It´s late March. Spring finally arrives. Days are sunny and mild, above freezing, but nights still always have some frost. Days are decently long now. The soil is thawing, and inside the coldframe the peas and fava beans are now thriving. I also transplanted some spring onions, leeks and kale under a fleece. They do not seem to mind a minor frost. And I have seedlings of maca, good king henry, crambe and indian ricegrass growing outdoors - very tiny ones, but alive nonetheless.
The pea and fava bean experiment
The pea and fava beans experiment was a success! They survived 3 weeks of frosty weather.
This period was 2 days of a freeze (down to -9ºC), followed by 2 days of thaw (up to +5ºC), 6 days of a deep freeze (down to -13ºC) and 15 days with deep morning frost (-4ºC) followed by mild thawing afternoons (+8C).
Only around 40% of the peas, and 75% of the fava beans survived the first long deep freeze.
After that I planted many more seedlings and 90% of the peas and fava beans survived the remaining two weeks of frosty morning but mild afternoons. What makes a difference is transplanting the seedlings when they are small (not more than 3cm) so that they do not break under a deep frost.
Beneath the cold frame, spring onions also survive a deep freeze, if having mulch protection. Otherwise only larger plants will survive undamaged. The same for the brassicas. Small seedlings survive significant frosts but not constant freezes, lower than -6ºC. Only larger plants can survive these, but not if these deep freezes are repeated and alternating with thaws.
The cold frame
Inside the cold frame, the soil does not freeze if there is a minor frost. It starts to freeze partially if there is a night temperature of -6ºC (temperature inside will be -2ºC). During a deep freeze (even down to -15ºC), the temperature will remain constant at -3ºC, provided the soil is also covered by a sandwich of plastic and peatmoss.
At day, the temperature can easily climb to +15ºC even during a day around freezing (with the sun shining and warming the inside of it). With an afternoon temperature of +10ºC, the air inside the cold frame can warm up to +30ºC!
Indoors: flowering beans
Indoors, I am very happy to see the first flowers in the peas and lima beans. Meanwhile some pulses have shown signs of some disease (possibly the bean mosaic virus which is carried by aphids). This seems to affect the already vigorous growing of the winged beans. The groundnut struggles to sprout but two have done it. The siberian pea is greening a little bit and the mulberry put on some growth show. Still dormant are the moringa, princess tree and honey locust, which worries me. Perhaps I should not have submit the last two to some cold during the early stages of this winter (I did it so as to induce dormancy and apparently it was a mistake).
Self-sufficiency plan continues...
I planted, in small pots, around 25 seedlings of sunflowers and sweet corn, and a few of squash, and varieties of cold tolerant melon and watermelon. I expect to transplant them outdoors, when the frost is over. My plan towards 100% 1 month food self-sufficiency still goes with much motivation, although sometimes the task seems overwhelming (especially when it comes to start everything indoors first).
So far the plan is to plant 10m2 of grain, 3m2 of potatoes, 3m2 of pulses, and 3m2 of other vegetables, with small plots for sunflowers, squash, quinoa and corn.
I am trying to plant as much rye outdoors as possible, however I discovered the store bought seed is not really that viable (the one used for breakfast grain), so I must order new one. I also have been fertilizing plants indoors with a liquid feed based in compost and seaweed, and outdoors I amended the soil with limestone, a natural rock rich in calcium and magnesium (to correct the excessive acid pH).
Stay tuned for more updates!
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