The $15 greenhouse thermometer I laughed at saved my seedlings

I bought a cheap wireless thermometer with a probe from the gardening section at Lowes in March, mostly as a joke. I thought soil temperature readings were overkill for a hobby grower like me. Then I stuck it in my raised bed and found the soil was 8 degrees colder than the air, which explained why my lettuce seeds rotted for two straight weeks. Has anyone else caught a soil temp surprise that changed their whole planting schedule?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

harpercampbell1mo ago

My neighbor checked hers after seeing me with mine and found her tomato bed was 12 degrees warmer than the rest of the yard, right by the house foundation. She moved all her starts over there and got tomatoes a full month earlier than usual.

3

quinn1611mo ago

12 degrees warmer by the house foundation" sounds like the only thing I've ever been early for in my life. My tomatoes usually come in around Halloween, which I thought was normal until people started asking if I was pickling them for a haunted house. I checked my own foundation once and found it was colder than the rest of the yard, so my house must be doing the opposite of helping. Ended up with a tomato bed that produced exactly one sad fruit, which my dog ate before it ripened. Guess some of us just have colder foundations and warmer dogs.

1