Snow? What Snow?

The forecasters are 0-2 in my area. We were supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow but instead were treated to sleet and plenty of it. One of our local TV weather people said that they had no idea this was going to happen. She said that none of their models saw this happening. Well, I would tell her it's time to get some new models. This was very far off the mark. Here is picture of our morning scene below.

But, I digress! During one of the more intense sleeting periods, I decided to check my greenhouse as I knew it would be covered in ice. And, I was correct. When I turned the corner to view my greenhouse, here is what I was confronted with.

I went inside and noticed that the roof panels were bowing from the weight of the icc/sleet. Not a good situation with yet more sleet being forecasted. So, I went back to my house and related the predictament to my wife. I began thinking I would put an electric heater in the unit to raise the temp in the greenhouse which was sitting at 28 degrees. My wife came back and told me about a thing she had seen called a terracotta clay pot heater. Intrigued, I listened to her explain it. When all was said and done, it entailed putting a candle on top of a base and then placing the pot over it - making sure there was allowance for air to get into the area under the pot. One twist was to use a sterno candle instead of a regular candle. This boosts the amount of heat it produces. After gathering all the items I needed, I went out and constructed my first terra cotta heater. Here is the finsihed product.

I used 4 cement path pavers for the base. I made one alteration. Since I had space on each of the 4 pavers, I decided to use 4 small pots I had and put teacup candles under them. So I lit the sterno candle and the 4 teacup candles. When I finished, I closed the greenhouse and began shoveling our walks and steps. After about an hours time, I went back to the greenhouse. I found that the temp had risen to 43 degrees in that hour - a 15 degree increase. I was surprised given the outside temp was 26 degrees. I could hear the ice crackling and melting on the roof of the unit. So, I took an old broom and proceeded to brush the ice off each panel on both sides. It didn't take much effort to get the ice to slide off them. Here is a picture of it after my brushing.

Almost all the ice came off and the panels seemed to be back to normal inside. And, I learned a new technique to use if winter decides to visit us again which we all know it will. These terra cotta heaters can be used in an emergency to heat boats, campers and even rooms in a house in a crunch. One person said they used it to heat an unheated area where there were water pipes during a really cold snap.
Both my wife and I were a little surprised this worked so well. It's always a good thing to have an emergency contingency to fall back on. The other "surprise" was that we had these supplies and never realized they could be used in such a way. You learn something all the time. I am very grateful to have a wife that is so resourceful and full of useful information.
Well, that's all I have today. I am currently seeding in a new set of crops for the early spring. I had a failure of sorts with my last attempt. Seems I may have used my heating pads a little too long. I did have seedlings but they were very leggy which most likely was a result of too warm of soil. Spring crops prefer cooler soils. Lesson learned. Seems gardening always has a lesson to learn regardless of your "expertise".
So, please check back as I start anew with my seedling production. I am hoping that winter will go away and I can get into the garden. I have much to do there and time is ticking. Until next time, Happy Gardening Everyone!