Nicely done, Dan. The big sun is a big difference. Here in MI we are in the first day of a six days spell with temps between 35 and 14. I am guessing this is the coldest end of March in at least 15 yrs. We last saw the sun Saturday morning. I have hoop houses for everything, but it helps a lot less. We also have trees and less than full sun in some beds.

My last savoy cabbage was eaten this weekend and was stored under leaves last November. It was still in prime condition. Overwintering kale was eaten tonight. A root cellar and good moisture in the ground through the winter are the resources for winter eating here.

Thank you glib. We have to play the hand we're dealt, and we have much less moisture for cellaring, alas. My potatoes are not so easy to store, and having grown up in Warren, you miss the omnipresent water out here in the dry high plains.

Dan

Thanks Dan - these are great, especially the detail pics.

Dan-

The sun is huge factor. You can bank that heat during the day and use it at night. I dropped to the low teens this morning after topping 32F yesterday with snow.. Extended is brutal cold for this time of year, with no 40F temps until mid next week. Right now my outside is showing 14.5F and the low tunnel is showing 32F..

I use a hoop bender to make my tunnels. They work great with conduit.

I wanted to start extra early, but i'm going to be forced to wait.

Frank, here we have different problems - already have our spring wind, blowing in hi 30s MPH most of the day. Makes it tough.
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Speaking of benders and found material, I made my own conduit bender out of scrap and 'cookies' cut out by a keyhole drill bit:

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I like the idea of using low tunnels as a sort of bridge between a greenhouse and bare dirt. Here in the West, they work very well as we have the sun.

Dan

Very nice Dan. I've been using cold frames quite a bit in recent years here in MA with great success. Sowing seed in late fall and overwintering in the cold frames is a fantastic trick. Looking through your pictures, I have a question - it looks like you sunk the sides of the frames below grade by a few inches. Is that right? Is this to take advantage of the insulating properties of soil?

-Diggity

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Imperative blog

I bet it is to get a better wind seal. From the first time he posted his pics, I could tell he was in a windy spot, from the very careful seal all around the hoop houses. Michigan is better but still windy, and I, too, take good care of sealing them well.

It is both a wind seal and to insulate the ground - the big wooden coldframe has a separate base that extends 10" below ground. You can't tell from the pic, but I extended the frame's sides above the bottom of the window as well, to lessen the effects of the wind. The straw mat both holds water and keeps the soil from blowing away in the wind as well. First year we had the garden, planted ~45 seedlings outside and two nights later many were defoliated from 2 hrs of gusts in the 50s...

Dan

Dan=

Bought my bender online for $40 // I bought the one that bends 4ft wide hoops. I can fit inside and close it up, but my head gets wet!

I ended up stapling the whole side to a 2x8 that is part of the raised bed i have, and just threw boards on the other side of the plastic to weight it down.

Was around 80F or so in there today with outside temp of 33F.