FOUR-SEASONS GARDENING: OPTIONS & ALTERNATIVES TO GROWING FOOD IN ALL FOUR SEASONS, EVEN IN THE c c c c c COLD… EVE SPRINGWOOD MINSON NOFA-NJ and JUST ONE SEED

HOW’D WE GET HERE?

You mean we don’t need

California after all?

ELIOT COLEMAN

thank you!

Eliot and Barbara Damrosch

The “Maestro”

Elliot Coleman has been busy…

THE FOUR-SEASONS GROWING MODEL Yes, FOUR GROWING Seasons

even here in the NORTHEAST!

WINTER: Plan field growing; active but slower growth in hoophouses and low tunnels, start

early heated greenhouse production

LATE WINTER/EARLYSPRING: New greens seeding in hoops; heated GH production

LATE SPRING: Transplanting from heated GH; early tomatoes in hoops along with other warm

season crops like cukes, zukes, eggplant.

EARLY SUMMER: hoops for tomatoes and tenders, seed for late summer

LATE SUMMER/EARLY FALL: start transplants for fall hoops

FALL (by October): direct sow hoops for winter production that will last until Feb/March

THE ANNUAL GROWING SEASON STRUCTURES

UNHEATED HOOPHOUSES – Tall and Mid-size

• For season extension for warm and cold seasons – can operate 365 days

• Seed starting for cold tolerant plants

• Drying herbs

• Curing root crops, garlic, onions

HEATED GREENHOUSE:

• Seeding transplants for all seasons

• Starting microgreens

• Drying seeds, herbs, garlic

• Curing crops

COLD FRAMES and Low Hoops:

• Small-scale production

• Holding flats during transition time and season

• Overwintering roots, greens

LATE FALL/EARLY WINTER: PLANNING,

DESIGNING AND PREPARING…

•DREAM IT UP! Long cold nights are great for planning field production

based on rotation plan from last year, updating your website, harvesting

everything you planted earlier this fall.

•PRODUCTION SCHEDULE AND LISTS: Revisit last year, update, edit

•Catalog info: Lots of information there that you may not be aware of

•Order seed, fruit plants, perennials, supplies, etc.

•Prepare for starting seedlings indoors…clean up greenhouse

STRUCTURES

SEASON-EXTENSION TOOLS AND TERMS

COLD FRAME – a box, usually sunk into the ground a foot or so, with an angled, transparent lid that can be opened, closed or propped partly open to vent heat. The bottom can be open to soil , in-ground plants can be seeded or seedlings hardened off in pots. CLOCHE – an old French market-gardener’s term for a bell-shaped glass jar placed over young plants in spring. Wall-o-waters and hot caps are the current incarnations. FLOATING ROW COVER – water and air permeable, these synthetic fabrics help hold in the heat when placed close to the ground. The transparent plastic version, placed right over the soil and held down with stakes or weights, can create a mini-microclimate for seed germination. Outdoors, the covers can help keep out insect pests. QUICK HOOPS, LOW HOOPS, LOW TUNNELS – slightly higher coverings, stretched across frames outdoor crops that still provide a single layer of climate extension. They can be added only to protect from spring and autumn frosts or employed year-round if vented. HOOP HOUSE, HIGH TUNNEL, COLD HOUSE, COOL HOUSE – unheated or minimally heated (to just above freezing) structures, tall enough to stand in, where crops are grown in-ground; can be movable for seasonal changes and cover crop rotations.

ELIOT COLEMAN PRODUCTION FIELDS

HEATED GREENHOUSE

MOVEABLE HOOP

LOW HOOPS

BASIC UNHEATED HOOP HOUSE OR HIGH TUNNEL STRUCTURAL DESIGN

From MOTHER EARTH NEWS

HOOPHOUSE PRODUCTION FOR

FOUR SEASONS GARDENING

WINTER- there is green

life under the row cover!

ELIOT COLEMAN’S

OPERATION IN MAINE…

TRANSITION SEASON CHANGING OVER IN TINICUM, PA

Rebecca at JUST ONE SEED

SMALLER STRUCTURES

A QUICK HOOP IS a low tunnel

that gives plants extra

protection in cold weather.

