You are talking about multiple things when starting my snow plow tractor, the top of the engine turns a Chevy car alternator. the crank bottom pulley turns a short belt to a 90 degree gear reduction box. My clutch releases on another belt to the transaxle. SO the alternator,gear box and engine all turn together, just not the transaxle. And it starts fairly good in winter with 5w30 above 20 degrees, below that a blast from a kero heater for a few minutes does it. Summer is no problem at all. I have also put a "no charge"cut off switch on it so the alternator isn't dragging on engine when cold, after a few minutes, flip the switch so it will charge, does make a difference in lugging down a cold engine. I would love to have the belt from engine to gear box be the one that released when clutch is down, but there isn't enough distance between engine pulley and gear box to do it. Its only a couple inches between engine pulley and gear box pulley outer edges. I know this isn't typical of most. Just saying..

Hi Steve, To address your original questions about soil heat cables.......we live in a very cold climate here in Wyoming at over 6,000' elevation with winter temps as low as -40 degrees F. We have not used soil heat cables in an outside grow box - but did decide to experiment with a grow box inside our unheated GH. We bought the cable length we needed based on the area we wanted to cover - 30" X 96" and according to the spacing the cable manufacturer recommended. We followed instructions and mounted the cable to 1/2" hardware cloth and then mounted the hardware cloth to cattle panel for extra stability and ease of moving/storing. We purchased a thermostat and set the temperature at 55 degrees F and placed the cable buried 4"s in a raised bed within our GH and made a polycarbonate cover to create a box with lids. We tried to grow salad veggies during the winter months - November thru March. The daytime temps in the GH on a sunny day were between 30-70 degrees F even when OS temps were 0 degrees F so I would raise or remove the lid during the day and cover the box at night when OS temps were as low as -30 degrees F and IS GH temps as low as around 0 degrees F. The soil heat cables were usually only running during the night so I did not notice much difference in our electricity bill. The photo below was taken on January 31st. We are in Zone 3 where danger of frost remains through June 1st and there is snow on the ground usually through April but we have had snow and frost in every month of the year during cold spells. I think most would agree the experiment was a success! The cons in my opinion is the cost of the cables, wire and thermostat and the daily covering/uncovering of the lid (although the polycarbonate only needed to be removed on sunny days because of the heat build-up). When I retire I may do this every winter but for now - it is nice to have a winter break from the GH. We also use the Soil Heat Cable as a germination mat on top of the soil in the GH in February - March as an overflow box from our inside grow lights - that works well too. We are building grow boxes this year OS for our squash and other warm weather plants and appreciate your design!

Dorothy, Y'all have been busy and it sounds like all the fall experimentation gave you some good results. Obviously I didn't have much of a fall garden since it is hard to grow veggies in the almost total absence of rainfall. I'm hoping for more rain next year, but not counting on it. I've grown turnips outside the veggie garden fence in previous years, and the deer haven't bothered them, but every year it is mostly a different bunch of deer, so I don't necessarily think this year's herd would leave anything alone--they are pretty hungry. Ever since I started order from Baker online, they seem less inclined to send me a catalog. I don't know why. I still like to look at and ready the paper catalogs even if I do go and order online because it is quicker. I'm on the fence about ordering any seeds because I just don't see us planting a large garden if rain doesn't fall. I still have plenty of older seed from previous years, though, so I could plant a garden I'd be perfectly content with without ordering much fresh seed. Well, think I'll have to get corn seed but that's about it. I'm not looking forward to this cold night, but once we get it past us, at least we'll be warming up a little. And, while watching the weather coverage of all the snow in the northeastern US today, I thought to myself "at least we don't have that!". Ilene, I think you've had some great results from your cold frame. Gonefishin' always had a hotbed underneath his coldframe, with a combination of fresh horse manure/stable bedding, and the heat from the decomposition of that manure/bedding kept his plants from freezing on some very cold nights. I think he had double dug his bed beneath the cold frame and had the hot manure beneath and then several inches of regular soil on top so his plants could grow in regular soil but benefit from the heat of the decomposing manure. I miss Gonefishin'....he was such an inspiration to me. Dawn

Cactus Dude / Superman (and any others who may be interested) Old post, I know (as evidenced by us discussing a cold stretch in Albuquerque, considering now how mild it has been for the majority of Jan./Feb.!), but I thought since weÂd talked about it, this little news here may be somewhat of interest at least. A few days ago, I drove by the date palm that Cactus Dude saw a number of times on Central Ave. And while I cannot say for sure, I got out and inspected it up-close, and I think itÂll be just fine come spring! Cactus Dude was right about it being pretty darn burnt (and considering he posted that in January, when I saw it it likely even looks worse), however, if you get up close to it, the "vital" parts  the trunk and the frond beginnings  all still look very healthy and just fine. In fact, some of the fronds that are more protected by the back wall it is against still are not too burntÂ.the fronds sticking out in the open are burnt badly, but like the Robustas and Filiferas, I think itÂll come back just fine in the spring, because the trunk and essential parts are still just plain healthy. I think going for it, even being a date palm, is that it is in a prime thermal belt portion of ABQ  near UNM  it is south-facing right against a south-facing wall, and it isnÂt terribly tall yet, so it isnÂt highly extended out into the elements. At any event, I agree with Cactus Dude that it is a true date palm, and in my novice eyes in inspection, I think itÂll be doing just fine come spring again, which isnÂt too far away!