Cold Night

We have about 600 plants in a greenhouse--mostly maters and peppers, a few cabbages, some broccoli and onions. Those last 3 are ok in cool weather. Maters and peppers not so much. But it is a lot of plants to drag back into the house. The forecast was it would get into the upper 30s. This was crunch time, because after a cool and cloudy day, we had doubts that the greenhouse could keep it close to 50 for the night. Lower than that, tomatoes and peppers hate life.

Well, Bob McKinley mentioned that we could try candles in a coffee can. Thta was a blast from the past. When I was a kid in germany, you kept a coffee can with some sand in it in your car. If you were stranded in a winter storm, you put a candle in it and lit it. The light reflecting off the can trapped heat and radiated it. It was a crude oven.

Well, it's hard to find coffee cans-- we had a plastic one, no dice, and I was not going to buy a few cans of coffee just for the can. Ica remembered some galvanized tubs we had. So we dug them out, raided a bunch of candles, and voila.

I didn't sleep much last night, worrying if it would be ok. I checked them about an hour ago and the plants are doing great. I think we can pass thru any cold spells.

Watch, in two weeks I will be back writing about how I have had to handle the opposite problem-- the greenhouse being too hot. I hope this crazy weather settles down and we can just get them in the ground!