Hi Im Erin and this is Our Wyoming Life
It’s almost time to sow the seeds and transplant the lettuce into the high tunnel. In order
for the highest chances of success in gardening the soil must be prepared. Today Erin walks
you through the last step before the first cold weather planting happens next week.
Today I want to water the area in the high tunnel that I have marked off for my cold
weather crops. Sounds like it should be pretty simple right? Well to an extent it is. Put
water on the dirt and seeds will grow. But it’s February in Wyoming and that means
it’s cold. That also means that my water hydrants that I do summer watering from won’t
work. We’ve only done warm weather gardening so when we did the irrigation we didn’t
bury all of it. That’s something we might have to work on another day but for now I
need water. Mike is always my solution maker in these
situations. I always tell people he’s in charge of garden hardware. Today’s solution
is a 125 gallon water tank on a pallet. The bobcat makes moving it around a pretty simple
process. Ok so water tank in the tunnel. One problem
solved. Next we move the plastic that is warming the
soil out of the way. Now I need the water out of the tank. ½ horsepower
submersible pump and a garden hose and I’m in business.
And finally I’m able to water!! I will make a few passes over this area in order to get
the soil damp enough to hold seeds. I actually debated for quite some time if I would water
the soil before planting. I did some research and couldn’t come up with a clear answer.
In the summer this area is a walkway. No irrigation runs on it. Without irrigation a high tunnel
or a greenhouse might as well be the Sahara desert. It’s dry and hot. It’s only 40
degrees outside but inside the tunnel it’s 100. My sandy loam soil is dusty and powdery
right now. I was worried that when I plant my radish and spinach seeds they would just
float away and I wouldn’t be able to get the seed coat wet enough to germinate.
The main reason though that I was hesitant to water is that water can actually bring
down your soil temp. That’s counterproductive to what I’ve been trying to do the last
few weeks. I need the soil temp 45-50 degrees for germination and for the Salanova lettuce
to transplant successfully. So after much back and forth and internal
struggle I decided to go with my garden gut instinct and water. I just can’t seem to
make myself plant a lettuce seedling or sow a seed in bone dry dirt. It just seemed wrong.
I end up putting most of the water in our portable tank on the row. Probably about 100
gallons or so. Mike will take it back to the shop and fill it up again. We will fill it
right away even though I won’t need it for a few days. But ground water is cold this
time of year and the shop is heated. When I do plant I will sprinkle everything will
a little water and I don’t want the water to be cold.
Ok last thing to do today is put the plastic back on and close everything up. We’ve got
some chilly weather and some snow coming in which is delaying me by a few days for planting.
I’ll wait till be have sunny skies again and the dirt comes back to temp and then we
will plant. I always have a timeline and dates in mind for when I’ll plant but mother nature
always wins and it is so important to stay flexible in gardening. Impatience now could
just lead to crop failure and that is something I definitely want to avoid.
As always thanks for watching. I realize that watering dirt isn’t the most exciting of
topics but as in anything in life the foundation is often the most important part. Please subscribe
to our channel and like us on Facebook. We post exclusive content on facebook that you
can’t find anywhere else so don’t miss out.
As always thanks for joining us in our Wyoming life