And Still Waiting

Yesterday. Snow.  Again.

Warm inside, though.

 

Later, the snow melted and thunderstorms moved in. 

 

Last night I dreamed I was digging in the garden and planting vegetables.  

Looks like that won't happen for awhile.

I had assumed that we'd be well past the risk of frost in Tres Piedras by the end of the first week of June.

I was shocked to find this:

Source: https://garden.org/apps/frost-dates/Tres+Piedras%2C+NM/

 
There's a 50% chance of that our last frost will happen on or after June 11.  Another source says our average last frost date June 11-20.  There's still a 10% chance we'll have our last frost on or after June 29.  And there's a 10% chance our first frost will happen by Sept. 10, and a 90% chance by Sept. 30 (http://www.climate-charts.com/USA-Stations/NM/NM299085.php).  That's a short growing season.  I can definitely see the need for heated greenhouse space for things like tomatoes.  Since we're off grid and propane heat is expensive, creative measures are necessary.  Perhaps lots of thermal mass and heating with compost?

Here are a few examples:

This greenhouse uses compost for heat.

Then there's the partially underground greenhouse, or the walipini:

 Or we could move to a place with a slightly longer growing season.