Mini Greenhouse Tent Saves Greens From Snow Storm
About a foot of snow fell this weekend in Asheville. Power was out for 15 hours, stores and restaurants were closed, and cars were snowed in for days. But we had fresh garden greens this weekend from our garden.
Our StarterHouse portable greenhouse by FlowerHouse arrived just in time. We’ve had it up for over a week, trying to decide if we ought to get more for the other beds. There are various brands as well as do-it-yourself plans available, but this one was cost-effective at $80, and it just happened to fit our 4′X8′ garden perfectly.
It does have some drawbacks. The most notable is that it collapsed under the weight of a foot of snow. Had we not caught it right away, it could have done major damage to our plants. On the bright side, after clearing the snow off of it, it easily popped right back up again quite easily. So in the future, we’ll make sure to clear off accumulating snow after a few inches fall.
Another minor hassle is that the zippers can be hard to open and close when it is below freezing because ice can form. This is a pain, but worth the trouble considering the benefits.
In colder climates, it’s possible that this tent would not protect plants adequately from the cold. It’s perfect for our area in the North Carolina mountains.
After this weekend, we are very pleased with this product and will order a second one so that we can keep more greens growing during the winter.
We make absolutely no money from FlowerHouse. We just really like this product.

We’ve been filtering our water for years, but after doing more research on water, decided to switch to bottled distilled water. Tap water is so bad these days that filtering it doesn’t get all the chemicals out. Flouride, in particular, was the main impetus for the switch. That’s not to say that filtering your tap water is not worthwhile, because it is. We chose to take the extra step.



There’s been a lot of news lately about late blight hitting tomato crops in the north east. Sadly, the same has happened here in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where temperatures are a little cooler than most of the Southeast.