Dan... Crud can't remeber your whole user name, anyway this neat article about grafted plants made me think of you.
http://m.phys.org/news/2016-01-grafted-genomes.html
Yes I can see the heat being a downfall, all climates have there pros and cons.
One day Id like to try some sort of passive heating system, something a bit more sofistacated than barrels filled with water, though it does work alright. Most people use wood stoves here so that is also worth...
I don't use it in the winter ( yet ) but I'm in there as late as mid November and as early as February (planting season outdoors here is late May-early September) it sure adds to my season, its 16x40 (I picked up 2, 20x40 frames I've yet to put up this year, so excited). I do grow some flowers...
I know I always say mulch, but mulch, and deep! with whatever you can get, hopefully the mulch will hold water long enough and eventually the soil with absorb it, and losen up again. You could even through plastic over the much and hold the moisture in better, or cook everything to a crisp... I...
So I dug a pond, counts as gardening to me...
So still more to do there, but I took a break from the pond to clean the run, and used all the deep litter I pulled out to start and apple Gail.
The second layer is hay, next wood mulch, then I will cover with clear plastic to sprout the...