Yesterday we enjoyed a nice fresh salad from our mini-greenhouse! The lettuce was buttery sweet and vibrant green, absolutely delicious! The units have been working extremely well! The nighttime temperatures have been dropping into the low 20's but the mini-greenhouses have been maintaining temps 6 - 8 degrees warmer than the outside, with humidity levels between 86% - 96%. There is always condensation on the walls and it never freezes even during the bitter cold nights.
The romaine lettuce is growing slowly, but it is still thriving and has been able to tolerate the sub-freezing temperatures.
The broccoli is starting to form now. The plants are about 2' tall almost touching the top of the mini-greenhouse.
The cabbage has been coming in nicely, starting to form the heads. I have been picking bottom leaves and some lettuce to feed the rabbits so they can have fresh greens!
This photo was taken when it was 34 degrees outside. As you can see the mini greenhouse was 41 degrees with 91% humidity.
So far the mini-greenhouse experiment has been very successful. The only thing I have noticed is on mornings after a really cold night the lettuce is a little wilted, but it perks right back up when the sun comes out. I imagine when it starts snowing and there is accumulating snow around the units the temps inside will stay even warmer at night. Everything seems to be thriving, even the kale, scallions and sage, and the garlic bulbs I planted are coming up as well. It will be interesting to compare their growth with the ones I planted outside in the bed. I have also planted some chestnuts in the units that came from a tree grown from nuts from a tree my grandfather had planted many years ago. I have tried growing trees before but when they are about 2' tall the squirrels always seem to find them and eat them. I have 12 nuts planted so hopefully this time I can get at least 2 trees to survive!
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