The best way to form an estimate is to write down everything you do, with varieties, dates and weather conditions, and then learn by your accumulated experience. I know that's not an entirely helpful answer, but every location and greenhouse is different and soon you will learn how best to operate your system. As for cold nights and young seedlings, my method is to put the trays on the floor at night and cover with frost blankets. Then uncover and move up to shelves for the day. This takes advantage of the warmest parts of the GH both day and night. If you have electricity, the heat mats are helpful too. And, for what it's worth, I get things started in my unheated Montana greenhouse in early March. Good luck and have fun planning!

I'm a newbie and just purchased a couple of acres. I was originally thinking of doing a garden area and then having a large walk-in hoop house off to the side. However, space is a little tight (my garden plot just kept growing as I added new veggies to the plan!) and it occured to me that I could possibly combine the garden/hoophouse space. I'm thinking I could do a wood frame around the garden space and then do removable pvc/wood frames and plastic sheeting - put them on in the fall and take off/store in the spring. Do any of you more experienced gardeners have thoughts on the logistics/potential problems with this idea? Saving the space would be nice, but not if it will cause potential problems down the line. A couple of my concerns: -logistics of taking on/off the frames and plastic - would it interfere with getting cool weather crops out early/ late in the season? (ie, putting up the hoops making the cool weather crops too warm) - overworking the soil (thought I might divide out the hoop space into 3 sections where I left one bare and put compost on it in the off season, one that gets a cover crop, and one that gets planted?) - any other problems or potential issues that I'm not thinking of? Thank you for any advice!

I'm not familiar with midwest weather Randy but in North Tx I must plant at the very earliest date after frost,plant two weeks early and cover when frost threatens or use cold frames to give plants a head start. The time between last frost and 90 deg F where blossoms no longer set isn't long enough for tomatoes varietes over 70 days. Most people plant two weeks before last frost and cover as needed. The problem with that is if you are delayed in removing covers plants can be shocked or killed from overheating. My answer is in my cold frames. My frames are much taller than conventional. I am both curious and frugal so I repurpous,recycle and experiment at every opertunity. I will explain one frame that you are familiar with so that you can see how I build a frame from scratch. i rescued a supermarket reach in dairy case which is about perfect. I cut a 6" vent near bottom and installed a 3" flexiable hose at top. Hose runs down 18"to connect to a box containing fan from dairy case. The descending hose prevents heat lose by natural convection (warm air rises,cold air drops.) The thermostat has one set of contacts that make on temperature rise above an adjustible 32F to 55F and break as temperature drops which in turn control cooling compressor. There is a secound set of contacts which make and break inverse to first set. When unnessary components were stripped,I retained defrost heaters and connected them to the secound set of contacts which make on temp fall turning heaters on then break when temp reaches 45-50F. Another salvaged t-stat was mounted high in case, internally altered to perform in the 80F range and connected to fan. I save and raid gas station island trash for black oil,trans fluid and anti-freeze jugs. Jugs are filled with weak mix of water/anti-freeze then placed inside case where solar heat is stored then released during night to miniumize energy used by defrost heaters. A chime is connected parallel with heaters and a buzzer with fan to allow me to dial them in. Plants sit near top in colder weather then decend to lower shelves as they grow and weather milds. When plants are removed from flats they go into 1 gallon pots. Cumulativly, years tinkering has shown as cu ft space inside frame increases, maintaining temperature becomes increasingly easier. Gallon pots ease moisture and nutrient maintainance, reduce transplant shock and alow plants to hit the ground running. I hope this was relivant to your question.

Since I find so few own roots locally, the conditions in which the rose was grown & how it ships become factors for me. I'd hesitate to order a greenhouse grown rose for delivery this time of year, or too early in Spring. Greenhouse plants need to be hardened off to acclimate to outdoor life before being left outside. Add that time to the typical rule of thumb for Fall planting that allows at least 2 months before the ground freezes. That window is closing around here & you're a couple zones North. On the other hand, roses shipping in from vendors who've grown them outside in climates similar to mine typically do well for me, since the ground doesn't usually freeze to a depth of more than a couple inches till January & mulch moderates surface temps. For a custom root rose ready last November, grown outside in Florida (different clime), decided to wait till Spring for delivery. In my book, roses in active growth shipped when it's below freezing along the way need to come by USPS, the only shipper I know that heats their trucks & depots.