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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

 On Jan 4, 2008 9:39 PM, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
> LOL, I know this sounds strange...yeah, gardening..in January, and no,
> it's not warm enough yet-even here (10 and 12 degrees here the last two
> mornings plus that nasty 25mph wind) but I start seeds in the house,
> then move them to the greenhouse, then to the raised beds with
> protective covers..

This climate change is going to take some getting used to although I
fear it will be so erratic as to be useless on the positive side. For
the last few days (over New Year's and until today) we've had bitter
cold according to NOAA. (I agree as there are still icicles hanging
off my butt, even if we didn't actually get below zero). Today was in
the balmy high 30s, tomorrow is in the 40s, and Sunday is in the 50s.
The livestock -- and that would include me -- isn't doing so well. I
don't generally even contemplate starting stuff indoors until late
February to early March.

I would really like to get a small greenhouse up this year (I'd like
to win the lottery too, but the greenhouse is a lot more likely). My
problem with having a greenhouse is more or less tied up with erratic
weather: when we have these huge 40 and 50 degree shifts in
temperature, we also experience winds in the 25 to 45 mph range. One
thing I can see that needs doing is putting in windbreaks, but does
anyone have experience of a hoop structure that will actually survive
that kind of wind?

As soon as domestic wind-to-electric conversion becomes economically
feasible, I'm having a system put in. A few hundred yards from me
there is an old windmill that runs almost all the time. In the last 20
years, I've considered many times putting a bomb under it. At this
point, when silence occurs I wake up and wonder what's wrong.

Marie