More on Growing In Hoop Tunnels
This is Swiss Chard in the garden today, unprotected, after weeks of cold weather, night in the teens (F/- 7 C to -12 C) and days of bone-chilling howling winds with gusts at 50 miles/ h (80 km). Not pretty, right? Certainly not much to harvest…
This is Swiss Chard (and more) in the unheated hoop tunnel. Need I say more?
A few hours of labor, $100 in materials (some second hand), one layer of greenhouse plastic – and we moved at least one zone south, maybe 2 . Not bad for January, eh?
Yay! Doesn’t it make you happy?
Yes, by gum, I am kicking myself now for not being more serious about building my own tunnel. It so obviously works, but I think you need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Meaning, you need to have a plan for your winter tunnel garden at the same time you are harvesting your tomatoes and okra. Better luck next year.
That is excellent for January, our undercover outdoor chard is not holding up nearly as well…too many freeze and thaw cycles.
El – yes, it does make me VERY happy! gloating, even (not very nice, I know!)
Ed – as a common friend of ours say: one step at a time. We put the arches up last spring, and then planted greens (including the swiss chard), celeriac, some onions and other stuff that got pulled out as it got harvested (onions, beans, beets etc). In late summer I seeded and transplanted salad greens in there, and in November we put the plastic up. I kick myself for not finishing the 2nd hoophouse (only the arches are up) and not seeding more crops in late summer – like cabbage and kale and collard and beets. But next year will be better – right?
Mike – but your basement chard and everything else look so incredibly good….