Freezing temps and lettuce!!

[Darlene Skellion]

We knew this winter would be a learning experiment and we're definitely learning a lot! Made it through last nights temps of 5 degrees - got down to 16 in the greenhouse but other than a couple of basil plants that bit the dust everything else came through with flying colors. We cover the the rafts and media beds with row cover material at night which seems to help immensely. Yesterday we hustled and insulated one fish tank with foil bubble insulation and installed 3 - 300 watt heaters ---- water temp was 39 (goldfish are hibernating!) but it was up to 64 this morning in spite of the 16 degree temp. The sump tank had ice this morning as we decided to shut down the water flow through the media beds to save heat - glad we did that! Tonight we'll cover the sump with the bubble wrap and see if we can keep it from freezing - I'm also debating whether to add a small heater to the sump just to use on really frigid nights. Don't know if it would be worth it or not. 

What a joy to see all those beautiful greens every morning and being able to eat them every day!! This is quite a journey and we're loving every step of it although I do envy all these Florida people that are still walking around in shirt sleeves!!