warmth

I have more broccoli seedlings up, most of the peas and some swiss chard. I don't usually start swiss chard indoors, its one of the plants that don't like to have their roots disturbed and do better started right in the garden soil. Thought since I'm putting them in biodegradable pots that will go straight in the ground, it might work.

I didn't bring in the seedlings overnight. Went out to peer inside the coldframe house and they looked just fine. Had a small pot of water I'd boiled for something, still steaming hot and I thought to put it in the coldframe. In case the steam and warmth would help the plants, maintain some temperature and moisture from evaporation. We had a few inches of snow yesterday, still the baby plants are fine. This morning boiled water for cocoa and had some left over, I went out and added the steaming hot water to the pot that was still in there. It's noticeably warmer in the coldframe house than outside air, and plenty of condensation drops on inside of the plastic raining down. As long as the seedlings or the cardpots don't start getting moldy, I might keep doing that...

~ Actually, I did not follow the above for long. A day after I wrote this (hadn't posted yet) the temperature dropped- it's very cold this week. I brought my little seedling trays back indoors, but over half of them are flopped over probably killed by the chill. Not all is lost- several seedlings came up in each of the lettuce containers flush to the ground- emerging under daylight- and I can always plant more.