salad warmers

My Montana winter salad experiment

continues its evolution…

As I explained November 10th in my article winter salad, I put some bok choi and three types of lettuce seeds into four planter boxes to see what might come of it. Being able to have fresh greens through the winter would be nice.

Missy has begun her winter sprouts operation. That’s a much more reliable way of reaching the primary objective.

When the temperatures hit the low teens they cried out for help. “That thin plastic bedsheet is not enough”, they wailed.

I ran a rough calculation finding that a 60-watt bulb would run me $1.49 a month if used half the time to keep them warm overnight. So I put one in their plastic enclosure on a handy switch so I could easily turn it on at night and off during the day.

Now we are dropping into zero and sub-zero temperatures. I am not waiting for them to go limp and hang their heads telling me to add heat or watch them die. I added a second lamp to their bedroom.

That’s IT!

I’m not going over $3.00 per month for fresh lettuce. That’s my budget with this scrappy little greenhouse effort.

Next year perhaps I’ll have time, energy and good fortune to scrounge up better wood and real glass to continue the evolution of our new home and my gardening in it.