The weather this year 2023 has been odd. We are in a third year La Nina the weather is mild and a little dryer. This year the temperature has been up and down but moisture wise we have been dryer. December was warmer than normal and instead of snow we had rain. January was also warm with more rain than snow. It is now February and we had our first major snowfall. The weather has been warm then cold, hopefully the spring will bring moisture. What I'm now doing is getting the greenhouse cleaned and ready for planting. Normally February starts to warm with daytime temperatures in the 50s and nighttime temperatures in the 20s. But February started warm and now we are getting snow and nighttime temperatures in the single digit with daytime temperatures in the low to mid 30s. I want to start planting in the greenhouse early March so I'm spending February getting the greenhouse cleaned, prepped and ready to go. I was hoping with the overall winter being warmer I would get an earlier start in the greenhouse. I’ll just take a wait and see.
I added another tier to the boxes in the greenhouse giving me an additional 5 inch to the height, for a total of 10 inch depth and a surface of 18 square feet. The soil in the existing boxes was very compacted and hard so I added compost and peat moss to help prep the existing soil. I tilled the soil with an electric tiller. I add a combination of soil, compost, and peat moss in the ratio of 60/30/10 and mix thoroughly with the electric tiller. I add extra compost from a box I have in the chicken run, the girls prepare a very decent compost. I add a small amount of this compost to the surface to add live organisms back into the soil. In many places garden materials have been sterilized and are technically dead so you have to add something from a live source to repopulate the soil.The total amount of soil, peat, and composted required by the three boxes was 23 cubic feet, just shy of a cubic yard.
Compost from Chicken Run
Electric Tiller Prep 1
Electric Tiller Prep 2
Adding 5 inch Tier to Box
Side View Second Tier
Filled Box
Three Filled Boxes
I have found that using live material in the starting mix can introduce things into your greenhouse that you do not want. One season I added live compost to my mix and ended up with an aphid problem in the greenhouse, so you just need to be careful. Many soil amendments are sterilized at the source so unwanted pests are not transferred across the country. This may explain why compost tea works well for some and not others. If you plant on making compost tea be sure and start with live compost. I use compost from the chicken run.