Acting as a mini-greenhouse,

the inexpensive structure

allows you to grow vegetables

year-round – metal or PVC.

HOOPS CAN BE HELD DOWN WITH

PLASTIC ROCK BAGS, OR

LANDSCAPE STAPLES WORK

Various berries, basil for early harvest ,

ginger, and culinary herbs…

OR BETTER YET, PARTIES…!

HOOPHOUSE PRODUCTION

GENERAL BENEFITS OF SOLAR-HEATED COVER IN A HOOPHOUSE:

• Low Cost extended cold season of growth and pushing summer crops

earlier with natural ventilation and no electric costs or infrastructure

• Can be a quick PAYBACK time due to high value of crop and extra season

or earlier high-value crops like tomatoes, strawberries, basil

• Some insect protection and deer protection if sides are rolled down.

• Controlling precipitation

• Intensive cropping environment

• Lots of control

• Can have higher yields and nicer-looking crops (no wind or hail, etc)

• Versatile: livestock cover, run the chickens through end of year, store a

tractor, throw a party, grow hot and cold season

• Not hard to put up or take down and move; no building permits needed

• No electric needed, no extra ventilation need with big openings and roll-

up sides so cheap operation

THE CHALLENGES OF HOOPHOOUSES:

• EQUIPMENT. Not easy to use large equipment in unless they are very

large – mostly walk-behind rototiller and handtools after first plowing and

tilling. This can be done before hoops go up.

• MAKE IT RAIN! Salt buildup will take place over time…make sure you

have some extended overhead watering to leach out salts.

• LET IS SNOW, let it snow…NOT!! Snow removal is a must! Especially in

anything above 2-4 inches. Be creative with your solutions.

• KEEP IT COOL! Temperatures can become VERY hot in high summer

without shade cloth, roll-up sides and proper ventilation. Use both to

your benefit.

• FALLOW AND ROTATE LIKE YOUR FIELDS. Temptation to keep cropping

over and over without a fallow period and cover crop

SITING:

• LEVEL site with soils that have good drainage.

• Good sunlight a must! Away from trees and shade.

• Line up with prevailing winds so wind goes through and not dead

on so it will topple the HH. (I always strengthen with rebar and

ropes)

• Think of drainage on sides if mucky and fill with vegetation but not

weeds. Keep maintained with mower. Watch out for weedwhackers

– can slice a hoop fast!!!

• Think of permanent raised beds to enhance warming up of soils

• Water must be easy to access.

• Generally easy to get to…usually mixed into a complex of

greenhouses and hoophouses easy to access with a tractor for

transplanting, harvesting, etc.

SHADE CLOTH:

Reduces Temps

ROW COVER WEIGHTS

ARE LIGHT TO WINTER

HEAVY DUTY

ROLL-UP SIDES!! The best

ventilation possible…but

remember when nights get cool.

DIFFERENT END WALL

DESIGNS: the more light and

ventilation the better!

VENTILATION: Through roll up sides, end walls, and open doors….

PLANNING THE SEASON…

SEEDING SCHEDULES

HOOPHOUSE: Direct Seed, seasonal

change-out, rotation, fallow – cover crop

GREENHOUSE: Flats to transplant into

larger pots, Jan to Sept

FIELD: Direct Seed, March to October

FIELD: Transplants, April to October

(remember to rotate and cover crop!)

MICRO-GREENS: Seasonal, direct sow

LATE AUGUST THROUGH OCTOBER

DIRECT SOW FRESH for HARVEST ALL WINTER:

• Arugula

• Cut and come again lettuce and mesclun mix

• Spinach

• Asian greens: mizuna, tatsoi, bok choy, mustards, Napa, etc.

• Peas: snap, shelling and snow peas

• Cilantro, parsley, water cress, Chinese celery

• Beets, carrots, turnips

• Kale, chard, collards

• Radishes, French Breakfast and Daikon

• Broccoli grows beautifully in HH but often isn’t worth the space, but try

Brocooli Raab or Sprouting Broccoli

• TRANSPLANTS: Leeks, scallions, cress, garlic for early scapes, Head

lettuce can be started in the greenhouse, or coldframes or the hoop in

trays or soil blocks for transplanting into the HH later

WINTER IN HOOPS: Light changes, things warm up, get going!

