Welcome to the Forums, Russ. The clear plastic might work with the extreme temperature swings (30 degrees or more!) here in the high desert, and certainly many other places that have more even temp's. The purpose of the temporary black landscape fabric is to absorb the sunlight and warm the soil to 45F. The black fabric will stay on the ground with a daily check to see if seedlings begin to break through the soil; at that time the black fabric comes off for good. The soil temp is swinging from 35F to 45F without the black cover but the cold spell is nearly over.
As an update on this particular high desert project, Jan’s suggestion to germinate the peas (rather than just soaking them over night according to word of mouth learning) has inspired me to go further along in the seed germination process before planting. Yes, root disturbance is a no-no, however, can we push the seed planting stage beyond an over night soak? Hopefully, germination in a jar will wake the peas up inside where temperatures are more consistent.
As a helpful tool to describe the process, I'm borrowing a lovely pea germination photo series created by
Noahjgagne, posted on Wikipedia
Following the picture numbers:
Picture I happened after 24 hr soak plus 24 hours, rinsed and drained in jar at 50 degrees.
Picture II is what yesterday’s peas looked like: a barely perceptible white root bulge not yet detached from the pea seed after 3 days at 50F.
Today, 4 days into germination, the tails have detached as in picture III. Given that beans don’t respond well to root disturbance, I planted at stage III rather than disturbing the more developed root at stage IV.
Daytime high desert temps are in the 50s (F) and February nights will be in the low thirties which is acceptable for the young plants without any plastic.
I’ll keep the soil moist and update this thread when (if) the shoots break through the soil....