I'm in a colder zone, but it's the arid Southwest, so we have sun almost all winter, and any small protected space will warm up nicely every day. So here's what I do. I have beds 3 and 4 feet wide. I bend 1/2 inch PVC pipe, 10 foot lengths, over the beds and stick the pipe about 6 inches into the soil on either side. In past years I covered these pipes with painter's drop cloths (clear plastic, that is, not canvas) and clipped them on with bull-nose clips from BizMart. But they can overheat in the sun, so this year I am using heavy weight garden fleece (I found some 14'x14'and trim it a bit to fit). This set-up looks like a gardening Canestoga Wagon. Call it a low tunnel. Right now my main low tunnel is still providing carrots from my August planting. However, as I pull carrots, I drop a lettuce seed or spinach seed in the disturbed soil, about one every 6 inches. Spring radishes would be another seed to plant now, and mache and claytonia, which do well in REALLY cold weather. Even if the seeds don't sprout and grow right now, they will sprout and grow VERY EARLY in the new year with just a little cover like the low tunnel. In my low tunnel, I then also put a layer of the thinner garden fleece row cover right on the plants themselves, as added protection when the weather gets colder. I also have a window planter and two hanging pots under there right now, planted with lettuce in September. When the cold weather looks likely to really hit (like this weekend, when temps are supposed to drop to 20 and lower), those pots are coming into the kitchen. If you can't find lettuce transplants now, a neighbor turned me onto this idea: buy a couple of heads of the expensive hydroponic lettuce that still has the roots on, sold in a clamshell with the roots curled up in the bottom. Use the lettuce without cutting the growing bud in the center. Then pot it up and put it in a south-facing window. Granted, I never got enough for a big salad this way, but we always had a few leaves to add crunch to sandwiches in the dead of winter. Finally, even if you don't want to do all this now, not having planted your fall garden in August or September, don't give up! Prepare a bed that you will be able to get to in January and February (I have a bed right in front of my south-facing house for this, yes, right by the front walk). Put up the PVC pipe ribs now, before the soil is frozen. Then in January, when you are DYING to get into the garden, put the plastic cover on, sprinkle a little wood ash on the snow inside (if you have snow) to encourage solar melting, and get ready to plant when the soil peeks out. Unclip one side of your low tunnel and pull the cover back, you'll be surprised how warm it is inside! If the soil is really wet, just put seeds on the surface and cover with a little pile of potting soil. Don't plant the whole thing at once, of course. One day you can plant a few radishes, another day plant a few spinach, and so on. They will take longer to sprout that later plantings, but you'll have extra-early spring greens! In the future, when you plan and plant your winter garden in July, August or September, you can probably have cole-family crops outside all winter (cabbage, kale, collards, broccoli, etc), leeks, and then under a single cover (not two layers like mine) spinach, lettuce, winter radishes, etc. Read Eliot Coleman's Four Season Harvest for more info. Catherine

You would probably not have to do as much venting from my past experience. The water tanks will be absorbing the extra heat, keeping it cooler during the day. I had a passive greenhouse years ago, before I moved. I wish I had the time and energy to build another. The north side was metal,with thick Styrofoam insulation. The south side was double pane glass from a store front with a 4' insulated knee board. I had benches with 55 gallon drums filled with water under the benches. The barrels behind the knee board didn't receive any direct sun, the ones on the north side did. I had a low/high thermometer and an hour meter on the thermostatically controlled vents. The vents rarely opened and the temps stayed between 50 and 90 degrees pretty constant. When I had days with very low temps and no sun, I could heat it with a Coleman propane lantern! I don't see a location for you, I live in SC, 7B, and we normally don't have temps below 32 for long periods, 3 or 4 days usually. The coldest that I ever remember was 5 degrees for one morning.

Good morning everyone! Almost done my cookies - one more batch to go. I do clean as I go - otherwise I'd be working on the floor! Going to start putting away my baking stuff in a couple of minutes once the last recipe is 'in the bowl' and clear off my dining table. Need the space to pile bags of stuff to go down to the in-laws for xmas and to clear out the living room floor so I can start vacuuming today. I want to have my housework done today so when we return from xmas I come back to a clean house and can relax. We are joining all of you getting inundated with snow - it's our turn big time today with a forecast of well over a foot - with blowing snow more like 2 feet already in some spots. Deja vu from this time last year, eh? Some young lad put a flyer in our mailbox for snowshoveling - by hand - I already called him since we want our house clear when we return from traveling too. I'm going to call him today in a bit to ask him to come by when the snow stops, once the plough goes by. I will do some shoveling myself. My neighbors offer to blow us out for free but I don't feel at all right about that - they won't take any money so I have declined. It sounds like a young couple on the phone doing the shoveling and they live around the corner from us - I am quite happy to hire someone needing a few dollars. We have no where to put a snow blower otherwise we'd have one right now. My back is still recovering from the manual labour and I know I have to drop some weight because it spasms when I carry a few extra pounds - doesn't take much these days. Okay, I'm stopping my whining now. I saw the weather in the bad areas on the news last night in the US. My heart goes out to everyone concerned. Not funny at all. Hard to enjoy xmas when you have no heat, running low on supplies and all you can see is more snow falling. Once I get on with my housework I'm going to work on a few craft projects so I don't keep looking out the window. Have some computer work to do too for my website/business I'm trying to prepare for the new year so that's fun too. Hugs to everyone, I will probably check in later! Peggy

Hi ya! Belated b-day wishes to Amy! Nice to see you again. I've been 'offline' here because I have been consumed working on products and writing my website (learning on the fly) to launch an on-line business. I've registered for a vendor permit etc etc etc - trying to balance my 'work' time between producing products and doing administrative work. WOW! Love the internet for learning about writing web pages - in the process I have found a 'new box of crayons' and I have SUBMITTED FOR COLLEGE - keeping my fingers crossed. I want to learn about web design. My husband has told me repeatedly over the last few years he honestly believed I would be good at this since I found doing network support extremely difficult. Taking care of servers was mind boggling to me and I never made it past first level of computer support (one level up from help desk). Cannot keep up with the software updates (microsoft releases new operating systems like candy). Keeping on top of everything is financially demanding - your talking about $500 learning on your own and taking an exam per 'book' on the new systems. Since I was not 'getting it' like Dave (it's his box of crayons. I swear he just has to hold a book and write the microsoft certification and he's done). I am a creative person and I've learned so much about writing web pages on my own from the internet tutorials - to a point where I can't sleep because I want to learn more - I talked to Dave and decided college would be a good investment. We are lucking - it's one bus ride and only a 10 minute ride from our house. So I'm waiting to hear back from the college. I think my Mom would be pleased that I am using some of my inheritance as an investment towards future employment. And my online business is for my 'mental' health venting my creative side. I've used some of Mom's gift in this area too. So I've not been posting much but I am with everyone in spirit. It's still a challenge because I'm so excited about everything. So part time school on weekends to start if I can get accepted - I plan to enrol full time for next fall semester and do the 2 year program full time. Dave has secured a contract for the next 18 months and told me to get back to school. I feel so blessed right now...2009 is MY YEAR. Thank you God for helping me find the right path and having all of my friends. Please forgive me if I only post every other day - I am here in spirit - holding your hand and needing your help to stay focused too! Lots of love to everyone - I have to get back to working in my 'studiio' - cleared corner of our rec room.... I love all of you so much! Happy 2009! Peggy