There are 210 BHN 961 plants here that I will transplant into 3" pots in a few weeks. So far I'm very pleased with the size and stockiness of the transplants. These plants will go in the tunnel around mid-March giving me a 5-6 week headstart on the season. I could probably start them sooner but I'm still learning about high tunnel growing so I'm a little cautious.
I have about 200 pepper plants also under the lights. They will go outside about May 1st. In addition there are 100 Sunshine tomato transplants getting ready for the outside in late April. These are an early variety that is new for us this year.
I'm now germinating some beefsteak tomatoes. I plan to sell the transplants around the end of April.
In about two weeks I'll start the main season tomato crop of Celebrity, Mountain Fresh, Mariana Plum, and Big Boys. I'm trying to space out my plantings this year to provide consistent availability.My son Jeffrey came to visit this week and was a great help in re-engineering the high tunnel North end panel and roll-up sides. We also installed a 30" vent on the end panel for ventilation. The vent has a solar powered opener that can be set to open at a predetermined temperature so on the days I 'forget' to roll up the sides there will be some outlet for the heat. I'll see how this works to cool the tunnel in summer and may do the same to the South end.
After much deliberation, 4x4 posts were concreted into the ground at two end panel zipper locations. This will provide much needed stability. The original end panel had so much mobility in the wind that it literally swayed back and forth. This caused screws to pop out or break and the door to become frequently forced open leading to loss of warm air. The middle post is removable for the summer months and the tractor conveniently passes under the opening with six inches to spare.Extra sections of plastic were added to the corners to stop the cold air from entering where the side and end panels meet. This will make the tunnel warmer in the late fall and extend our season a few weeks.
Today the temperatures will rise to 67 degrees. Finally we will be above average!My next priority is to remove the brush pile from the side of the tunnel for burning. Maybe I'll get started today :)
