With Spring right around the corner I am anxious to get out in my garden! I saw a FABULOUS video today on Patti Moreno’s www.gardengirltv.com about growing in four seasons – She lives in the North East so I knew it might apply to us here in MN.
Here’s the video:
I am going to try building a little hoop house as soon as I get over this cold I have so that I can start my seeds outdoors sooner and extend my season. My goal is to have two plantings someday! The second planting deadlines are mostly in July, so I would have to get the first harvest by then. Using this method, if I can get the night time temperatures to stay over freezing would allow me to extend the season to all months except January and February! (If it works!)
This is how I am going to re-purpose all that PVC and plastic that I was not able to use last season as a large greenhouse. I think I am just going to scale everything down to make it more manageable and more wind friendly. This will consist of building raised beds and constructing a removable hoop house over each one.
Here’s a list from Patti about which veggies to do this with:
Lettuces
Swiss Chard
Herbs like parsley and oregano
Carrots
Kale
Radishes
I would also add onions to that list since mine were coming up outside on their own from last season two weeks ago!
The fall plans are in effect! First order of business is building PVC pipe supports for the plastic sheeting that will become the temporary greenhouse I will be using to extend my seasons! The over night low yesterday was 45 degrees Fahrenheit so I better get this thing up. Last year we had one early frost mid-September. Never mind the unseasonably warm October we had, or the subsequent 80 degree days. Everything had died in the frost and I lost a good 1.5 months of natural growing season.
I am going to purchase 20′ sections of 1″ or smaller tubing and make some large hoops. I am not quite certain how to secure the plastic to the tubes. So far my ideas are zip-ties (which will rip the plastic over time) or packing tape (which may not hold up in the freezing and wet of winter and spring. Ideally maybe I don’t have to secure it that well. I have enough to cover a very large area, so maybe draping and securing to the ground with rocks will be enough.
The other project that needs to get done is to move what used to be a nice border of small purple mums. These mums are on the outside, front edge of my veggie garden. They started out the size of a basketball, and are now over 2 feet across! They take up so much room in the front of the garden I am missing out on about 3″ by 10″ section of good soil. So they are being moved to the outside corners of the garden. I have a Victorian fence around the veggie garden with rose bushes in the corners on the inside. The mums will be opposite them on the outside of the garden.
This picture was taken last year. The rabbits has eaten every thing right to the ground. So I went to my local super store and bought this Victorian fencing and lined it with rabbit fencing on the inside. It is the Fort Knox of veggie gardens!
So the roses are on the inside and the mums will be on the outside corners 🙂
When I get it a bit cleaned up and moved around I’ll post more pictures. This year’s garden is 100 times better than this poor sad eaten over one.
So after a fun talk with one of my good friends I have a new plan for the “greenhouse.”
My vegetable garden is up against my garage and has a Victorian fence around it. So my new plan is to put up plastic awning and curtains that can be rolled back, or rolled down! Picture an awning rolled up in back about 7=8 feet up the garage. When I take it down it will form a lean-to looking slanted green house roof and drape over the fence for support and secure on the out side of the Victorian fencing on the ground with a tent type opening in the middle!
I will use shepherds hooks to have flowers starting and to help support the plastic in the middle. The soil here has been workable for a few months but it gets so cold at night that you can only put certain things in the ground. But with plastic I can start my garden right *in* my garden months earlier and I can extend my growing season by at least a few months in the fall as well!!!!!! We have warm weather until about November but the nights get very cold starting in September.
Last September we had a very early frost and I almost completely lost my fall harvest. No one knew it was coming so there was no opportunity to cover the garden with sheets that night. But we had fabulous weather all through October. But I was so sad because my garden was done. 🙁 This will prevent that entirely!
I will post before and after and also post pics as I build my “greenhouse” as well.
I’m not normally a huge Martha Stewart fan, but today I happened to have a free moment and looked at her show which was about greenhouses and begonias! Her greenhouses are just gorgeous of course. You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to propagate begonias! Made me want to get some and try it myself for sure!
(There are not videos up yet because this just aired today, but there is other reading material there today. Check back tomorrow for a recap video from the show, which I highly recommend!)
Hey there,