jjannie's 2020 gardening

[jjannie]

With all the 'extra' time at home this spring we've gotten a good start on our gardening.
The greenhouse is a 'new' feature for us this year, so we're learning when to plant as we didn't want to heat it around the clock. Lately we've only had to run the small heater for couple hours overnight to keep no lower than 40*, so that's not too bad. so we did get some plants out there. We've also sarted some seeds but they haven't even sprouted yet. We built a potting bench using a fillet table that has a built in sink for countertop that is working out nicely. We have 4 auto-opening air vents in the roof - but with the sun on greenhouse we've already been over 120* so we made this opening we can set across in the doorway to keep the community cats from using our beds to do their business - it works - it also gives added ventilation so we aren't getting hotter than about 80*. 
We've been doing straw bale gardening for several years now - today was day 8 of the 11 days it takes to condition them (which means they start breaking down inside creating heat and compost inside) and they measured 145*-150* inside of them so they're already 'cooking' nicely so we suspect they'll be ready for planting very soon although we'll still need to protect any greenery from frost as the 10-day forecast does have low 40s - high 30s in it and we are always few degrees colder than they predict  - but having the warmth underneath a cover creates a nice greehouse effect that the plants love - then we can vent the frost covers during day so they won't burn.  
We enjoy starting our own plants from seeds when we can - this year we're using gro lights and its really given us stronger, healthier starts than we've gotten in years past.