Extending Growing Season

Comment

Comment by Mike on February 4, 2010 at 10:34am

Pirko,

Maine is colder than Cleveland but it gets more sun. Using high hoops or low hoops it is straight forward to extend selling produce into December. I think the selection would be more limited into January-March. We start getting watercress in march and Kale and swiss chard ahve over witnered nicely for me without any cover whatsoever.

Comment by Thomas Pirko on January 27, 2010 at 5:07pm

On January 16, I harvested the last of the spinach, lettuce and mache that I had been growing in a cold frame. Something had broken one of the "lights" (salvaged storm windows) before the big snow fell and the produce still survived the cold. I suspect that a deer had stepped on the glass. There were huge piles of snow serving as a blanket that sealed the "heat" in.

I had no artificial heat. The seeds were sown in mid-August. The lettuce grew to be quite big before the chill November weather slowed down the growth.

Mache is a small plant, about seven inches across and four inches high. It is great as a mixed green.

I would expect that a gardener could keep August-sown greens under a row cover through November. One would probably have to rely on a cold frame for a harvest in December.

Next year, I would like to grow "candy carrots" for a winter harvest. My growing was based on The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman. He produces for the Maine Market, much colder than Cleveland. So, Ohio farmers could sell produce into early winter.

Comment by Kim McDonald on October 17, 2009 at 10:55am

Hi. I have heard that the Galleria downtown is interested in doing some kind of "gardens under glass" project. If anyone is interested, please let me know and I'll try to get more information.

Comment by MikeD on May 14, 2009 at 2:26pm

So let's put together a group to convert a local abandoned shopping mallsinto a 3 or 4 season hydroponic and nursery center. The plumbing and electric service is in place along with a fair amount of daylighting. Euclid Mall, Rolling Acres in the Great Akron, etc.

Blight becomes biocenters...