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Part II: How do you grow vegetables in the…
Our high tunnel is completed and we have begun putting in crops. We have planted transplants as well as direct seededing. It’s only been a few days but the transplants are looking pretty good and many of the seeds have germinated.
Everything took a little longer than I was expecting, I had hoped to have it planted two weeks ago. What we are trying to do is grow vegetables throughout the winter in an unheated high tunnel.
The high tunnel heats up the soil during the day and the soil releases that heat at night. With the help of row covers, you can extend the season, keep some things alive all winter, and get an early start in the spring. Row covers are just fine woven, lightweight fabric that let’s a lot of light through but can help keep some of the heat around the plant during the evening like a blanket.
While extreme cold can kill many plants, some can survive a few freezing and thawing cycles. The real limiting factor in winter is the lack of daylight. Below 10 hours of daylight, plant growth slows down dramatically or stops all together. Around here November 10th is the first day with less than 10 hours of daylight and February 1st is the last.
The basic idea behind winter growing is to choose the right varieties and get them to the proper size so that they can be harvested during this low light period. Or keep them slightly smaller so that in the late winter they begin growing again and you have a very early harvest.
This year we are using our high tunnel to learn. We have broken it down into 40 small plots and are planting many different varieties over a few different dates to see what does best for us in our location. My hope is that we will figure out how to grow 1/3 of the test varieties well over this winter so that next winter we can add more high tunnel space to grow vegetables for sale. We will, of course, keep learning and trialling different varieties next year as well.