Soil Temperature -vs- Air Temperature

 After consulting a more experienced organic farmer, it appears that soil temperature is imperative during the early stages of plant formation, which is just another reason to construct a large heated cold frame, but instead of designing the structure around air temp, I will attempt to design it for soil temp and let the air simply stay above 32, while concentrating on keeping the soil temp at the to be determined best range.

I dont have anything to show for it as much work needs to be done and there is plenty of time to do it so i'll concentrate on what has started this season, which is a lot. 

The beans are coming along great and we've had no rain, but a couple fair waterings and off to races they go.

I bought some summer squash and planted 3 of those in a large container, if this works out they, the broccoli, and the basil are strong candidates for cold frame starting.

The organic transplant of the soil appears to be saving the streak of years grown at the same site, almost 20 now.

These plants look as good as plants can at this time of year, considering the below freezing temps they had to endure, the leaves are broad and light green.

 I replanted some after the last frost and they have sprouted so we'll see if growth at the end justifies an early beginning or not, they will compete head to head over the coming months.