Strawberries.
My greenhouse is not well vented, so even with the open door it will be a problem to keep things watered. Increased heat means increased transpiration which means an increased need for water.
My greenhouse is home made and I got it ALMOST level, and so there is an uphill side that I can take advantage of. If I plant the strawberries in a rather thick row along that edge, I should be able to keep them watered without actually going into the greenhouse. Instead I can walk along the uphill side with the hose, and gravity will take the water into the greenhouse. This will be easier, and it means that I will not have to stand in the over-heated greenhouse in order to water. My heat tolerance has never been very good, and now that I have MS it is far worse!
Instructions on strawberries say to plant them a foot apart, but strawberries in the wild or in a bed grow much more closely than that. I do not expect a problem from planting them that closely.
I am going to plant a double row just 6 inches apart. The roots can spread out to the side. And, when I fertilize I can spread a line of fertilizer outside of the greenhouse and let the water carry it to the roots!
If I plant the early strawberries I will give up some production as plants bred for an early yield rarely yield as well, but it might be worth it to not be picking after it gets hot! Kansas DOES get hot, and I will not want to be inside the greenhouse at that time.
I THINK that most nurseries get their bundles of strawberries in February, which would be early enough as February is usually overcast and wet in my area. The greenhouse will not freeze in such conditions, but neither will the plants grow much. So, instead of trying to get them in early I will accept that they will not get planted as early as they could be.
And, since I will be growing them a few feet away from sweet potatos I shall have to go inside every now and then to move any sweet potato vines that threaten to grow over them.
Sweet potatos.
Sweet potatos love heat but they also love water. Instead of going inside to water, I will see what areas inside the greenhouse get boggy when it rains, and I will mark the area. THAT is where I will plant the sweet potatos!
I should be able to run the hose and fill that low-lying area regularly to water the plants nexxt to it. I might dig an inch deep trenchleading to the low area to speed things up a bit.
I do not mind being inside the greenhouse briefly and so I can fertilize easily: since the water will have to run 4 feet to the sweet potatos so it would be best if I put the fertilizer next to the plants. With heat and water and fertility, I expect the sweet potatos to be VERY HAPPY!!!!!!!!!
Weeding is very easy because of the raised beds that I put on top of woven greenhouse floor covering. I filled the raised beds with perlite: for nutrition the fine roots have to go through the woven floor or use the fertilizer that I apply. This keeps the weeds small and they are easily removed. Not that I have MANY weeds as there were no seeds in the perlite that I filled the beds with but I do get a few, now.
Since the sweet potatos will be grown in perlite it should be very easy to remove them: I will just work my hand into the perlite and remove them! I will have to be gentle to protect the woven floor that the fine roots grow through, but I expect no real problem.
Beauregaurd sweeet potatos grow well in my area. If I can I will grow some of them.
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