KEEP HARVESTING from fall: carrots, beets, turnips, greens, alliums

through mid Spring, replenish nutrients with compost, mineral blend and

chicken manure and then prep HH for Spring Warm Season Early

Plantings

Start HEAD LETTUCE TRANSPLANTS IN GREENHOUSE FOR

transplanting outside in late March/early April or HH in late Feb.

APRIL PLANTINGS: early tomatoes, peppers, eggplants - these will last

until November and be followed by transplants of select greens for the

winter

MID APRIL: Basil, cucumbers, zukes

END OF TYPICAL GROWING SEASON…

LATE SUMMER: Plant last round of zukes, beans, broccoli, short season

cabbage (place under row cover to keep alive during earlyfrosts)

THEN,TREAT FALL LIKE SPRING:

short days, longer nights, cool evenings and then eventually cool days

-Varieties: Spinach, scallions, beets, lettuce, turnips, beets, Asian greens:

Napa cabbage, Tatsoi, Bok Choy, Mustard Greens, leeks, cilantro, dill,

parsley, peas, arugula, kale, chard, broccoli, broccoli raab, short season

cabbage

ADDITIONAL CROPS:

• Cilantro: best in cool temps

• Sweet Peas : Snaps and Podded, Snow Peas

• Cold Tolerant – not FROST-tolerant EARLY Tomatoes: Sweet 100s,

Siberian, Stupice, Moskvich, Oregon Spring, Earliana, Northern Lights,

Early Girl, Early Wonder, Siberian Red,

• EARLY Eggplant: Orient express

Hoophouse Cultivar and Scheduling Examples From the Michigan State University Student Organic Farm

Crop Cultivar* Direct Seed (DS) or

Transplant (TP)

Seed Date** Calender Week Scheduled Transplant

Date**

Week of the Year

SPRING

Asian Greens*** Various TP 14-Jan 3 11-Feb 7

Baby Salad**** Various-Fast and Slow DS 1-Feb 5 - -

Beets Golden, Ace DS 1-Feb 5 - -

Carrots Sugarsnax, Napoli DS 1-Feb 5 - -

Chard Bright Lights TP 14-Jan 2 11-Feb 6

Cilantro Santo DS 1-Feb 5 - -

Collards Flash TP 14-Jan 2 11-Feb 6

Cucumber Diva TP 27-Mar 12 1-May 17

Eggplant Orient Express, Nadia TP 1-Mar 9 1-May 17

Kale Red Russian, Toscano,

Winterbor

TP 14-Jan 2 11-Feb 6

Lettuces Aruba, Ermosa,

Various

TP 14-Jan 2 11-Feb 6

Pepper Ace, Carmen TP 21-Feb 7 15-Apr 15

• HIGH TUNNEL MANUAL , Produced by Regional Farm and Food

Project and Cornell University

http://www.uvm.edu/sustainableagriculture/Documents/HighTunnels.pdf

• RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

• CORNELL UNIVERSITY

• PENN STATE

Books:

1. The Hoophouse Handbook, by Lynn Byczinski

2. The Winter Harvest Manual, by Eliot Coleman

3. Walking to Spring, by Paul & Alison Weidiger

4. The Northlands Winter Greenhouse Manual,

by Carol Ford & Chuck Waibel

PENN STATE Publications

High Tunnel Manual

"Production of Vegetables, Strawberries, and Cut Flowers Using Plasticulture NRAES-133"

"Implementation of a BioControl Program for Insect Control in High Tunnels" Cost is $10.00 (includes tax).

Presentations

Green Production in High Tunnels [pdf]

High Tunnel Cut Flowers [pdf]

High Tunnel Construction [pdf]

High Tunnel Technology [pdf]

Crop Specific Articles

Production System for Horticultural Crops Grown in the Penn State High Tunnel [ pdf]

High Tunnel Production of Cucumber on Raised Beds

High Tunnel Garlic Variety Study

High Tunnel Production of Lettuce using Paper Mulch, Bare Ground and Earth Boxes

High Tunnel Tomato Variety Trial

THANKS FOR COMING!

HAVE A GREAT SEASON IN YOUR HOOPHOUSE!!