjoram have both sprouted and seem to be doing well. Here are slideshows of their progress so far.
Syriaca Zaatar Marjoram (click for bigger slideshow in Picasa):
And the Garden Sage:
Their primary leaves already look like sage! These little seedlings just amaze me.
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