something coming soon.
When I can figure out how to get a list of the other posts in this category here, it will be. For now, just some pictures. =)
flickr stream.
Four Season Harvest
Among the bajillions of books I ordered after the holidays, were 2 gardening manuals by Eliot Coleman, Four Season Harvest and The New Organic Grower. Currently, I’m in the thick of Four Season Harvest.
Eliot Coleman is a homesteader who lives on the rocky peninsula in Maine, on part of the original homestead created there by Scott and Helen Nearing. The Nearings were one of the original “self-sustained” homestead families, and their book The Good Life has sort of a biblical status in some circles. It is a chronicle of their creation of 2 different homesteads, basically built with nothing but hard work and ingenuity. They lived a pretty extreme example of homesteading, and the book is a fascinating read.
So back to Eliot, now an organic farmer, who grows for nourishment, and also for sale to local restaurants and markets. Their farm is located on the 44th Parallel, and he and his wife set off on a trip to the south of France, to discover what is grown there year-round. Since the south of France is also on the 44th Parallel, they share what I’m learning, and what he describes as, the most important thing for growing crops; sunlight. By using some minor tricks to keep the cold air and particularly the cold winds off the plants, he is able to grow many crops all year round in Maine. I don’t live in Maine, but the lessons apply to anyone. Figure out which winter crops you can grow in your area, and then use cold frames, or some other little greenhouse structure to keep them from being killed by weather. Then you’ve got the Four Season Harvest.
He has a great conversational style, and is very mellow overall. If things don’t work the first time, no problem, just start again. You’re growing all year round, so why worry? He also has lots of good advice sprinkled throughout, including that most important lesson, Plants Need Sun. =) Can you tell this has been affecting me? The astounding difference of the growth rate of the plants on the garage roof versus the plants along the house just keeps hounding my mind. Luckily for me, some Chiogga Beet seeds just arrived along with a couple other winter crops. I also really need to get my rooftop pea trellis made up so I can get some snap peas growing. I should be able to re-use the same trellises for cukes once things warm up a little.
One last garden note, in the late summer I planted a habañero in the ground along side the house. It didn’t get big enough fast enough to fruit before the weather cooled off. But it has gotten quite large, and is now just sitting biding its time. If I can keep it happy until it warms up, I should have quite the harvest off this one plant. Awesome.
posted to In the Garden, at 02:45 PM. permalink
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There’s another really good book called “Solar Gardening” by Leandre Poisson and Gretchen Vogel Poisson. He describes a number of intriguing structures for winter gardening.
posted by: Tom | March 27, 2006 05:40 PM
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