Moxie Gardener

Harvest fall greens like kale until the snow flies with season-extending protection.

Gardeners, especially in short-growing-season northern climates, are always looking for ways to extend their growing season.

There are a number of ways to get a few more weeks of growth in fall.  Some are simple, others more complex.  Some provide a little protection from frost, others can keeps plants alive and growing (albeit slowly) even if there is snow on the ground.

The original season extender was simply a jar overturned atop a plant.  These morphed into bell-jars, or cloches.  Because of size constraints, cloches are of limited use when extending the gardening season in fall.

The light-weight, insulating “floating” row covers available today are a high-tech replacement for old sheets, blankets, and tablecloths used yesterday by our ancestors and used today by thrifty gardeners everywhere.

A more involved, or “engineered” version of a row cover is a hoop and plastic row cover.  Lengths of rebar are slipped into PVC pipe and the ends inserted in the ground on either side of the row of plants, forming a half-hoop.  These hoops are placed every few feet and the row is covered with a sheet of thick plastic.  The plastic sheeting is removed during the day.

A cold frame is a bottomless box placed in a sheltered location that receives sun all day.  The top is usually an old window, fastened to the frame with hinges.  Seeds or seedlings are planted right into the soil.  The top of the frame is opened on warm, sunny days to keep the plants from overheating.  It is closed at night to keep the heat in and provide nighttime protection from freezing temperatures.

Thermal solar heating can be used in a cold frame by painting old milk jugs black and filling them with water.  Placed inside the cold frame, they absorb the sun’s heat during the day and release it at night, adding a few more degrees to the range in which the plants will continue to survive.

A step further is to create a “hot bed” out of a cold frame by either installing an electric heating cable in the soil of the cold frame or burying an eight inch layer of manure about six inches below the surface.

Depending on the severity of your winters, these methods can extend your growing season from several weeks to several months beyond normal.  In mild winter climates, you may be able to grow all winter using a cold frame with a hot bed.