fourseason

Four Season Gardening is the concept of growing in each season...and eating in season. Popularized by Elliot Coleman, who is growing all winter in Maine, four season gardening is quite possible in the Huntsville area.

Unless you have a heated greenhouse, you won't be growing tomatoes in January, but you can enjoy a full selection of root crops, leafy greens, substantial cabbages and kales. Fresh green onions and winter-loving parsley will brighten up any dish!

Let us install season extension solutions suitable for your garden space. Row covers, or hoophouses, are the most common solution for extending the growing season. They can be as simple or elaborate as your garden requires. We urge everyone to plan for overwintering root crops for substantial soups and stews as well as sowing a variety of greens for fresh-from-the-garden salads even when it's snowing!

If you have a square foot garden....a simple framework of PVC will work to hold fabric away from plants on cold nights.

A more subtle solution...you can't see the wire arches that will hold up the fabric when the nights are going to be really cold.

Cold frames can be made of wood, glass or plastic...or nearly any combination. Again, cost will vary with your style choices. Coldframes will require you to monitor weather closely here in the Huntsville area as a warmish sunny day will cook your plants if you don't ventilate the coldframe.

We suggest removable row covers and and the proper selection of plants to keep your garden protection missions to a minimum.

Row covers can stay on all winter as they allow light to pass through. However, they aren't pretty and we suggest they stay in the back yard farm.

A hoophouse is an 'almost' greenhouse. They are unheated and provide wind and frost protection to hardy plants. This is an excellent choice if you have the room.