On December 26, as the forecasters warned of heavy snow, extreme cold, and high winds, we made the rounds of stores to restock essentials. One last stop: the Winter Bounty greenhouse. On a drafty, overcast day, the temperature inside was not much different from outside: about 29 F. We temporarily drew back some of the fabric row covers and experienced that now-familiar chill in the fingers that comes from harvesting food in subfreezing temperatures.
The storm did in fact deposit around 20 inches of powdery snow in the region, and then for two days, the winds whipped it around, leaving chest-high drifts in some places and bald hillsides elsewhere.
Then the sun came out.
When we brought visiting friends to the greenhouse on the 30th to collect greens for a New Year’s Eve feast, it was a balmy 60 degrees inside, and Logan was there pulling back the row covers for the day. She went poking into the carrot bed and pulled out a pinkie-sized carrot, brushed the dirt off, and took a bite. After that, we each bit off a morsel and realized what carrots are truly supposed to taste like.
Logan said that snow had drifted heavily on the south side of the greenhouse, and they’d had to shovel it off. Other than that, the structure survived handily, and our visitors helped us harvest salad greens, braising greens, and radishes for the feasts ahead.
On cold days, the row covers get pulled back only when harvesting; otherwise they are there all day to provide an extra layer of protection to the plants.
We had drifting on the south side of our greenhouse, too. The snow was light enough to blow with a leaf blower so as to avoid getting close to the plastic with a shovel. We had 70 degrees in there the other day. It’s so amazing!
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